Engineering the kitchen table
Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
This first picture shows the result. With great relief it went together perfectly. It is held together with 8 mortise and tenons (M&T's). These widely spaced M&T's should provide adequate strength to the post. After all it is a table not a step stool.
I forgot to take these pictures of the actual table so they are taken of the development model. The base is made from two legs with 4 mortises. Originally I planed on an alignment spline for the 3 post pieces which would have been a bad idea. It became clear that all 8 M&T's had to be in perfect alignment for assembly to go together tightly, or to go together at all! Instead I used the top "arms" dry fit to the top tenons to ensure alignment of the post pieces as their glue dried.
Gluing and clamping became interesting. I used epoxy, with great reluctance, for the M&T's so that I had adequate time to make the assembly. The vertical joints on the post are with Titebond. The challenge was to get the joints together without pulling the post out of alignment. At this point the top arms are dry fit to their corresponding tenons. The top arms were glued on after the glue in this assembly dried.
This table is one of the few things I have made in the past few years for myself. It has been a joy to build and I am quite satisfied with the result so far. Now if I can get a round top made.......I will have questions on attachment later.