Drawleaf Table. 1600s.

[pmcgee]

So ... what is holding up the top?

http://www.lucy-johnson.com/archive/...5ft-6-in/21296

[Fuzzie]

https://dblaney.wordpress.com/2014/1...how-they-work/

[auscab]

To understand how they work or to build them what ever size you want , draw the side of the table tops with room for one leaf extended on a straight board . Two nails driven in at opposite corners of the leaf gives the slope of the rails that slide. you can then rest a straight rail on those nails and watch how the extension works on the drawing. the rest is worked out off that. Draw your sliding rail lines off that and the rest falls into place.

The slope of the sliding rail is one that takes the leaf out from it's closed position it's length, and at the same time raises it its thickness.

I learned how to do them from the Fine woodworking article, from what I remember it was a bit of a mind stretch though . drawing it out and understanding those few basics works , and its easy to show other guys working on the same job whats going on. The Kiss approach .

[pmcgee]

If the note from the link applies here ... that the table top can lift or rock ... then I get it.

What got me was that the whole width of the table wasn't apparently secured down, for almost half way in from both ends.

I'm thinking that tabletop weighs "a bit".

Just thinking about it, I could imagine a sort of a "Z" movement

... pull out flat, tip the end of the wing down, push in a bit, lift the wing up level, then push all the way in.

Thanks,
Paul

[Fuzzie]

The central section of the lower layer is fixed. There are either several dowels or some other locating arrangement used to prevent the top rotating in the horizontal plane, but the main top is otherwise not fixed in the vertical plane.

When the draw ends are pulled out, the rails they are afixed to rise up to provide support in the space at the main table top ends between the skirt and the top. The top piece is thus always supported at the middle and ends. This prevents the top rocking when the ends are pulled out.

[IanW]

....I'm thinking that tabletop weighs "a bit".

That was the 'age of oak', & the table certainly looks like oak from where I'm peering at it. I looked up the density of Q. robur, and got figures around .7, so it isn't quite in the league of River Red Gum, but it isn't balsa, either! I'm definitely somewhere else when you want a hand to move that into your house, Paul.....

I've only made one large expandable table and it's certainly not in the class of that beauty. Four hundred years and nothing sags! I wimped out with mine & bought the wooden sliding mechanism from LV. It works well enough, with little movement when expanded, but it's a 'lesser' design for a couple of reasons, one being that the spare leaves have to be stored somewhere off-table; they aren't an integral part of it like the one above. If ever I make another (highly unlikely!) it will have a leaf mechanism more like this classic. Don't think I could ever learn to love those fat Tudor legs & chair-snagging floor-level stretchers, though....

Cheers,

[Fuzzie]

Just thinking about it, I could imagine a sort of a "Z" movement

... pull out flat, tip the end of the wing down, push in a bit, lift the wing up level, then push all the way in.

Thanks,
Paul

No this doesn't happen with the draw leaf design. You just draw out the extension piece and it rides up to the height of the centre section on the sloped runners underneath. The centre section will lift a bit as the extensions are drawn out - then drop back down when they are at full extension. The centre section might be given some assistance to lift at the edge to make it easier to pull out the lower piece if the top is heavy or to prevent it rubbing against the extension top surface as it comes out if it would cause damage.

[pmcgee]

That was the 'age of oak' ...
Don't think I could ever learn to love those fat Tudor legs & chair-snagging floor-level stretchers, though....
Cheers,

Bench seating, Ian!

No this doesn't happen with the draw leaf design.

Yes, I was saying I think I could imagine a pretty simple setup to not interfere with the table-top in that way.
Other than making the leaves separable.

Cheers,
Paul

[Fuzzie]

Yes, I was saying I think I could imagine a pretty simple setup to not interfere with the table-top in that way.
Other than making the leaves separable.

l

The simple solution I have seen for a heavy top was to add a couple of teardrop shaped cam levers inside the skirt within the lower fixed frame section. When ready to draw out an extension the cam is used to lift the centre section (mechanical advantage, no broken finger nails or squashed pinkies) and let down again when the extension is in place.

When I was investigating these tables I came across a description for the type of mechanism you are suggesting and it was called an "Amish Stowleaf" as opposed to the Draw Leaf or "Dutch Pullout" design. http://lumberjocks.com/topics/43741

[pmcgee]

Thanks for the link. There was a video mentioned but it has blown away now.

I saw this termed as a stow-leaf design ... not what I was thinking of ... simpler I think, actually.

[pmcgee]

Same guys ... seemingly a bit different again ...

[auscab]

I worked on a table once ,the same age as that Oak draw leaf roughly, the same base type with a single top and similar cup and cover type legs , not a draw leaf though .

I went to a local house to see the problems with it to quote , the mortise and tenons were all lose and the table could be pushed back and forth down its length and left to right quite a few inches in each direction with out the feet moving along the floor.

At the point on the sides of the legs where the rails and stretchers were pegged into the tenons were the original pegs , later pegs , Georgian nails, big Victorian nails , big Edwardian nails all rusted into place. My job was to make the whole thing rigid again , The owner had inherited the table from her mother who bought it from a London dealer in the 1920s and she still had the receipt . Nice..

The table was being fixed so that the lady could pass it on to her children .

The original top lifted off the base and the solution to the problem was to drill a hole in from the top end grain and fill the loose mortice with glue , two pack, then plug the hole and rest the table base on its end for a night , the next day I did the other end , then the sides , this fixed it and it didnt change how it looked , to take it apart for repair , which would be the normal way to fix a table would have destroyed it . Or cost 20 x as much . One thing I noticed which was interesting was the legs were tree branches or trunks, turned into legs , with the heart of the tree in the middle , when they split from drying they were filled with same grain direction wedges , this repair had been attended to a few times as well .

That was the best workshop lunch table I ever sat at for a week!! and I forgot to take pictures of it for some reason that I don't know

[IanW]

Bench seating, Ian!

True, Paul, chairs were not for the hoi poloi back when this table was made, and those low stretchers would've been a good place to rest your feet, too, which you can see from the wear on them.

I was thinking about it as a dining table now, when we prefer to sit on chairs.

Well, I do, anyway!

Cheers,

[pmcgee]

I was thinking about it as a dining table now, when we prefer to sit on chairs.
Well, I do, anyway!
Cheers,

I did mean now.
I like the idea of benches ... the other half isn't convinced.

But I think I could build a bench. Chairs ... hmmm ...one day ...

Cheers,
Paul

[auscab]

Joint stools are a nice way to start off https://www.google.com.au/search?q=j...&dpr=2#facrc=_