Thread: Design question - table top

I think you are right that 1 is preferable. In 2, you would be glueing the edging to the end-grain of the table ends, and the joints might well fail owing to seasonal movement of the ends, especially since the joints would be under tension owing to the curvature of the edging. You might perhaps get away with 2, if you glued the edging with epoxy, but 1 would be much more satisfactory, since, in that case, the table ends would hold the ends of the edging strips in place.

Rocker

Thanks for that Rocker - you're right, and I hadn't really considered the problems in glueing to end grain. To my mind (1) does look better as well..........but the more I looked at these two choices, the more undecided I became !!

Cheers

Mr Brush,

Since you have a domino, I would reinforce the table-end joints with it as in this diagram.

Rocker - thanks for the sketch. I was wondering about the best positions for the dominoes, but the scheme you show would help to reinforce the edge strips as well.

I'll be making the edge strips as wide as I can just so long as they will bend along the curved edge without resorting to steaming, etc. I know 10mm will be OK, but might be able to get the strips up to 15mm wide and give the domino a bit more meat to hold on to.

Thanks again !

Definately No1. The veneer may look a bit weird around the solid timber.

Thanks - looks like the (1)s have it !!

Now all I have to do is decide on a finish. Being a coffee table it will be quite heavily used, so I was thinking several coats of wipe-on poly (I don't have spraying facilities).

The timber is brushbox - would you normally fill the grain in any way, or should I just sand all over to 400/800 grit and apply wipe-on poly directly?? Its quite a fine-grained timber, so I'm not sure what would work best. I'm aiming for a satin finish - I already have some Minwax wipe-on poly in satin.

Personally I think both options look a bit odd unless the grain of the veneer runs across rather than along the table – which in itself would look odd

(then again I'm not much of a fan of breadboard ends)

I think I'd make the entire top, including the ends, from the MDF and then veneer the edges, and profiled end.
On the edges I'd be using a 5 or 6mm thick strip that was glued on (i.e. no dominos) and then planed and scraped flush.
If joints are needed in the veneer make them scarf joints


as to the finish, how glossy do you want it?
having recently used grain filler on a table, I'm currently in favour of filling and polishing horizontal flat surfaces



ian

Ian - the breadboard ends are locked in I'm afraid. I think the shape needs a feature like this to add some interest, and I have put aside a couple of pieces of solid brushbox with nice figure to use for the ends.

As for finish - everything else in the room is a satin finish (commercial furniture), so anything too glossy would look out of place. So......I'm after a smooth, durable satin finish. Having tried a couple of coats of Minwax (Satin) Wipe-on Poly on some offcuts of the veneered board, the resulting finish still showed a lot of grain imperfections. Do I just keep adding coats of wipe-on poly to fill the grain until everything is flat enough, or would it be better to use a grain filler before starting with the finish?

Can I ask what kind of grain filler you used?

Cheers

I recommend grain filler

I'd used Wattyl's grain filler – I think it's linsead oil based – it comes in a 1 ltr tin – you wipe /rub it in across the grain and then squeegee the excess off when it's nearly dry
then I used sanding sealer and then cuit that back before applying the finish
you may need two coast of the grain filler

I got it from the big B



ian