Thread: Dining table legs

Hi Tony give Brittons Timber a call. They sometimes have 70 x 70 and 80 x 80 squares of Blackwood.

Regards,

Rob

I'd stay away from the pine core; the pine will move more than the Blackwood and potentially push the leg apart. Also, the fewer joins you have the better - not just for looks, but also potential failure points.

After moving up to Qld. from Victoria many years ago I was in a similar situation as you, I had only limited tools, a 4" angle grinder, a 1/4 sheet orbital sander, a hand held electric plane, a small circular power saw, a few slash clamps and a hand saw. I had sold off most of my furniture before the move, anyway I decided to build myself a large solid Jarrah table 2.3m x 0.97m, so had to get the timber dressed and sized from the supplier. (Somewhere in Archerfield Qld, I think from memory).

For the legs I used 133mm x 33mm and glued a piece of 70mm x 33mm to the side, this gave me a 103mm x 133mm "L" shaped legs. The glue I used probably wasn't the best for Jarrah but it has held for 16 years so far. Although the 3 coffee tables I made from the left overs have had some of the joints crack on me. Might use epoxy next time when I build a table. The top of the dining table and 2 of the coffee tables were also built from glued 70mm x 33mm boards, and the last coffee table top was from the 133mm x 33mm boards as I had run out of the smaller boards, plus I built 10 chairs to match.

But to cut a long story short the L shaped legs are very solid and easily support the table which weighs approx 150kg and could support many times that weight. Your legs don't have to be as large as mine but you should be able to get some dressed boards to match your design and just glue them up.

Cheers

Ed.

Rather than use the pine core, which will cause problems as Elan described, I'd use 4 off 80 x 25 boards, mitred on each edge, to form a hollow leg. This will be more stable than a solid 80 x 80 leg, which will want to split, and light enough to move. If you wish, you could put 2 or 3 light plywood blanks across the hollow leg for extra strength, but unless you're planning on dancing on the table, they're not necessary.

I've some 100mm thick blackwood that I could bring back to Sydney for you around 12 Jan from the farm and you could make legs from that.
Let me know if you are interested.
Thanks and Regards
Greg