I am an advanced beginner or early intermediate woodworker who has built onesmallish shaker style table. My wife would like me to now build a serving table for our dining room with a shelf. The table will be made from cherry and in shaker style. The tabletop will be 48 inches, and after deducting for overhang and the width of the legs, the shelf will be about 41 inches long and 14-15 inches wide. The challenge I see is to have the shelf sturdy enough to bear weight, but also allow for expansion in our humid summers. With this is mind, I have considered three different methods for attaching the shelf to the legs:
1. Dowels. I watched a Fine Woodworking video where the designer used dowels to attach the shelf to each chair leg. They did not really allow for much expansion as the table was a small nightstand and the shelf looked roughly 12-14 inches square. In my case, I was thinking of gluing the dowel into the chair leg but then cutting an elongated hole in the shelf side (like a Domino machine does) to allow for expansion front to back in the shelf. I dont really like this approach as I doubt it will be very sturdy to hold much weight since only one side of the dowel will be glued tight, and it will require a level of precision cuts that I likely have not yet mastered.
2. Put a thin stretcher on the front and back and have the shelf sit on the stretcher, and be the same width as the outer dimension of the table legs. I would use tenon and mortise joinery to attach the two stretchers to the front and back legs, similar to the table aprons. I would then use figure eights or small buttons to attach the shelf to the stretchers. This should be more sturdy than option 1 above.
3. Cut groves on the inside of each table leg using a router bit or dado blades. The shelf would then sit in the four grooves in each leg; after knocking off a 1/4 or 3/8 of each corner of the shelf to fit the groove which will of course be rounded. I have already made a large "spline jig" to make this work. Presumably I could also use a chisel to square off each groove so that I would not need to cut off each corner of the shelf. Cut accurately, this approach seems like it would look the best (no stretcher) and also most likely be the strongest as the grooves will likely be 5/8 to 3/4 deep allowing for good support of the shelf. It appears that I will need to allow for about 3/16 of play for the shelf to expand.
Are there other approaches that I have not listed which are likely better and also someone at my skill level can master? Would like to hear opinions on the best approach.
1. Dowels. I watched a Fine Woodworking video where the designer used dowels to attach the shelf to each chair leg. They did not really allow for much expansion as the table was a small nightstand and the shelf looked roughly 12-14 inches square. In my case, I was thinking of gluing the dowel into the chair leg but then cutting an elongated hole in the shelf side (like a Domino machine does) to allow for expansion front to back in the shelf. I dont really like this approach as I doubt it will be very sturdy to hold much weight since only one side of the dowel will be glued tight, and it will require a level of precision cuts that I likely have not yet mastered.
2. Put a thin stretcher on the front and back and have the shelf sit on the stretcher, and be the same width as the outer dimension of the table legs. I would use tenon and mortise joinery to attach the two stretchers to the front and back legs, similar to the table aprons. I would then use figure eights or small buttons to attach the shelf to the stretchers. This should be more sturdy than option 1 above.
3. Cut groves on the inside of each table leg using a router bit or dado blades. The shelf would then sit in the four grooves in each leg; after knocking off a 1/4 or 3/8 of each corner of the shelf to fit the groove which will of course be rounded. I have already made a large "spline jig" to make this work. Presumably I could also use a chisel to square off each groove so that I would not need to cut off each corner of the shelf. Cut accurately, this approach seems like it would look the best (no stretcher) and also most likely be the strongest as the grooves will likely be 5/8 to 3/4 deep allowing for good support of the shelf. It appears that I will need to allow for about 3/16 of play for the shelf to expand.
Are there other approaches that I have not listed which are likely better and also someone at my skill level can master? Would like to hear opinions on the best approach.
