I am building a table that will serve as an entertainment center. The table top will be six foot wide and about 18 inches deep and 1 inch thick. Directly under the top I'm putting a shelf which is a little smaller to hold all my A/V components. There will be vertical panels on each side and then two more 12 inches on each side of the center which will box in the center speaker. I understand that wood movement could cause the tabletop and the shelf to contract and expand so I don't want to glue the top or shelf to the vertical panels. My first thought was to dovetail the vertical panels into the shelf and the top and not apply any glue. But that scares me since the two pieces are so large and I'm afraid of screwing them up. Then I remembered from my table construction class at Woodcraft that with the smaller Shaker table we built that we used table top fasteners to attach the top to the case. So my question is will the fasteners work on a larger table like I am building and if so how many do I use, one every 12 inches? and does it matter where I get them (i.e. Woodcraft, Klingspor, Rockler, etc)? If I use the fasteners, do I need to worry about when I pick up the table to move it that the top will be a little loose? I expect this piece to be heavy in the end and I would likely pick up the table by the top since that is the obvious way to move furniture.
Are there any other viable options that I haven't thought of?
Thanks in advance
Shayne
Are there any other viable options that I haven't thought of?
Thanks in advance
Shayne