Wood strength avoiding a catastrophe

[JohnnyR]

I'm making the base for a Trestle table. The post is 12" in from the end of the table. I need to cut the stretcher as short as possible but wary of a piece of it flying out when banging in the wedge. The walnut is 1.5" thick and the wide side of the hole is 1 1/8" deep. So my question is how close to the wedge can I safely cut. I don't want to round over the end. Thanks for your input.

 

[MTod]

Nice looking Trestle table. I would be comfortable leaving 2.5-3”. That wedge doesn’t need a ton of tension on it. Aesthetically I would do it as a proportion of your leg thickness. Somewhere between 60-100%.

 

[mkepke]

Nice looking base . I would think about 1” of length would prevent any risk of the cross-wedge shearing/fracturing the tusk-tenon.

One strategy I’ve used in the past to reinforce a tusk tenon is to cut a deep groove into the end of the tenon and glue in a piece of wood, cross-grain. Then it’s a cross-grain lamination resisting the pressure of the wedge.

-Mark

 

[John Jimenez]

Really nice looking trestle base! I agree with Michael….i like the idea of 3” which would be double the thickness of your stretcher. Just curious on the reason for only going with 12” inset of the legs as opposed to 16-18 inches? Please let us know what you decide and send some pics of progress.

 

[drw]

John, beautiful work! As to your question, years ago I made a trestle table for my son and his wife. I remember contemplating the same question, while I don't remember the specific dimension it was at least 2.5 to 3 inches. My son is in the military, so this table has be broken down and put back together many times and it seems to be holding up held up well.

 

[danmart77]

This table looks familiar to a few I built. I did not use wedges for the joinery. I used bridal joints throughout the table and make the joints permanent. The base stretcher extends 3" beyond the outside face of the leg and it has shoulders to keep the leg dead straight. If you make the top easy to take off and reassemble, the wedge system is merely an asthertic choice. I have moved this table and others like it many times with no troubles. The based is walnut and the table top is bookmatched maple. 38" x 72"

 

[Jhc]

Beautiful work, esp like the split rail detail. Here's a pic of the tusk tennon on my workbench. The tusk protrudes 6" and there is 4" of wood in front of the wedge. Love the slie rule, too.

 

[Graywolf]

This one is about 6” overall

And then there was this one

 

[Dreuxgrad]

would a dowel place from the bottom up strengthen the tenon?

 

[Graywolf]

would a dowel place from the bottom up strengthen the tenon?

If you layout your joinery well and execute everything well there is no need to add reinforcement. For example the table I showed is over ten years old and has been moved three times. The bench has been used as is over ten years with no movement or changes. It’s a solid joint.

 

[JohnnyR]

Really nice looking trestle base! I agree with Michael….i like the idea of 3” which would be double the thickness of your stretcher. Just curious on the reason for only going with 12” inset of the legs as opposed to 16-18 inches? Please let us know what you decide and send some pics of progress.

Thanks for the save JJ. Don't remember how I determined 12" was enough leg room. Easy fix though.

This table looks familiar to a few I built. I did not use wedges for the joinery. I used bridal joints throughout the table and make the joints permanent. The base stretcher extends 3" beyond the outside face of the leg and it has shoulders to keep the leg dead straight. If you make the top easy to take off and reassemble, the wedge system is merely an asthertic choice. I have moved this table and others like it many times with no troubles. The based is walnut and the table top is bookmatched maple. 38" x 72"

View attachment 245679

Thanks Dan. Made it easy to disassemble as my Daughter's using U-Pack cubes to move and this will allow for more compact packing.