She said, "Let there be chairs".. and there were chairs!

[tlt]

That's a beautiful project...and maybe it's just too early for me, but I was rolling from the writeup

[SARGE..g-47]

Morning Tom...

That would work well... When I build something for inside, I have a tendency to make it sturdy enough that when the "First Lady" is out of town, I could just slap some end vises on it and work wwithout having to go down the steps to the shop. ha.. ha...

I assure you that with the size tenons I used on that top, you could set a 55 gallon drum of grits on er... invite some starved guys from the World Wrestlin' Federation over for break-fast and she still isn't going to budge!

I tried a new idea I had for holding the top down. I cut over-lapping biscuit slots (two adjacent for extra lenght) in the largest 2O size on the insides of the strechers. Ripped a piece of stock and cut standard biscuit slots with 6" gaps on it. Cross-cut them down to 3" pieces and glued a #10 biscuit in them. Dipped them in pure poly twice and let them dry. Also pre-drilled a counter-sunk hole in the center to place a #8 wood screw.

Once the top is down and centered, I inserted the biscuit cleats in the slots on the stretchers adjacent to them and screwed the male insert to the top. Those smaller biscuits ride free in those over-sized slots and allow for at least 5/8" expansion or contractions either direction width wise. No actual permanent screws hold the top to the base, only the cleats are screwed and the biscuits ride free. We'll see as the weather changes if it works as I feel it will.

Took one off for a pic and had to shine a flash-ligh underneath to get enough light.. so apologies for poor pics below...

Regards...

[SARGE..g-47]

Thanks TLT...

Hey.. after an old man finally gets rid of the teen-agers, about all he has left is a sense of humor.. Trust me! ha.. ha...

Regards...

[Hosh]

Great Job

Amazing work, someday I hope to be able to tackle a job as difficult and with such craftsmanship!