On another forum, a member is planning a cherry trestle table. The top will be 6/4 Cherry, 42" wide, 96" long. The span between both legs will be 60". The question is whether the center should be supported from sagging.
A member replies to this as follows:
"This depends on a lot of factors. I doubt you'll get any sag in the middle of the table but I would support it anyway and maybe even shim it slightly so that the table has a very slight crown. The reason is this: our eyes play tricks on us. A long table can be perfectly flat with a straight edge but our eyes will see a sag. On long tables you actually want to build it with a very slight crown so it will appear flat. The Greeks knew this when they built the Parthenon, the middle of the floor of the Parthenon is actually about 6" higher than the edges to account for our eyes to see straight lines as dipping in the middle."
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A member replies to this as follows:
"This depends on a lot of factors. I doubt you'll get any sag in the middle of the table but I would support it anyway and maybe even shim it slightly so that the table has a very slight crown. The reason is this: our eyes play tricks on us. A long table can be perfectly flat with a straight edge but our eyes will see a sag. On long tables you actually want to build it with a very slight crown so it will appear flat. The Greeks knew this when they built the Parthenon, the middle of the floor of the Parthenon is actually about 6" higher than the edges to account for our eyes to see straight lines as dipping in the middle."
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