Attaching skirt to the tabletop

[smorris]

First let me thank everyone who gave advice on making the bent lamination's. First one was scrap but I figured out what I did wrong and the next 2 came out great. Band clamps, and the right glue did the job, had about 1.5 inch of spring back on a 22" radius.

Now to mount the skirt. I have a few ideas but need some feedback on how best to do this part. The table top is a 24" radius 1 1/4" thick, the skirts are 22" on the inside radius and are 3/4" thick x 2" wide. My thought are:

1) Route a channel with a 22" inside radius 1/4" deep on the bottom of the tabletop, glue the skirt into this channel. Difficult to get exactly right perhaps and I worry about the skirt not remaining square. Maybe put glue blocks on the back to keep it square. This is probably over engineering.

2) Glue and screw profiled blocks to the tabletops bottom and glue the skirt to them. Kinda ugly if someone looks at the bottom but then who's going to do that.

3) Pocket screw the skirt to the bottom. Will this work with the lamination's? There will be some not insubstantial force when I force the spring back into the proper radius.

4) Some other method I've not considered...

FYI, tabletop is solid mahogany, skirts are 5 ash strips 1/8" thick with a 1/8" mahogany veneer if that matters.

Thanks,
Scott

[atgcpaul]

Do #3 or my choice, "figure 8" fasteners. They are so easy to use.

http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/i...OD&ProdID=6801

You can also route a groove in the table skirt, then make little wood blocks
with a lip that fits into the groove. Screw the wood blocks into the bottom
of the table. Do NOT glue the skirt to the table.

What glue did you end up using on your bent lam? I suggested DAP weldwood
and I hope I didn't steer you wrong. 1.5" springback on your radius is more
than what I would have expected using Weldwood.

Paul

[LCHIEN]

routing a channel for the apron sounds really hard and fraught with dangers,
your 2nd and 3rd choices lead to hard-mounted tops which can be an expansion/contraction problem. To mount table tops to aprons, means are usually used which allow some movement of the top relative to the apron. The easiest is the table top fasteners (z-clips) they're like 8 for $2 at Rockler and made for this. I use a biscuit joiner to cut slots in the apron to receive the clips, make the step to the slot just a teeny bit higher than the step in the Z-clip to keep some tension.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=784

If you want to avoid metal store bought hardware for more hand-made crafting, you can make some clips of your own: cut a 1/2" x 1" strip of wood a couple of feet long, cut a rabbet (about 5/16") in it and cut into 1-1/2 long pieces drill a hole in the body and make some receiving slots in the apron for the tip of the rabbet.

P.S. Paul's suggestion for the figure 8 connectors is also good.

[smorris]

I ended up using the DAP Weldwood plastic resin. I was easy to mix and gave me enough open time to muddle my way through what I needed to do. I rapidly discovered that an extra set of hands was VERY handy. I also discovered that it is a very messy process.LOL

Good points on the wood movement. Hadn't considered that. I used clips like you both mentioned on the last table I made, that should have occurred to me. Thanks for getting my mind back in gear.

[cabinetman]

Another method is to drill a slightly over sized hole straight through the apron. Countersink the hole on the underside of the apron with a flat bottom. Use a pan head screw and a small washer to screw the apron straight into the bottom of the top. This will allow top movement, and is enough of a restraint to guide the springback. I wouldn't use glue. It doesn't take a whole lot to make this fastening.
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