Pub Tables 5
After the feet were dovetailed and detailed it was time to work on the middle turned leg. The base of the leg came as a giant 6″ x 6″ x 6″ cube from the factory, which was a pleasant surprise because I thought it was going to be turned. No complaints here though, the cube shape made my job easier!
The first step was to route out the middle of the dovetail with a plunge bit. I was not able to use the guides for my router base because they only space out 4″, so I had to get clever. I ended up clamping two board along the sides of the router base to act as guides, hence the four clamps around the router.
Once the middle was routed away, it was time for the dovetail bit. A fence was set up along the side and a stop block was clamped on to ensure I didn’t route to far up the leg.
After two set-ups and eight passes I had four dovetails.
The leg dovetail fits into the dovetail slot routed out of the leg like so. The dovetail joint is one of the strongest joints out there. It takes a fair amount of set-up time to get everything lined up and fitting tight, but once it is done it is near bomb-proof!
I have seen many tables with legs like this one that used two other methods for attaching the feet to the middle leg.
One method uses dowels glued into the leg and the foot to join the two together. This involves less labor but is far inferior. Over time the glue joint or the wood around the glue will fail and the connection will loosen and the table will wobble and tilt.
The second method, I believe, is more work than the dovetailing method, and I am not convinced that its results are any better. It involves hollowing out the center of the middle leg, attaching two lag-screw type bolts to each foot, and connecting the foot to the leg with washers and nuts, which are hidden inside the hollowed out portion of the middle leg. To me this is just to much work, and mechanical fasteners are almost always inferior to a tight joint bonded together with a good wood glue.
A side note: Wood glue, when used correctly, creates such a strong joint that the wood will splinter before the glue fails!
In the case of a dovetail joint, all the stress is trying to pull the foot away from the leg, yet the foot is being held securely not only with wood glue, but also with material from the foot itself! Pretty much a double whammy of strength!
Here is a close up of the base of the leg.
A close up shot of the top of the leg-foot connection.
I wanted to show everyone the turned leg in its entirety. It is absolutely gorgeous! I was a bit afraid that the turnings on the leg would overwhelm the table because they have such a large diameter (close to 6″), but the top reeded portion really seems to give the leg a slimmer feeling overall. Each leg cost a small fortune, constituting half of the total cost, but they will really make these pub tables stand out from all the others!
