Domino tenon joinery for table legs

[LiranB]

Hi all,

I'm about to make a small maple coffee table with three legs.
I'm thinking not to connect between the legs, but instead, each leg will be connected individually to the table top with domino tendons.
Was wondering if anyone ever tried that? Should that be stable and strong enough?

Top and legs should be hard Mable about 1" thick.

 

[ChuckM]

The structure as described will be a weak one. If for whatever reason you don't want stretchers in your table, consider reinforcing the legs with aprons or brackets on the underside of the table. Simple ones can look like those in the images, but you can construct the proper support with angled joinery if so desired (triangular aprons).

 

[squall_line]

"Are you an engineer?"

"No, I'm a woodworker. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night..."  [big grin]  [wink]

 

[ultane]

Remember, the top will swell and shrink over time, so be sure to use the appropriate fasteners that allow for movement to attach the top to the legs. I’ll look for pics on my phone… BRB

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[woodferret]

If you're trying to avoid stretchers, consider making the legs L-shaped to distribute any bending moments on the tenons.  Think of how wall-shelf brackets are designed to take the force of things on the long arm into a wall-compression force on the short one.

 

[derekcohen]

Hi all,

I'm about to make a small maple coffee table with three legs.
I'm thinking not to connect between the legs, but instead, each leg will be connected individually to the table top with domino tendons.
Was wondering if anyone ever tried that? Should that be stable and strong enough?

Top and legs should be hard Mable about 1" thick.

Liran

Imagine that you were not using dominos to do this. What would you do differently? Where are the stress loads? How would you deal with these. How does wood movement impact on this?

Regards from Perth

Derek