8 Ways to Attach a Table Top to PREVENT CRACKING

a few months back I put out a video on joinery techniques and mentioned how one should not use pocket holes to attach a table top to an apron because of wood movement and lots of people ask so what should we do just like everything when it comes to woodworking there is more than one answer to this and it all just depends on your skill level budget and how much time you're willing to put into the project but there's an option for everyone let's quickly discuss the problem first boards will expand and contract width-wise seasonally when the humidity in the air changes if you simply screw a tabletop to an apron the board will not be able to move with the seasons and it will crack so the first simplest solution is to attach the apron with oversized holes I like to use these pan head screws for something like this because of the broad washer style heads there's more surface area holding the screw in place and it won't compress the wood there's a few things to pay attention to here you want the screw to have enough material to bite into but you don't want to drill through your top so first drill a hole that's larger than the pan head screw with a forstner bit to the perfect depth you need then using the point that the forstner bit left over drill a hole that's a larger than the shank of the screw all the way through I typically will do a test hole put the screw in and line it up in the material to make sure everything is looking good before actually drilling into my work pieces you can see that this allows for the wood to expand and contract with the seasons because the screw can wiggle around in this hole for most cases just using screws into the wood will be fine but if you know the piece will constantly be taken apart and reassembled you can do the same concept with threaded inserts the method is exactly the same only with these there's an added step of installing the inserts by marking them out drilling the correct size hole then screwing them in you can see when I Loosely tighten a bolt into the insert the apron is still wiggling around slightly because of the oversized hole depending on your project you may consider making one hole the exact size of your screws so you can actually control where the top will move like for a tabletop you want the movement to be equal on both sides of the table so you can drill a smaller exact size hole in the center of the shorter stretchers and that acts as the Anchor Point which will force the boards to move in and out from the center point you can also opt to move the Anchor Point to one of the ends like if you know a project will live against a wall like a nightstand or if the project has some sort of feature on the front that you really want to remain flush at all times it really just depends on the project the problem with this method is it's really only easy if your stretchers are quite narrow so if you're using wider material for your stretchers you have to drill holes pretty deep with a forstner bit which just isn't that fun to do so moving on to Method number two adding additional slotted stretchers this is the same basic concept as method number one only with these you have to Mill up more material to make extra stretchers that run across your table top these should be at least three quarter inches thick and the same concept as before drill one anchor hole that's in the center of the table and then make oversized holes or slots on both sides of the anchor hole these slots can be made in a few ways you can drill two holes right next to each other then use a chisel to clear out the pointy bits in between or you can do a plunge cut at the router table or you can use an edge guide with a trim router always options also lots of options to connect these stretchers to your main table frame you can use dowels biscuits dominoes pocket holes mortise and Tenon you get the idea no matter how you connect them the concept is the same the tabletop up is locked down with screws through the holes drilled out and the center hole acts as the Anchor Point and the slots on both sides of it allow the screws to move side to side when the table top expands and contracts just like with method number one if you're worried about stripping the holes due to constantly disassembling and reassembling the pieces you can do the same concept with threaded inserts as I showed before before we move on a quick word from this week's sponsor policy genius all of these methods for attaching table tops are a way to protect your furniture with these methods you don't have to worry about your table tops cracking which is pretty comforting aside from caring about my furniture I also really care about my family and I want that same comforting feeling that they will be protected no matter what life throws at us policy genius is an insurance Marketplace that makes it easy to compare quotes from top companies like AIG and Prudential so you can find find your lowest price on life insurance we pay 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the right policy for you moving along to a few methods that require purchasing extra pieces of Hardware let's start with z-clips these are metal brackets that form a z-shape hence the name and the only caveat when using the z-clips is that you have to think ahead because the easiest way to prepare for their installation is to make a Groove at the table saw before your table is assembled simply use your actual z-clip as a guide for setting up your fence you just want to make sure your blade is in line with the bottom part of the Z then you can use the clip again as a guide for the blade height and make the cut obviously do this on a scrap piece first and make any adjustments if you need to the clip should be able to go into the groove fully and when set down on the tabletop the bottom should sit flush on the surface to install them put them in the grooves then pull them out of the grooves ever so slightly like an eighth or so and use an awl to Mark out the center of the holes then lock the Clips in place with screws you can see here how this works the table top is held in place because the Z shape of the clips this end is just floating in here it's not being held in playset At All by anything but pressure on the groove from the clip being screwed to the top when you look at a mock-up of how these would be installed on a table the clips along the long grain will remain in the same position along the groove but they will be able to move in and out of the groove and that's why I pulled it out about an eighth so there's room for it to go in the clips going across the grain will remain the same depth into the groove but they will be able to move along the groove if need be if you want to use z-clips and you forgot to make the grooves before or assembling your table all is not lost if you have a biscuit joiner you can set that up to cut slots in your aprons at the correct height or you can use a slot cutting bit in your router or use a router with an edge guide and a scrape it or if you don't have any of those you can use figure eight Fasteners that don't require any special tools and can be applied after assembly but there's a catch when using these I'll explain later after I show how to install them line them up on your table apron so most of the round portion is on the wood Mark out the center of the hole and drill them out with a forstner bit just until it's ever so slightly below the wood just keep Drilling and checking and Drilling and checking the whole point of these Fasteners is that they can rotate with seasonal changes so you have to notch out these little points with a chisel so the Fastener can rotate freely Now using the point that the forstner bit left over pre-drill a hole that is then used to lock the Fastener in place or the screw lastly you would put your tabletop on top and lock it in place does anyone see the problem here yet so if you install them on the short stretchers that are going across the grain you have no problem because the wood is moving along the width so these Fasteners are rotating along with the movement now if you put them on the long stretchers that are running with the grain the wood is moving in and out from the apron and that's not how these are designed to work these only pivot side to side not back and forth so you have options here depending on your project you can add additional short stretchers and only attach the Fasteners on those and that totally works or you can still install them on the long stretchers but make sure you install them on a slight angle you can see by angling the Fasteners on insulation I can push this board from side to side which is an exaggerated example of what will happen with wood movement I have done this on a few desks and tables in the past with zero issues at all moving on to something I have never used before but found when I was ordering all this hardware and just thought it looked interesting on Amazon these were just called wood table top expansion brackets I thought they looked cool because it looks like you don't have to prepare any slots or holes to use them but they're also more expensive than the z-clips and the figure eight Fasteners this eight pack was about twelve dollars and it didn't come with screws compare that to the figure eight Fasteners at Woodcraft they're 450 for a pack of 10 which includes the screws and the z-clips elbow craft are also 450 for a pack of eight that also includes the screws I've never used these before so I can attest to their longevity or quality but they intrigue me because of how the slots were laid out one side has the slot running back and forth and the other side the slot is running from side to side I'm just going to assume how you would install these on the short stretchers I would put the slots running side to side facing down towards the table top this would enable the top to move width-wise along the grain for the long stretchers running with the grain I would have flipped them over and install them with the slot running back and forth down towards the table top this would allow the top to move in and out towards the apron or maybe just install them all facing the same direction if you flip these brackets on the short stretchers the screw can still move in the elongated hole that's on the stretcher whatever I think that both could work but these definitely seem like the easiest of the bunch because there's no prep involved only drawback I guess is the price all of these Hardware options are totally fine and acceptable but if you want to impress your friends with your woodworking skills you can make these tabletop buttons these work very similarly to the z-clips the button has a tongue that fits into a mortise in the apron then a screw is inserted and a cam Dr Sun coal connecting it to the table top the button can move side to side because the mortise or the slot is wider than the tongue and the button can move back and forth because there's only pressure holding it in place making these buttons is pretty easy the most important thing to take into account is grain direction if the grain is running across the button it will defeat the purpose of using them as a hold down because they can easily snap along the grain so you have to make them so the grain is running along the button and now it will be super strong all right let's make some buttons you can make them one at a time using a small scrap like this cut a rabbet or Notch at the end creating the tongue then cut to size repeat for the next one that seems pretty tedious to me though so there are a few ways to batch them out the best way would be to find a short wide scrap like this this way you can make a rabbet across the end grain either at the router table people or by taking two passes at the table saw now you can cut them all to length at the same time at the table saw and I would probably add the countersunk holes at this point because the work piece is easy to hold when it's bigger then you can cut them into their individual buttons and you can see how cutting that rabbet on the end grain easily created the tongue with the grain oriented in the correct direction but I don't always have short wide scraps like that so here's another way using long skinny scraps you can use a miter gauge but I'll use a cross cut slide this technique is basically going to be like making a box joint take multiple passes creating a notch going across the grain or use a dado stack if you have one then you can place a pin on your sled that you can butt your work piece against to easily make repeatable notches just keep going down the line until you can't go any longer once again this piece is easier to hold while it's still in a state so I'll drill all the countersunk holes before using the cross cut sled again to cut them to their final shape there are also multiple ways to make the mortise for the buttons you can use chisels or a router I'm gonna demo this using the Domino though because the Domino makes a perfectly sized slots at a fixed distance from the top of the apron so it's a great tool for this job besides for grain Direction the biggest thing to pay attention to here when making these is the distance from the top of the slot in the apron and the thickness of the button you want to make these so that when the tongue is pressed up on the top of the groove there's like a teeny tiny maybe 30 second Gap there that's what's really going to hold your tabletop down now while I was making these I was trying to think of an easy way to accomplish the same thing thing with simpler tools and I think I thought of something where I could incorporate dowels and it would be super simple let's test it out first I'll drill some holes in a scrap that will fit a dowel that I have on hand then cut a long dowel into smaller pieces and I chamferred one end just so that it will go into the apron more easily then I can glue them into the holes I first drilled out just like the other buttons I countersunk some holes while it was still in this larger State then cut them into their individual buttons and they're ready to be installed no measuring here I simply place the buttons on the stretcher so that there will be a slight gap between the top of the button and the bottom of the table top and then I eyeballed the center of the dowel I made a mark and drilled a hole you can see how this works exactly like the other buttons once screwed to the top through the countersunk holes the pressure from the dowel in the apron locks everything together when installing these on the long stretchers I would just make sure to back them out a little bit so the dowel has room to move in and out on the short stretchers going across the grain the dowels would need to move side to side so I drilled two holes next to each other and chiseled out in the center just to keep it simple but this could totally be done with a router or Domino and you can see how the button can now move side to side in the slot so I don't think I've ever seen this done before but I think the concept is pretty cool because you really only need a drill and some hand tools to make them work let me know what you guys think of this one I think they are pretty cool and conceptually I think this totally works all right moving on to the last but not least method a sliding dovetail I mentioned impressing your friends with the tabletop buttons before well a sliding dovetail will even impress your enemies this is the most complicated of the bunch but it's a great traditional way to eliminate breakage in Cross grain attachments I've showed how to make a sliding dovetail many times on my channel but here's a gist cut dados going across the grain of your work piece then use a dovetail bit to make the sides of that dado angled now for your mating piece don't change the height of the bit but make sure to take multiple passes so you can sneak up on your foot obviously this joint can be cut using hand tools as well but I don't have that kind of time but when cutting these you want a friction fit because you don't need to glue these two pieces together you're simply relying on the mechanical strength from the angled sides you can totally use glue though just make sure not to put glue through the entire joint that defeats the purpose of allowing the top to move you really would only want to add glue to one end and this way it will stay in place in one spot and the top can still expand and contract through the whole joint there are definitely more ways to attach a table top that I didn't cover but these are the basics that have been working for me on my projects so I hope this helps you out as well oh and uh let me know what you think of the dowel buttons this seems like a super simple idea that anyone can achieve with minimal tools I think I like it so that's it for this one huge thanks to Woodcraft and policy genius for sponsoring this video and thank you guys so much for watching I will see you on the next one foreign really okay thanks a call that totally could have been a text

Channel: 3x3Custom - Tamar

Views: 170,116

Keywords: how to, table top, wood working, flat table top, how to attach a table top, woodworking projects, woodworking hacks, woodworking diy, woodworking skills, woodworking videos

Id: HNfqnJH5YEA

Length: 19min 19sec (1159 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 09 2022