Ronn W

Wonderful work. I like it.

Try whatever you decide on a small area first. Good luck.

I have a veritas BU smoother with a 35 deg blade and a 50 degree blade. I love it...and I do use both blades.

Great workmanship. I like it.

I just noticed something. You are right in that the grain is running the wrong direction. YOu have a domino - great. See pics. I think I used the #10 dominos. I posted the project journal on this site, IF you cna't find it here are some domino pics. Leg to top support. top support, legs and base. Notice that the dbl dominos are for leg to top top support connection and the 3 single mortises are for the stretcher to top support connection. I think I used epoxy glue on those because of the grain direction. Not to get too deep into the weeds but, if you stretchers were wide enough you could use dbl dominoes ( maybe smaller ones oriented horizontally one above the other to connect the stretchers to the top support. Kind like my connection of the legs to the base. I will send you a private mesage.

I picture a standard mortise and tenon. Example: If both your stretchers and top support were 3" tall and your stretcher was 1" wide, I would use something like a 2" by 1/2" by 1" deep tenon centered on the end of the stretcher. Located so that the top of the stretcher was flush with the top of the support piece. To answer directly - that would place the top of the mortise 1/2" below the tops of your members. Sorry I don't have a photo, I used dominoes on my table. Hope that helps. BTW, That's a hefty mortise to cut. Assuming you would be using a router for the mortises, I recommend a spiral upcut router bit - a little pricey but worth it.

That's the idea. But I would make the stretchers 3" deep to match the cross members. Stronger - and it allows you to attached the top to the stretchers as well as the cross members. No telling how someone may grab the top and try to lift. BTW - just to be sure double check your knee room.

lI like the dovetail joinery for the stretchers but I am a little concerned that they are only 1 3/4" divided by 3 squares = 5/8" approx thick and 4" wide. They would be much stronger if you couldhave the alrge dimension vertical like the lower stretcher. I realize that that will affect the 1 3/4" dimension of your top support. You might do a sketch showing 3" or 3 1/2" top supports with stretchers of the same depth with mortise and tenon joints of the stretcher to the top support. In the end - It's your call. Deeper top supports and stretchers will not be visible.

The stetcher halfway up sill add a great deal of stability against the table swaying in the long direction. It works in concert with the top stretcher(s). The joints of the stretchers to the legs and the legs to the base and top cross piece need to be nice and rigid like mortise and tenon. I would make it about 5" to 6" tall and 1" thick.

Nice find. Good luck. I am poor at refinishing so will not hazard a guess. I strongly suggest that you stop by Wood craft in Bloomington and talk to Kevin Southwick on Saturday (call first to be sure tha he will be there). He restores and repairs furniture for a living and teaches finishing classes at the store.

Nice looking table. Regarding top stretchers from leg to leg- you mention one but do not shown it. I assume that it is centered on the legs. I would serioulsy consider adding a second stretcher about 12" to 16" off the floor with a mortise and tenon joint into each leg. That will help with racking (sway) a great deal. I will admit that the frame in the attached pic is overly strong, I have 3 top stretchers for reason other than stability. You could get by with one or two top stretchers. Note that my stretchers and cross pices are 3 1/2" wide x 3" tall ( yours are 4" x 1 3/4") .My table was 44" x 96" and while the frame was not to bad to move with 2 people, the top was a bitch and mine was only 1 1 /4" thick ( aobut 180#) I would seriously consider reducing the thickness of the top. I used metal figure 8's to attach the top to the frame and stretchers (a lot of them). This allowed me to transport the table to its final location and then attach the top. Good luck - Fun project,

I use an exacto knife for dovetails - just a regular ole exacto knife. For longer lines or not so tight spaces I use a single bevel knife.

I agree with gluing the center divider fully.

I would consider moving th vise to the left side of the table - that is the left isde of whichever side of the table you will be working from. Reverse if left handed.

LIf you check the end grain in the pics - the grain is a pretty tight circular pattern and the cupping is consistent with normal drying. The wood was not dried enough before if was milled. I would guess that that that board, so close to the center of the tree, would have cupped a little anyway.