Jonathan McCully

Got the four boards finished yesterday, just in time for leaving to head home for the holidays. Ran a 1/4” roundover around all the edges and put a recess on either end for hand holds. Finished them off with a mineral oil-beeswax mixture. Pretty happy with the result of the project and expect that my family will be too.

Beautifully done. I'm a huge coffee nut. Will have to put this on my list of future projects and possibly gifts. Love the mitered drawer, hides it nicely in the bottom. Great idea.

What size dominos did you use on yours and were your stretchers that large? i definitely have some hefty mortises to cut and do plan to use a spiral upcut bit, but also have a domino. Didn’t expect the dominos to be enough for this though and was expecting to cut these out Your description makes sense by the way. I wasn’t thinking entirely clearly last evening and was somehow picturing a 3” x3” stretcher with a 3” tenon as well. Not sure why my mind jumped there but it did. Thanks for the help

This may sound like a silly question, but would that essentially mean that the mortise would be open on the top and bottom right? Kinda like a large dado (except it’s not running with the grain)? Again, I know it’s a strange question, but I’ve only ever done a traditional M&T and this seems a bit different.

Is this kinda what you were suggesting Ronn? I appreciate all of the suggestions you both have been giving me btw. Really helpful as I think through this.

Sorry, misunderstood you. And I know what you mean about hitting your legs. I’m always stretching my legs out (I’m 6’3”), but I think the width should be enough to keep people from hitting knees.

Here are a couple more of my drawings which may help visualization of what I’m describing. My current plan is to do the entire build without hardware, so my thought is to attach the top to the base with through dowels on the top support and anchor blocks attached to the bottom of the table top. That’s what the larger circles theough the top support are for.

I understand that I didn’t include all of my drawings. I have a single stretcher planned between the two legs about halfway up that will M&T into the open section of the leg between where the knees are joined (if that makes any sense). I’m not sure that this stretcher will provide much structural help, much like what Nut was saying. i actually have two stretchers across the top planned and was questioning if a third might be beneficial for such a wide tabletop. Ill definitely keep a thinner top in mind. I’m not sure all of my wood is exactly 8/4 anyway and will lose some thickness with milling.

Thanks for the assist Nut. I’ve already secured the wood and have it stickered in my shop. I’ll include a picture of it when I start my journal for this build. The plan is to do this in two pieces, the top and the base with either some knockdown hardware or through dowels to hold the two pieces together. And yes, all of those circles are for drawbores. The legs and feet are planned 4”x4”. i agree with your concern about the style of table, however, this is what my wife wants after quite a bit of research, so I’m happy to oblige. Big question is, will this style support the table top well or do I need to design with two legs on either side?

I know that this isn’t a new topic per se, as people are frequently posting about their trestle table builds, but I didn’t want to hijack someone’s project journal in order to ask my question. I’m going to build a trestle style table after the first of the year out of air dried walnut. Plan is for a 45” width for the table top and 96” length. My hope is to build this with one solid leg on either end according to the plans I’ve attached. The legs would be laminated 8/4 walnut, so around 4” in thickness and I would have two 4” wide top stretchers and a center stretcher between the two legs that is 2” in thickness. There will be an overhang of 16” on either side of the leg with 56 1/4” between the legs. What I’m wanting to know is if you all think that these two beefy legs will be enough to support the width of the top? I really like the style of these legs with the cross shape of the 4 knees and would like to stick with the design if I can provide enough support. Perhaps an additional top stretcher would be helpful? Looking for any help you guys can provide. Thanks.

Sounds like I don’t need to spend exorbant amounts of money here, although I really like that Blue Spruce cocobollo one and the fact that you can buy additional blades of varying sizes to switch in and out of that one

I’m putting together a wish list for Christmas and feel like I could potentially benefit from having a marking knife in my shop. Based on the research I’ve done, it seems that most of the selection is based on personal preference, but I thought I’d see what you all have and if you have any tips on selecting one. Thanks.

I definitely get nervous about getting startled as well. I work in the garage attached to the house, so there are two means of entry and I have 4 small children (6 and under) who don’t always listen when I tell them to stay out. I like the suggestions about having someone circle around into your peripheral vision as I’m not sure I’d hear a yell over the tool, DC, and my hearing protection

Should be able to. Most newer printers can connect to devices over the WiFi network. I’m pretty sure you can also buy an adaptor for the iPad that will allow you to connect a USB to it. If it’s an old dot matrix though, not sure you can make that work

I bought a program for the computer called Cutting Board Designer or something like that and played with a bunch of different designs, but my wife liked this one best (and it’s really her opinion that matters most). Was a nice program though. Gives you a picture of what the board would look like based on your wood selection, size of the cut strips and how you choose to configure the strips. Then it will give you a printout plan of how to build it. Not completely necessary for building a board like this, but I was having trouble visualizing what it would look like in the end.