Bread Board End Question

[Belle City WW]

I am currently building a 9' x 45" Farm table.  My question is, what is the rule of thumb for the breadboard end?  If the finished table size is 9', what portion of that should be the breadboard end?

Thanks a bunch!

John

[Chet]

This may seem a little goofy but I did a prototype of sorts on the dining table I recently built.  We bought chairs that we liked and I built a table to match.  While we were shopping for chairs I took note of table sizes and dimensions of the breadboard ends on each of the tables and came away with a rough ratio of 9-10%. So with you example your table being 108 inches long you might start your thinking with 9 or 10 inch breadboards, main top being 90 inches and he breadboards 9 inches each.  Now here is were some may thing what I did was goofy.  With chalk and a straight edge I drew the overall dimensions that I wanted for my table top on the driveway, yes the driveway because it was the biggest surface I had.  Then I drew in different size breadboards until I had something that was appealing to the eye from all sides.  On my 65 inch table I ended up with 7 1/2 inch breadboards.

I am sure someone here will come in with the proper math and you will be able to figure yours out in a less public way then drawing on your driveway. 

[Isaac]

I'm thinking this is mostly a matter of proportions and taste, right? A 45" table could be made of 5 - 9" wide planks or 6 - 7.5" planks, for example, so one option would be to match the breadboard width to your plank width, which, if nothing else, would probably be efficient in your production process and generally falls within the range Chet described above. 

On the other hand, those actually both seem like pretty wide breadboards to me. You could mock this up in sketchup to see the proportions pretty easily and decide if it looks right. 

[Belle City WW]

This is the top which I am still working on.

And as you can see each plank is a little different in size necessitated by the fact that I only had enough recycled barn lumber to make the top this way.

[Belle City WW]

I was thinking 8-10" for the breadboards but I wanted to check to make sure before I go cutting this up

[G Ragatz]

Handsome top.

Try googling "farm table breadboard ends."  You'll get a lot of pictures.  Look them over, and see what appeals to you.  There doesn't appear to be a common standard - some where each end is close to 20% of the overall table length, and some where each end is maybe 5% of the overall length.

[Chestnut]

Personal opinion i'd like them to be smaller. obviously you are limited to some extent to the lumber you can source an 11" breadboard is going to be tricky to source. My initial thought was 6-7".

Also i wouldn't think of it relative to the length but to the width. A long narrow table with a n 11" breadbaord would look more goofy than a table that is wider but shorter.

[gee-dub]

If breadboards get too wide they start to look unattractive to me so this is a matter of taste.  For a table 9 feet long I would not try to proportion the breadboards to the table, I would proportion them to the aprons and legs.  For example, a table 5 feet long might have legs 2" square.  If I make the table 9 feet long I do not make the legs 3-1/2" square as they start to look clunky to me. Likewise, aprons of 3" to 4" would not become 5" to 6" in width due to a large field on the table top. YMMV.

[Belle City WW]

Here is a pic of the Legs for the table top:  Close to 4" Square.....

 

[gee-dub]

3 hours ago, Belle City WW said:

Here is a pic of the Legs for the table top:  Close to 4" Square.....

 

 

Fit for a king.  That's what I get for picturing something in my head when talking about how big "clunky" is .  I was picturing four straight legs.  My point still applies despite my misstep. I would scale your breadboards off of your legs and aprons.  Sketch Up is a great tool for this sort of "what-if" planning.  The need for that in a compressed timeline is actually what drove me to learn it .

[Belle City WW]

I still need to learn sketch up

[Wimayo]

I think it is good to think in terms of proportions. However, I think there is something else to consider. Typically, breadboards ends are not glued over their entire length. There strength depends on the tongue and groove and any pegs that are put in place. Therefore , I would be inclined to make the end narrower to limit the amount of leverage on the edge that could stress the joint. IMO, the width of the long edge boards you are using would look fine and not be too wide.

[Belle City WW]

26 minutes ago, Wimayo said:

I think it is good to think in terms of proportions. However, I think there is something else to consider. Typically, breadboards ends are not glued over their entire length. There strength depends on the tongue and groove and any pegs that are put in place. Therefore , I would be inclined to make the end narrower to limit the amount of leverage on the edge that could stress the joint. IMO, the width of the long edge boards you are using would look fine and not be too wide.

Thank you for that info!

[Ronn W]

You have to consider the thicknes of the table top and, closely related, the thickness of the mortises of the bread board ends.  If someone tries to lift the table by grabbing the ends,  will it hold?  I made a table of 1 1/4" white oak (44" x 96") with 6" bread board ends and I was a little nervous about lifting it by the ends with the base attached, but it held.

Aside, for futurereference. The weak point in my design was the center breadboard.  It's fine in place becuse it si suported from below but if you try to lift the top alone from the ends there if too much flex.

[Chet]

Great picture Ronn.  I think it is great when we manage to get our grandkids in to the picture while discussing ins and outs of woodworking.

[Belle City WW]

I agree, Great picture Ronn.

And thanks to all for your insight and advice.  I really appreciate it.

John