In pioneer days, people rarely had access to ready-made furniture, so they often made their own dining room tables and seating. You can do this, too, with simple wood-working tools and inexpensive materials like pine boards and studs, to create a sturdy and comfortable dining room staple-- a trestle table and benches.
Instructions
Building the Trestle Table
1. Cut four 1 inch by 8 inch pine boards to the length of your desired table top-minus 15 inches. Use boards relatively free of deep knots, have clean edges and are very not cupped or curling. Add as many 1x8 boards as you need for the width you want.
2. Look at one end of these boards. You will see the pattern of the wood grain and its direction. Turn boards over until all have wood grains pointing upwards.
3. Space these boards side by side, as closely as possible. Line them up evenly at the bottom. They must be exactly the same length. Measure 12 inches in from each end and draw a line across all the boards.
4. Cut two 2 inch by 4 inch pine boards to the width of your table top-minus 7 ½ inches.
5. Lay these 2x4s across the tabletop boards at the mark lines. Connect the 2x4s and the table top boards with 1 1/2-inch wood screws-from the underside of the 2x4s and the table top boards, not down through the top. Push the table top boards as close together as possible, as you connect them with the 2x4s. Turn this joined tabletop over.
6. Rout or sand the edges of the tabletop so they are smooth and to prevent splintering. Use iron-on wood edging tape to finish the rough edges.
7. Cut two 2 inch by 4 inch studs to the same width as the table top-minus 12 inches-to create two "feet" for your trestle table support columns. Sand or rout the edges.
8. Cut two 2 inch by 12 inch boards to 27 inches to create two support "legs."
9. Position one support leg on top of one of the feet boards so the support board is in the center of the foot board. Center it end to end and side to side. Draw a line around this support leg onto the foot board. Repeat this for the other foot board.
10. Mark two drill hole locations in the center of this drawing outline on the foot boards. Drill ¾-inch diameter holes through these marks, to a depth of one inch. Counter sink these holes to accept ¾ inch diameter hex screws.
11. Drill corresponding pilot holes (to a depth of about two inches) to accept a ¾ inch diameter hex screws, in one end of each support leg,
12. Connect the feet to the support legs (from the underside of the feet) using ¾-inch diameter hex screws three inches long.
13. Lay the ends of the tabletop assembly over two sawhorses or have two assistants hold the tabletop in position at about table height. Position the support legs (with attached feet) under the table top so that the tops of these legs rest against the inside of the boards used to join the table top boards together. Legs should be spaced 15 or 16 inches in from the end of the table top and should "face" each other.
14. Join the tops of the legs to the under-table boards using 2 inch wood screws. Drill pilot holes if necessary.
15. Measure the distance between the inside of the two opposing legs, being sure to measure the distance with the legs perfectly square to the floor and the tabletop. Cut a 2 inch by 8 inch pine board to this length to create a "cross brace".
16. Mark where the cross brace should be placed to connect the two legs to create the center cross piece of a wide "H" pattern. This should be 12 inches from the floor.
17.Drill a ¾-inch diameter pilot hole on the outsides of the two legs and counter sink the holes to about ½ inch. Drive ¾ inch diameter hex screws, three inches long, through these holes and into the cross brace board. Place a counter sink wood plug over both holes.
Building the Trestle Benches
18. Cut two 2 inch by 8 inch pine boards to a suitable length for benches. Join these two boards tightly together, side by side, to create a 15-inch wide bench. Use four or more 12 inch long 1 inch by 4 inch dimensional lumber pine boards to form the underside "joiner" boards to hold the seat boards together just as you did for the table. Place the joiner boards on the underside of the seat boards, evenly spaced, and screw them into the bench boards with 1¼-inch wood screws.
19. Cut two 17-inch long end panels for the benches out of 2 inch by 8 inch pine boards.
20. Cut "feet" for these end panels from 2 inch by 4 inch pine boards, similar to the "feet" for the trestle table base. These feet should be nine inches long. Connect one foot board to the bottom of a bench end panel the way you connected the feet to the legs on the trestle table. The end panel should be centered in the middle of the foot board with ¾ of an inch of the foot board exposed on either side of the bench panel.
21. Connect the two end panels with a cross brace cut from 2x4 lumber. Make sure the bench panels are square. Mount the cross brace inside the end panels just like the trestle table board.
22. Center the bench seat on top of this bench "trestle," resting the joiner boards on the underside of the bench seat against the end panels. Connect end panels to the seat with wood screws.
Final Steps
23. Build a second identical trestle bench.
24. Sand both benches thoroughly, rounding off the edges in particular, to avoid painful splinters behind the knees when seated. Cut off or sand off the ends of the bench feet and the table feet so all are angled or rounded at the exposed "toes" of the feet. This will make sliding the benches in and out from the table easier.
25. Paint or stain your trestle table and benches to suit.
Tags: inch inch, pine boards, cross brace, foot board, , inch pine, inch pine boards