coffee table shelf design question

I'm looking for some opinions on a design question.

I've got an Ikea coffee table out of solid pine. In cross section, the legs are a bit over 2" square. I'm planning on adding a shelf to the table to make it easier to clean up when company comes over (or perhaps more realistically, to accumulate more stuff).

The question that I've got is how to support the shelf, given that it wasn't originally designed for one.

I was considering cutting a 3/4" high slot into the inside corner of each of the legs. Viewed from above, the cutout would be about 1" square, or about 1/4 of the total cross section of the leg.

What would you call this slot anyways? It's kind of like a mortise, but it's on a corner, and there really isn't a matching tenon. Is it kind of a wierd dado?

Has anyone seen anything like this? I expect I'd have to reinforce the underside of the shelf, given that it will just be 3/4 pine.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Friesen
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Well, Chris, it is called The Schlobotnik. Named after Igor Duncan Schlobotnik. (The Duncan comes from his mother's side, she was British.) Born in Lithuania, he emigrated to Saskatchewan to study mountain climbing. Always the rebellious kind, he always went against his father's wishes. So when his father told him "never to cut corners"....well... the rest is history.

I was going to Google this silliness, just to see if the name actually existed, but I had already hit the send button.

Dude... it's weekend already.....

Reply to
Robatoy

Be ready to assemble/glue-up the shelf, and half the legs and aprons at the same time and, if the shelf is made with solid wood, be prepared to handle the inevitable cross grain wood movement which will eventually cause problems if not addressed.

Fairly common practice, but probably not the best, starting with the first above.

Actually, and if you're bent on doing it this way, you don't even need to make the dado square. Just use a dado blade or router bit, along with a jig to hold the inside corner of the leg perpendicular to the router/saw table while it is being cut. Then trim the corners of the shelf at 45 degrees to match the dado in the legs.

A simpler solution is to mortise and tenon a 'stretcher' at the appropriate height between the legs on each end, then attach a cleat to the inside of each stretcher to act as a base/shelf for the ends of the spanning shelf. The shelf is then fastened, by screws with slotted screw holes to accommodate wood movement in the shelf, from beneath the cleats.

FWIW, the latter is the way many of the old time table makers, including the Stickley's, et al, solved the problem of a solid wood shelf below the top and between the legs of a table.

Reply to
Swingman

Picture being worth beaucoup words ...

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Reply to
Swingman

appropriate

That is of course, that your Ikea table, like most Ikea items, can be disassembled. If not disregard.

Reply to
Swingman

Fri, Nov 18, 2005, 5:01pm (EST-1) snipped-for-privacy@mail.usask.ca (Chris=A0Friesen) just had to ask: how to support the shelf, given that it wasn't originally designed for one.

Cut a notch in each corner of the shelf. Cut 8 triangle shapes, 2 to go on the inside corners of each leg, as long as the height you want the shelf to be. Flip the table - it'd be hard to put the shelf in once the supports are glued on. Set the shelf in place. Glue the triangle shape on, clamp 'em, or a couple of brads, "just until the glue sets", flip the table, and the shelf goes right in place. Or, you could nail them, instead of gluing. Or, drill holes, and use dowels, to be a bit fancy, with glue, of course. Don't ask, just go ahead and do it, anyway you figure it will work.

JOAT Just pretend I'm not here. That's what I'm doing.

Reply to
J T

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