A few weeks ago, SWMBO was talking to me about the table in our room. She wants to be able to do her scrapbook thing on it, but the surface is too rough to write on. Up to now, it hasn't been a problem because its main function has been as a depository for miscellaneous crap. The top had splits along the glue lines and boards that didn't line up at the surface, so it wasn't much good for writing on. In retrospect, I might have saved money and certainly time had I gone to the local glass place and bought a nice glass top for it. But hey, I'm not doing this woodworking thing because I want things cheap and easy, right? So, I bought some 5/4 red oak. I told myself that I wanted practice filling grain. Without going into further details, the top is done and now I need to attach it to the base. Unfortunately, whoever made this table in the past put pocket holes through the top inside of the aprons and screwed into the top all around. Obviously, that didn't allow for much movement, which is perhaps why it was partly in the shape it was in. I normally put a groove along the top inside of the aprons and use a wooden "button" that fits into the groove to attach the top. This would be a cool job for a plow plane, if I had one. I suppose I could use a handheld router with a fence to put in a groove, but I wonder if anyone has any other suggestions on other attachment hardware that might facilitate this?.
todd