Attaching Table Tops / Shelves

[jackcmorgan]

Hi,

I have found numerous posts regarding how to attach a tabletop to a base which I think I have finally figured out. The question I have is, what about attaching a shelf? I am building a mission style end table out of red oak, 18x18 inches and am constructing the bottom shelf out of 1x2 (not glued together). This bottom shelf will be surrounded by the rails. I was only leaving about a 64th on each side and front/back and was planning on attaching the 1x2 using strips of wood glued to the rail and then gluing the individual pieces of 1x2 down onto this strip (I hope you know what I mean). Is this something I have to worry about? Should this shelf float like the top or should I leave a gap between the rails and the shelf?

[SonomaProducts.com]

The description is a little hard to follow but the concept of accounting for expansion has to do with the width of a board and so 2" wide strips don't need any room. The expansion is anticipated as a percentage of width and even if you had 10% expansion across 2" it likely wouldn't be enough force to break anything and could be cover by compression of the wood.

However, hearing that the slats will be held down only by glue to a cross strip doesn't sound wise. I would screw or nail up through the botton of the cross strip or forego the cross strip al together and use pocket screws at the end of each slat. I've done this several times. I put the table upside down and clamp a temporary cross strip to lay the slats on at the right location and pocket screw from the bottom.

You can see an example here

click on picture for a larger view.

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