My mother gave me an oak dining table that looks nice, but was not exactly sound, structurally. For many years it did duty in the library of the school where my mom taught, and eventually became principal.
At any rate, she bought it at a surplus sale, stripped the paint off it, brushed on a couple coats of poly and gave it to me. It served me well for a few years, but the structure itself was (pardon the pun) on its last legs. After a move from balmy southern Louisiana to a slightly less humid northern Ohio, the thing just fell apart. The table top joints all gave, and careless handling by me and hundreds of elementary school students over the years have left the table legs loose in their sockets.
The table top boards are T&G and are all screwed into the apron (duh) and the apron is just a 1x6 that stops short of each corner, leaving room for the leg. Stiffening the apron (was) four pressed sheetmetal gussets with a hole in the center. A hanger bolt went into the table leg and had a nut that tightened the hanger bolt to the gusset, therefore pulling the leg into the apron. Does that make sense?
Anyhoo, one of the gussets just fell out, and the other ones have been deformed due to tightening and tightening over the years. As for the table top, there is some nasty-looking glue-type residue on the table top boards, and I wonder if the tongues and grooves can be salvaged.
As for fixes, I was thinking that I would just rip off a little of the edges of the table top boards and re-glue. Do I need biscuits? For the legs, what? Replace the sheetmetal gussets with wood, screw and glue in place and just get longer hanger bolts? As for securing the top to the apron, just one screw in the center of the apron? That doesn't seem sound, structurally speaking. A groove and cleats? Also, do I need (or do I want) another stringer running across the grain of the table top for additional stiffness?
Sorry for the long-windedness, and thanks for the pointers, as always.
-Phil Crow