My question is, will it be strong enough for a person of say 200 pounds to sit on? It would all be 3/4 material, probably Oak or Maple, fastened with 3/8" dowels.
Quick answer--as long as you don't manage to screw up some detail in a major way, yes. You don't show how the apron is attached to the legs--dowels or mortise-and-tenon would be good there.
A useful tool:
Shows less than .01 inch deflection on your aprons with 200 lb center load.
Looks like it would take considerable weight if properly glued and screwed. Deflection is also a function of span. It is was me, I'd cut it down to 37 15/16
I would say yes - hardwood is pretty strong. However, *I* would use mortise and tenons instead of dowels, unless you're specifically using oak/maple dowels, because overkill is the best kill, and because I have the tools to make them already :-)
If you use M&T for the apron to leg joint, and the seat slats, it will probably be stronger than your floor.
You could also use a half-blind dovetail on the slats (visible from the top, of course), if you want to try something fancy :-)
I think it could easily handle 500 lbs.
So I wouldn't be safe rounding it UP to 37-1/2?
:)
That many mortises would overtax my tool, time and skill complement. And I don't have a Domino either.
My floor is a slab of concrete. :)
I'd have to eat better and exercise more to live long enough to complete that. I'll be it would look pretty cool though.
Great. I can have seconds on the potatoes then. :)
It may needs more diagonal bracing, to prevent racking sideways under load. People don't always sit straight either.
A back sheet or helf sheet of wood would do it.
Joe Gwinn
Think of it as an exercise in making jigs :-)
My basement floor is a 4" slab of concrete. It has cracks in it.
The piece I used that on (actually I was teaching someone else how to do it), I used a Leigh D4. Setup was tricky, but yeah, it looked pretty cool.
I was thinking a small elephant. M&T joints for sure, a small elephant.
I love bringing this up now and again. ;~)
I used Domino's but I think a few dowels in each joint would have worked just as well. Domino's were much faster.
Dominos holding your cheeks together? That musta hurt!
;~)
I think Domino's would be more like mortise and tenons and just as strong. Dowels not so much. Still more than strong enough for Greg's purpose, just harder to use, and slower than domino's. I'm not a big fan of dowels other than a perch for my bird feeders:-)
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