Dimensions for Small Walnut Dining Table / Seeking Advice

Noah,

As I understand your description, you’re going to create a 36”x48” top and attach legs directly to the top without skirts by using threaded inserts.

I don’t think that you’ll have a flex problem with the top as it’s not normally given a heavy vertical load.

My concern is the leg attachment: I don’t think that simple threaded inserts would hold. Your idea of adding cleats would give a lot more depth for a hanger bolt to engage. But make sure that you allow the cleats to move as the top expands and contracts with seasonal changes in humidity.

In lieu of cleats, you could use surface-mounted attachment plates. (Search Amazon for “leg attachment plates” to see what I mean.) These would give 4 screws per leg rather than a single threaded insert. And, because each plate will only constrain several inches of the top, movement won’t be a problem. But you’d be limited to short screws. You could laminate a 3”-4” square for each plate (that is, glue it on with the grain aligned with the top’s grain) and permit longer screws without risking their breaking through the upper surface.

Either way, without skirts for the legs, the table will be vulnerable to catastrophic failure if you drag it across a carpeted floor—the leg will give a LOT of leverage. So lift it when you need to move it.

Good luck,
Larry

For a leg wothout a skirt it requires a welded insert that goes in the leg and has a plate that can be grooves into the bottom of the table…

You could add support to the legs with pairs of wooden braces from the legs to the top with a screw holding each end. Look at some of Thomas Moser’s furniture to see the concept. If you’re not set up for steam bending, you could laminate them on a form using a rigid glue.

Larry

The tricky thing with tables are the unexpected loads:

- people pushing themselves away
- people using the table to help get out of the chair
- getting bumped and knocked around
- getting drug into position and snagging a leg on a rug or bump in the floor
- moving the table and banging the legs on everything in sight

I’d opt for bracing of some sort

-- Steve - Impatience is Expensive

48 inches is a very wide table. Unless you have a good bordering house reach it’s going to feel uncomfortable.
The wood looks good but you’ll need a plan keep everything from flopping over.

Good Luck

-- Aj

OP said it’s 36” by 48”

48 inches is a very wide table. Unless you have a good bordering house reach it’s going to feel uncomfortable.
The wood looks good but you’ll need a plan keep everything from flopping over.

Good Luck

- Aj2

These are the legs you are going to use?

I think it will work, but the table will not be as sturdy as you might want.
How wide is the top plate on the metal legs? (wider the better)
Also be sure the holes in the top plate are slotted to allow for expansion.

If you could add a foot rail from side to side across the center of the bottom rail of the legs, that would help as well.