Dining room table out of thin lumber

I m a rookie woodworker hoping to make a farmhouse-style dining room table for my family. I have some beautiful cherry lumber that my dad cut and stored 30+ years ago. Problem is, most of it is 7/8 inch thick in rough form, too thin for the typical edge-to-edge glue up for the top. I may have enough lumber to glue two layers together after jointing/planing, which would give me approximately 1 1/2 inch thickness.
Any thoughts/ideas on the best way to construct a table with this material are welcomed.

- Wolfpacker

7/8 inch thick is not too thin for an edge-to-edge glue up. Also, gluing two layers together can lead to some nasty twisting and bowing.

-- Half of what we read or hear about finishing is right. We just don’t know which half! — Bob Flexner

Yep, you can glue these boards edge to edge, using cauls to keep it all flat. If you want a thicker looking profile there are techniques to add a narrow strip of wood to the underside of the edge to double the apparent thickness.

I agree that your stock is thick enough to glue together into a tabletop. How large are you contemplating the top surface?

As suggested, part of your solution can be additional wood around the edges to give the appearance of a thicker table top while using your 7/8” thick stock. This will take a little bit of planning in terms of the actual stock selection to ensure grain matching so that the look of the edges appears to be from thicker material and not a glue up.

Do you have a plan for the ends of the table top? I’ll suggest bread board ends; those are in keeping with the farmhouse style and also eliminate the need to carry the “thicker stock illusion” to end grain.

-- Ray

I recently (Decemeber) began a table project with the same issue. I face laminated my cherry to get a thicker table, which I’m glad I did. There was enough cup in the boards that after jointing, they would certainly have been too thin. I’m not done yet so I can’t tell you yet it was a complete success.

So if you joint the boards and find you have 5/8 or 1/2 well then you’ll have to decide.

-Paul

-- I intended to be a woodworker, but turned into a tool and lumber collector.

A different solition might bee to have a MDF base and use your stock as thick veener with the MDF as the substrate.
You may even resaw your stock to maybe 1/4” or 3/8” as that will probably be thick enough for the top to substain marks, cuts and other abuse for many, many, many years to come.

https://www.woodworkingtrade.com/types-of-wood-veneer-substrates/

-- It’s good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end. - Ursula K. LeGuin