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Build an attractive trestle table for about $100.00, in an hour and a half, using common materials, and minimum number of tools. It is suitable for dining or as a work table. It can can be set up or taken apart in a minute or two, using no tools, and stores compactly.
There are several holes to drill, but absolute precision isn't necessary, and a hand-held drill will work fine.
This version is 30" high, 36" wide, and 80" long. It seats 6 comfortably, and 8 in a pinch. It is also easily re-sized. If you would like material dimensions for other finished sizes, just leave a comment or PM me. Comments and ratings are more than welcome.
For a similar shelving unit, click here.
For a similar platform bed, click here.
As a professional carpenter, furniture maker, and designer/builder, I see a lot of home carpentry projects that are grossly overbuilt and over-engineered. One of the goals of this Instructable is to avoid the unnecessary overbuilding that I frequently see on this site, and that I see every day working in the residential construction industry. Many of the building methods we (in the US) use today are horribly wasteful despite the advances that have been made in materials science and structural engineering, because most people in the residential building industry, from architects and engineers to carpenters, are mired in tradition, doing things a certain way "because that is how it has always been done", rather than consulting the best available science, or even questioning their own assumptions about "the right way to do it". I don't intend to knock tradition, either. Many of the tricks, techniques, and tools that I use daily are definitely "old-school", but seem to have been forgotten.
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Signing UpStep 1Tools and Materials
Tools:
Skillsaw, handsaw miter box, or power miter saw
Tape measure
Drill (drill motor)
1/8" (#10) countersinking bit, or just an 1/8" bit
1/2" drill bit
Screwdriver (hand or power)
Pencil
Square (if you are using a Skillsaw)
Optional: Jigsaw or bandsaw
Materials:
(1) 10' 2 x 4
(2) 8' 2 x 6
(24) 3" #10 wood screws
18" 1/2" dowel
(4) screw-on rubber furniture feet
(1) 3'-0" x 6'-8" x 1-3/8" flush, solid-core door slab
A small amount of wood glue, or just regular white glue.
A note on screws: I am a professional carpenter and furniture maker, and I make things easier on myself by NEVER using Phillips head screws. The Phillips head was designed to "cam out" at a fairly low torque for assembly line work before the advent of adjustable torque limiting drill/drivers. I use only Robertson square drive or Torx head screws, and save myself a lot of time and frustration.
Solid-core door slabs of this size are sometimes normal "stock" items at the lumberyard, but you may have to order it. Make sure that you specify very clearly that you want "an un-bored, un-mortised flush door slab, with no jamb". You can even order a pre-finished slab for a few bucks more, and save yourself some work. Different species of wood are available. I used plain old birch.
The 2x material can be of any species, but take a few extra minutes to pick straight and attractive boards.
The finish on the table is optional, and up to you. I spent about $50.00 on stain, varnish, and sandpaper. The top is simply varnished (3 coats), the trestles are Minwax Ebony, and the stretcher is Minwax English Chestnut (with 2 coats of varnish). I used Sherwin-Williams satin Oil-based varnish, but a wipe-on polyurethane would be easier, as would a spray lacquer like Deft. Sand the bare wood with 120-grit paper, no finer, and follow the instructions supplied by the manufacturer of whatever finish you choose. If you choose to finish the table, you should clearcoat every surface of each piece, but you only have to stain the surfaces that show.
Skillsaw, handsaw miter box, or power miter saw
Tape measure
Drill (drill motor)
1/8" (#10) countersinking bit, or just an 1/8" bit
1/2" drill bit
Screwdriver (hand or power)
Pencil
Square (if you are using a Skillsaw)
Optional: Jigsaw or bandsaw
Materials:
(1) 10' 2 x 4
(2) 8' 2 x 6
(24) 3" #10 wood screws
18" 1/2" dowel
(4) screw-on rubber furniture feet
(1) 3'-0" x 6'-8" x 1-3/8" flush, solid-core door slab
A small amount of wood glue, or just regular white glue.
A note on screws: I am a professional carpenter and furniture maker, and I make things easier on myself by NEVER using Phillips head screws. The Phillips head was designed to "cam out" at a fairly low torque for assembly line work before the advent of adjustable torque limiting drill/drivers. I use only Robertson square drive or Torx head screws, and save myself a lot of time and frustration.
Solid-core door slabs of this size are sometimes normal "stock" items at the lumberyard, but you may have to order it. Make sure that you specify very clearly that you want "an un-bored, un-mortised flush door slab, with no jamb". You can even order a pre-finished slab for a few bucks more, and save yourself some work. Different species of wood are available. I used plain old birch.
The 2x material can be of any species, but take a few extra minutes to pick straight and attractive boards.
The finish on the table is optional, and up to you. I spent about $50.00 on stain, varnish, and sandpaper. The top is simply varnished (3 coats), the trestles are Minwax Ebony, and the stretcher is Minwax English Chestnut (with 2 coats of varnish). I used Sherwin-Williams satin Oil-based varnish, but a wipe-on polyurethane would be easier, as would a spray lacquer like Deft. Sand the bare wood with 120-grit paper, no finer, and follow the instructions supplied by the manufacturer of whatever finish you choose. If you choose to finish the table, you should clearcoat every surface of each piece, but you only have to stain the surfaces that show.
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What did you use for the stain on the trestles? I'm building a dining room table and matching buffet and I want to have a dark brown stain, and I want barely any grain showing as I am using cheap lumber.
The solid core door is the easiest, most affordable tabletop I can think of.
Pics attached including one of table in pieces minus tabletop:
The "foot" of the trestle is a bit less than elegant, to my eye -- but immensely practical; unlike fancier designs, it's unlikely to interfere when you're trying to squeeze more chairs around the table.
(This is the first place that the instructions have been less than 100% clear to me. Excellent descriptions and photos.)
2 x 4 3.55
2 x 6s 8.46
Dowel 2.59
Could you possibly add another picture of the table broken down as if preparing to move? Thanks.
This deserves the name "nomadic furniture" but is more beautiful than most in that category. With appropriate scaling of the component parts, and the ability to produce different sized tops, this design could be desk, dining table, end table, coffee table or tv stand. It would be way overbuilt for most uses, but pretty to look at and easy to transport.
2) I'm traveling right now, but I'll post one when I get back. It looks like two trestles, a top, and a stretcher.
Case in point: you're using measurement to locate the dowel holes along the edges of the 2x6's. If the dowels are to fit, these holes need to be precisely located. I'd only measure to locate the holes along one of each of the pairs of 2x6's, then I'd use dowel centers to transfer the locations to the other.
Ditto for the holes in the 2x4's that are supposed to match the dowel holes in the ends of the 2x6's. I'd use measurement to locate the center of each 2x6, drill the hole, and then use a dowel center to transfer the location to the matching 2x4.
I find I make fewer errors, the less measurement I do.
The dowel holes in the 2 x 4s line up with the holes in the tabletop, not with the 2 x 6s. There are no holes in the ends of the 2 x 6s.
Measurement is the source of errors. I avoid it when possible. But then your i'ble is about the design, not about the construction techniques, so perhaps my digression is inappropriate.
Are you sure about the holes in the ends of the 2x6's? Photos 3 and 5 of step 5 look like you're drilling holes in the ends of 2x6's, and you have to have some mechanical joinery between the vertical 2x6's and the horizontal 2x4s.
I do have one question about the design, though. How is the long horizontal stretcher fastened to the vertical legs? Some of your stretcher designs have notches, but some do not. How do you transfer horizontal pressure against the legs into tension on the stretcher?
There are holes in the ends of the "center post", but the 2 x 4s are connected to the 2 x 6 uprights with screws.
The stretcher slips between the upright 2 x 6s, and between the cross-dowels, but just barely, and only when the two components are nearly perpendicular. When the trestles are angled, the dowels cam against the top and bottom of the stretcher, locking it in place. When the top and center post are installed they keep the trestles from moving back towards perpendicular.
The stretchers illustrated have no notches, merely decorative cutouts. Ditto for the actual stretcher.
Which means when my 240 pound nephew falls against it, during an in-house game of touch football, it's not likely to collapse. Which would be a good thing.