Legs for coffe table - Solid or hollow?

[oakfield]

I'm building a chunky, rustic, oak coffe table for a friend out of some old beams he gave me.

The top is approx 45mm thick and the legs will probably be about 90mm square.

I have plenty of 4x1" oak that i could make hollow legs from with a mitre lock cutter, or I could get a bit of 4" sawn and make them solid.

What would you recomend?

Also, if i made them hollow, how would you fix them? - I thought about making a tennon and glueing that into the hollow leg as I don't want to have an apron on it.

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Waka]

Mark

If it were me doing the coffee table then I'd make the legs solid.

 

[Benchwayze]

I would make a suitable sized core of sawn oak, then put 1/4 sawn oak on each side to get the dimensions you want.

I know a piece of oak would not display the medullary rays on all four sides, but it looks nice and only us woodworkers/cabinetmakers would know what you have done. :wink:

John

 

[Ironballs]

Either make it hollow and do the mitre lock thing (worked for Stickley) or make it up from thinner stock. You can make a solid leg from thinner strips, then make a thin bandsawn veneer to cover the sides with the joins. Looks like a solid leg, it's stable and is unlikely to warp or crack - which 4" oak almost inevitably will

 

[Mikey R]

Chris Tribe wrote an article on that exact subject:

http://www.christribe.co.uk/uploads/att ... -table.pdf

 

[Benchwayze]

Chris Tribe wrote an article on that exact subject:

http://www.christribe.co.uk/uploads/att ... -table.pdf

Yes Mikey...

That's very nice... I like the chairs too; but would prefer drop in seats. Much more kind on the bum-bones! Now I have to find F&C 149!
:lol:

Regards

John