Popular Woodworking 2006-08 № 156, страница 27

detail from an old table a friend owned. Tables of similar construction are in the Pennsylvania Dutch collections at Winterthur; a single wooden pin driven through the tabletop into its center fixes the batten while allowing the tabletop to expand and contract.

Slide the tail into the slot. I expect to meet resistance, so I lubricate the ways with paraffin or paste wax. It's nice if you can push the batten halfway in before re sorting to a dead-blow mallet. On more than one occasion, it's taken a lot of pounding to drive the batten home. On the other hand, if it slides completely into the slot without real resistance, you may want to make a new one. Once the batten is in place, drill a hole and drive a wooden pin through the top and into the batten.

This type of batten construction is a country kind of thing. In the summer, the ends will be somewhat recessed, but next New Year's, they'll be proud of the tabletop edges. That's not what you want in a formal table. For a higher-style table, you'd shorten the battens so they aren't obvious at the top's edges, and attach them with screws. PW

Sliding the batten into place requires some force. Since you aren't gluing the parts, and there's going to be some seasonal movement anyway, go ahead and apply wax to the slot and the tail. As friction builds, you'll have to whack the batten with a dead-blow mallet to keep it moving.

▼ ORANGE VffVll TOOLS"

CMT USA, Inc. 307-F Pcmoria Drive Greensboro, NC 27407 8S8-268-2437 ■ 336^54-0201 • Fax; 336-854-0903 ■ www.cmtusa.cpm

circle no. 144 on free information card.

circle no. 109 on free information card.