Small Farmer's Dining Table and Benches

I made this table and bench set for my daughter, who has a getaway cabin with very limited space.  The dimensions are ~ 48" x 30" for the table (30" height), and 40.5" x 14" for the benches (18" height).  This set was made from Red Birch and Jatoba for the breadboards on the ends of the table and benches.  Most of the Red Birch was 4/4 S2S lumber that turned out to be ~13/16".   I would have preferred starting with decent 5/4 rough stock and planing it to ~1", but the quality wasn't as good.  So, to reinforce these thinner panels for the tabletops and bench seats, I glued and joined them using Rockler's Beadlock system with 3/8" loose tenons.  The use of this size tenon was probably overkill for the stresses exerted on the tabletop, but more justifiable for the bench seats.  The table legs were fashioned from 8/4 rough stock, from which I cut and planed them into rectangular posts that were ~ 2" x 2.25" (29.25" height).  I tapered the two inside faces of the legs for aesthetics, and (for the table legs) to make the benches a tad longer.  

I affixed the breadboards to the tabletop ends by routing a 1" rabbet on both end faces creating a long 3/8" tenon, which I divided (using a jigsaw) into 3 tenons (each tenon was ~2" long): two at the table ends and one in the middle.   The breadboards were then routed out to accept these 3 tenons with a little extra room given for wood expansion.  The breadboards were joined with glue only on the middle tenon.  I then used oak dowels to keep the breadboards secured onto the tenons.  The bench top breadboards were constructed a little differently using 3/8" loose tenons and the Rockler beadlock jig for mortising both the benchtop ends and the breadboards.   Otherwise, it was the same process for glueing and doweling.

All three pieces made use of 3" wide aprons, using metal leg braces and hanger bolts to join them to the legs, and mounting clamps to affix the aprons to the tops (no glue used).  I also used 3/8" loose tenons and the beadlock system give more stability to the leg/aprons assemblies.  For the benches, I glued legs to the aprons, and also used braces and hanger bolts for added stability, since these units will see more movement/stress than the table.  For the table, I used loose tenons as I did for the benches, however, I did not glue them all together as I did for the benches, since this would have made transporting the table more difficult.  Instead, I glued only the leg pairs on each end of the table to their respective short side aprons, again using the loose tenons for added strength.  These leg pair assemblies (2 legs and an apron) connect to the side aprons using only the braces and hanger bolts (no glue).  The remaining side braces remain attached to the table using the mounting clamps.  In this way, I can attach/detach the front leg pair assemblies to the table top with minimal effort for ease of transport and setup.

Lastly, I applied some tung oil to keep the wood somewhat hydrated in these cold/dry Winter months.   I'll wait til a decent streak of warm weather to apply a mixed BLO or Tung Oil with polyurethane finish.