Toilet      03/05/2020

How to make a table Table: material, manufacturing technology, schemes, designs - simple and complex Do-it-yourself roller table

An integral attribute of any home is a table. Despite the fact that the variety of forms and materials of execution of this piece of furniture can amaze even the most demanding and sophisticated buyers, many amateur furniture makers try to make a table with their own hands. There is nothing complicated in this, because the design of the table is not much more complicated than an ordinary stool. Armed with a saw, drill, hammer and other tools, you will be able to assemble such a product in just half a day, and it will look no worse than the purchased one. One of the main advantages handmade of this furniture lies in the possibility of creative self-expression. In addition, a do-it-yourself table can become a central element of any interior.

It's no secret that the main function of the table is to organize a place for dining and receiving guests. In addition, it often serves as a place for family pastime, during which you can enjoy various entertainments: playing cards, monopoly, lotto, dominoes, etc. In addition to significant savings and demonstrating your carpentry skills to others, making a table with your own hands provides a person with an excellent opportunity create a unique little thing that is ideal in all respects: shape, size, material and reliability. Following the instructions and recommendations of professionals, you will be convinced of own experience that this piece of furniture is quite capable of being made at home.

Today, various building materials are used for the production of tables: metal, glass, plastic, stone, but furniture is often made from such high-quality material as wood. For creating wooden table soft (spruce, pine, cedar, fir), hard (birch, walnut, oak, maple, ash) or very hard (dogwood, yew) wood species that have good resistance to decay and mechanical stress can be used with your own hands.

Walnut has the most valuable qualities for furniture - it combines high hardness and excellent viscosity. If you are new to carpentry, it is recommended to give preference to furniture made of pine, birch and oak. Having decided to make an original pine table with your own hands, you can use cheap knotted boards, but they should not have falling knots, cracks, stains and traces of rot.

Before proceeding with the analysis of specific points and recommendations that will help you make a table with your own hands, it is important to decide on the design of the desired product. Due to the perfect combination of naturalness and environmental friendliness of wood with a country concept, a homemade wooden table will become great option garden furniture. A small do-it-yourself table made of wood, as if deliberately aged, will also fit well into the design of a city apartment made in Scandinavian or Provence style. It is noteworthy that in terms of the complexity of the work, this piece of furniture for most craftsmen is almost like a homemade wooden table, since a homemade table is assembled very easily. This fascinating process is reminiscent of assembling a constructor.

On the virtues of wood

Whatever form you choose for your wooden table, it will always be durable, safe and environmentally friendly. The main advantages of wooden furniture are that it is not afraid of loads, sudden changes in temperature, external influences and various scratches. The main advantages of wood include:

  • environmental friendliness;
  • ease of processing;
  • aesthetic appeal;
  • availability;
  • high specific strength;
  • resistance to chemically aggressive substances;
  • the ability to create the most acceptable microclimate for humans;
  • low thermal conductivity;
  • small weight;
  • low density with high strength.

All these qualities make wood a sufficiently durable and strong material capable of resisting destruction under mechanical stress. For this reason, it is often used for the manufacture of various types and shapes of tables, for a dining table, country table, office table, etc.

In the process of assembling any furniture, it is necessary to adhere to certain recommendations that will achieve the maximum quality of the finished product. First of all, this refers to the choice of wood. Thanks to the huge number of different protective equipment offered by modern hardware stores, you can make a table out of wood with your own hands from pine boards. Despite being cheap this material, the correct processing will allow the table to delight you for many years.

When answering the question of how to make a wooden table, it is important to note that at the first stage a drawing should be drawn up with all the marked dimensions, and a diagram with an approximate cutting of the parts that will be involved in the assembly. For a small number of people, it is best to build a simple table standard sizes and if you want to make beautiful and not regular table, which will become the subject of your pride, you can give preference swing version. When we make a table, it is important to consider that the optimal width of a piece of furniture is 80-100 cm. To determine its length, it is necessary to take into account the convenience of seating households and guests when you get together.

It is very important to follow the sequence of actions, otherwise the table made from improvised materials may turn out to be unstable. 2 conditions that must be observed in the manufacture of this furniture product are:
Leg stability. Try adding stiffeners, supports, and bridging to the legs to improve the table's stability.

Smooth tabletop surface. This can be achieved by observing the exact dimensions of the length of the legs, the lower surfaces of which must be well cut. To check, use the level - it will show whether the table is in the correct plane.

Choosing a location kitchen table, it is important to consider that when you install an item with a long side to the wall, you reduce its capacity by as much as 40%. In addition, it is not recommended to install this furniture near the stove and under the air conditioner.

Product assembly process

So, how to make a table out of wood? The design of a wooden rectangular table is represented by the following components:

  • countertop;
  • jumpers;
  • underframe;
  • legs.

Special attention should be given to the countertop. Very often, oak or walnut is chosen to create it. This is due to the fact that this element must be made of hardwood, especially when it comes to outdoor tables for a country house. Plywood is an alternative. Having made a high-quality surface treatment from plywood, you will make it resistant to potent chemicals and outside influences.

It is important to remember that moisture that has fallen on such a surface will cause the material to swell and deteriorate. To avoid such consequences, wood must be protected: varnished, painted or waxed. For the manufacture of countertops, you will need wooden boards, as well as some carpentry tools: a saw, electric jigsaw, electric drill, grinder, tape measure and ruler.

Step-by-step instruction

When all the tools and materials are prepared, you can begin to assemble the table with your own hands from wood. In this case, the corresponding instruction will help you:

  1. First of all, hardwood boards should be cut, the size and number of which are affected by the length and width of the structure. It is advisable to sand them immediately, because on individual elements this is much easier to do. In addition, it is necessary to process wood protective composition for better protection.
  2. Take 2 boards that are at least 5 cm thick (you can choose the length and width of your choice) and connect their bottom parts using 2 or 3 wide boards of the same breed (minimum thickness is 20 cm). The connection must be made with wood screws, which are 1 cm less than the total length of the boards. Spin them with inside 2-3 screws.
  3. After connecting all the boards, take a planer and walk it along the contour and the outside of the surface to align all the ledges.
  4. The next step is to sand the surface.
  5. Next, the underframe and legs are made, which will be equipped with a homemade table. To do this, use the same material as in the manufacture of countertops (5 cm thick). You can achieve beauty and symmetry by cutting the board at the joints by half the thickness, i.e., by 2.5 cm. Attach the legs to the table top and drill holes in the bar under it to connect all the knots.
  6. Connect the legs to each other using a special jumper.
  7. Finish and paint them, or varnish everything except the outside of the countertop.
  8. Attach the table top to the legs. Use metal corners and screws to give the structure strength.
  9. Paint the table top. For this purpose, stain and paint can be used. If you wish, apply any drawing you like.

By adhering to easy rules, you can not only assemble a table that will last a long time, but also moderately decorate it just like a work of art.

The nuances that you should be aware of to create a quality wooden table

Continuing the conversation about how to make a table from improvised materials, it is important to clarify that the number of legs that will hold a wooden table with your own hands should be determined by the size, weight and shape of the piece of furniture. A small wooden table with your own hands can be equipped with 2 such legs, and for the middle version it is better to make 3-4 legs.

Often, the middle structure is equipped with 4 legs, and wood that is resistant to various damage and the load from the countertop. If you want to use one leg that will hold the entire structure of the table in an upright position, you will need to take care of its cruciform strapping. In the case of 2 legs, they must be placed on the sides of the product. It is important to take care of the aesthetic appeal of the legs - they must be in harmony with the table top. It is a good idea to use balusters, which will allow you to make your table even more spectacular and attractive. This applies to any similar products - both street and home, intended for food.



To make a table with your own hands, it is important to know that the frame on which the tabletop is installed consists of 2 racks connected by a drawstring and 2 legs. First, you need to cut out the upper and lower jumpers, and then bring the edges into proper shape by planing and leveling them.

The next stage involves making a selection in the supports and removing the bevels on the lintels, on which nests for installing the racks will subsequently be made. Approach with all responsibility the choice of the form of the table, since the appearance of the entire room depends on it. The fact is that in most cases the surface geometry contributes to a sharp change general view the whole space. The most popular are countertops with right angles, which fit perfectly into both square and rectangular kitchens.

Conclusion

As you can see, wooden tables can be of various configurations. You only need to choose the most suitable solution that will successfully fit into the design of your interior, and assemble it. The main thing is not to rush and do everything as carefully as possible. Remember that desire alone is not enough, you still need to make efforts and show ingenuity in order to achieve the desired result. In most cases, everything depends on financial capabilities and ingenuity, so go for it and may success be with you!

One of the mandatory attributes of human habitation is a table. It should be in the apartment, and in the cottage, and summer house in the country.

Making a wooden table with your own hands is not such a difficult task as it seems at first glance. A simple design that is suitable for a summer residence can be assembled by absolutely anyone, even if he first picked up a carpentry tool.

More complex models that will decorate the kitchen or living room will require creativity and certain skills, but this work is also doable if certain rules are followed.

Possible options

Despite its simplicity, the table is considered a variable product and, with the right approach, will organically fit into any room. Manufacturers of wooden furniture usually offer the consumer the following types of models:

  • with the correct geometry - rectangular, round, oval;
  • corner - help save interior space;
  • transformers - multifunctional structures;
  • folding and sliding - allow you to place a large number of guests;
  • "Books" - a common modification of a folding table.

It is noteworthy, but all of the listed options for tables can be made in artisanal conditions, literally from improvised materials.

Regardless of the design and shape, a homemade wooden table must meet two requirements. First, match interior design rooms, if you do not follow this rule, even a beautifully designed carved tabletop will look unpresentable. Secondly, the width of one seat must be at least 70 cm, otherwise people will experience discomfort.

Otherwise, the width and height are selected individually, depending on personal preferences and the intended use of the table.

Preparatory stage

Even a simple rectangular table with four legs cannot be made without some preparation. Let's figure out what the home master needs in the production process.

Blueprints

This is a prerequisite that will allow you to visualize the future table, determine the size and amount of material. Ready-made drawings can be searched on the Internet: many craftsmen willingly share the results of their work with Web users, describing in detail each stage of production.

If we are talking about a unique table design that you plan to create according to your own project, you cannot do without a drawing. You can draw a future model with a simple pencil on a regular notebook sheet. It is recommended to pay special attention to the following points:

  • external dimensions (length, width, height);
  • fixing the legs to the tabletop. Round models usually have one support post located in the center, rectangular designs require 1 support at each corner;
  • mechanisms (relevant for folding options and transforming tables).

It is necessary to carefully consider how all the details of the table will be assembled together, what additional processing of the wood will be required before assembly or after it.

Material

It is no secret that a tree of different species has various properties and not the entire array is suitable for artisanal processing. Depending on the species, all wood can be divided into 3 groups.

Soft. This includes almost all conifers (spruce, pine, fir, cedar) and many hardwoods (linden, aspen, poplar, alder). Such material is convenient in processing, but the manufactured table will require additional protective coating especially if it is intended to be used outdoors. Coniferous wood is dependent on external factors prone to deformation and cracking. An exception, perhaps, is larch, which is used in construction wherever possible, including for the manufacture of tables.

Solid. This group includes birch, oak, walnut and fruit trees: plum, pear, apple, apricot. Such a bar, even without impregnation, is resistant to a humid environment and exposure to direct sunlight, but in the process of processing one cannot do without a power tool.

Heavy duty . This category includes boxwood, acacia, hornbeam and yew. The material has high consumer properties, but requires professional processing, which is possible only in the workshops of industrial enterprises.

Tool

The simplest rough board table can be assembled with your own hands with just a hammer, nails and a hacksaw. But for a more accurate execution, additional tools will be required:

  • electric jigsaw;
  • grinder;
  • Screwdriver Set;
  • drill with a set of drills of various diameters;
  • roulette;
  • simple pencil;
  • square.

In addition, wood is recommended to be pre-treated with special antiseptics, which will make the finished product more durable and resistant to moisture. If you plan to cut a pattern on the legs or sidewalls, then you will need special cutters. A great help to the master will be turning or milling machine on wood, but not everyone has such tools.

Homemade tables for a summer residence

The most simple and practical option for arranging a summer cottage - a table made of wooden pallets. Unnecessary, at first glance, pallets are ready-made raw materials that require little to no additional processing, but offer several options for use. For example, from 2 pallets you can make a small hanging table with wall mount, which can be used as a rack or for small friendly gatherings.

Such a design is made elementarily. One pallet is attached to the wall with nails or self-tapping screws. Installation height is selected individually. The working part - the table top - is attached to the fixed base. The elements are articulated with each other by two chains that will perform a supporting and supporting function. For ease of use, 2 loops are placed at the junctions of the pallets; in addition, a locking mechanism can be installed, for example, a hook that will hold such a table in the closed position.

A more complex option is a pallet coffee table that will look organic on a veranda or terrace. In this case, the pallets are carefully disassembled into their component parts, polished, painted. After that, the boards are knocked together into a rectangular tabletop, fixed around the perimeter with vertically arranged elements. The function of the legs is performed by 4 square bars. This design is made in 3-4 hours and is quite suitable for evening tea parties and family holidays.

Using leftover building materials

Almost on any personal plot there are boards left after the construction of a house or outbuildings. This material is quite suitable for creating a simple rectangular table that can be placed on the veranda or in the garage, used as a dining or utility table.

Here you need to follow the following instructions:

  • assemble the frame. To do this, you need 4 boards: 2 long and 2 short. The sides are fastened together with self-tapping screws, forming a regular rectangle. To save the geometry, we use a square. At the junctions, you can put iron corners, which will give the structure rigidity and reliability;
  • fasten the legs. For these purposes, 4 boards or bars are suitable. The length is chosen arbitrarily: 80-100 cm. Support posts are installed on the inside of the frame, fastened with nails or self-tapping screws;
  • stiffening rib . Approximately in the middle of the legs, an additional crossbar made of wood is nailed. A cross member is installed on both sides, making the structure more durable and stable. In addition, these crossbars can later be used to install a shelf where you can place dishes or other little things necessary in the household;
  • countertop . The remaining boards go here, which are best placed across the frame. The material is sawn with a hacksaw along the width of the table, attached to the frame with finishing nails.

At the final stage, all surfaces are treated with a grinder, primed and varnished. You can paint the table, in this case, the tree will last much longer. And if you walk along the boards with a brush for brushing and apply a stain on top, you get an antique table.

Table with benches

This option is great for a garden, a wooden structure is installed permanently, depending on the chosen size, it can comfortably accommodate 8-10 people. Manufactured garden table and benches from the boards separately, then the elements are fastened together threaded connection: steel studs.

The manufacturing process begins with benches. To do this, the boards are sawn to size, according to the drawn up drawings. To assemble the bench, you will need:

  • 3 long boards that will go on the seat;
  • 4 short pieces, cut at the edges at an angle of 45 ° - the length of these elements should not exceed the width of the seat;
  • 4 boards 40-50 cm high - these will be the legs;
  • 1 board is shorter by 25-30 cm of the length of the seat - a stiffener.

note that all the listed elements are duplicated, since there are supposed to be 2 benches for such a table.

Shops are assembled according to this scheme. A longitudinal stiffener is attached to two short crossbars. Legs are installed, which are clamped by the remaining segments. For reliability, short parts are drilled through and, together with the legs, are pulled together with pins.

Seat boards are nailed on top of the frame. It is not necessary to put them close, it is better to leave small gaps.

The finished seats are interconnected by four boards 160-180 cm long. The fastening is carried out at the bottom of the legs in such a way that the support posts are clamped by the boards on both sides.

After preparing the base, a table is assembled. The tabletop and areas for mounting the support posts are made according to the principle similar to benches. The legs themselves are made cruciform, fixed to the longitudinal supports that connect the benches. The result is a handy DIY wood kitchen table that can be used for family reunions.

Round tables

Despite the specific geometric shape, making a round table with your own hands from wood is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. In particular, if in the yard high-rise building or next to the backyard there is a felling of old trees, you can get an original round tabletop without any extra effort. For this, a saw cut of a tree made in the thickest part of the trunk is quite suitable. Such a round shape 5-7 centimeters thick is varnished and can become a key table installed in the hallway.

If you are unlucky with fallen trees, you can create a round-shaped countertop on your own. This will require 4 boards of the following sizes:

  • length - 2000 mm;
  • width - 250 mm;
  • thickness - 40 mm.

The boards are tightly connected to each other (not fastened), a circle of the desired diameter is drawn on the surface. After that, the boards are cut with an electric jigsaw exactly along the intended line. A rectangular or triangular frame is assembled under the legs from the bars. The shape is selected depending on the number of legs. If 3 support posts are supposed, the frame is made in the shape of a triangle. The elements are fastened together with self-tapping screws, the legs are fixed in a similar way. The tabletop is installed with the help of corners, after assembly the entire structure is varnished. If you make such a table carefully, then it can be installed in the apartment in the kitchen or in the living room.

By a similar principle, they collect oval table. The only difference is that on the interconnected boards, not a circle is drawn, but 2 semi-ovals along the ends. Boards are cut with a jigsaw along the line. The frame is also made of bars, but has a strictly rectangular shape. Ideally, the frame should be located 10-20 cm from the edge of the countertop. Small tables are often used as coffee tables and look especially interesting on curly legs. However, for the manufacture of carved supports, certain knowledge will be required, so it is better to order such elements in furniture production.

Transforming tables

A folding table made of wood, made with your own hands and capable of changing its original shape - real masterpiece. Folding designs look equally advantageous in the country and fit into the interior of a city apartment. The easiest option is to make a transformer for personal plot, and it is quite possible to cope with this task on your own.

To surprise guests and get a comfortable wooden picnic table, you need to assemble 2 benches with high backs. The seat is made of 3 boards, interconnected by crossbars. There is one caveat here: the edge of the crossbar, which is located on the back side, should protrude 10-15 cm beyond the edges of the seat.

Table legs are available in different lengths. A short support post is placed on the side of the seat, the long one will serve as the basis for the backrest. Note that the recommended backrest height should vary between 60-90 cm. The backrest design feature is that it is mounted on one bolt, which is located in the upper part, performs rotary mechanism. Closer to the seat, a hole is drilled in the rack, where the latch for the back will be inserted.

After completing all the operations, they get 2 benches where you can sit quite comfortably, discussing the latest news or admiring the sunset. If you raise the backs of these benches and move them towards each other, you get a table with two rows of seats. Given the width of each backrest, a tabletop measuring 120-180 cm is obtained.

Computer desk

If we are talking about a factory product, a computer desk seems to be a rather complex design. It has a pull-out keyboard shelf, storage boxes for discs and other items that require experience to make. However, the model of a table made of wood can be significantly simplified, leaving a minimum of parts necessary for working at a computer.

Here you can try something like this:

  • steel frame in the form of a welded rectangle made of corrugated pipe with 4 support posts. On the one hand, a frame is immediately made under the shelf where the system unit will stand, and two similar elements from the other end;
  • the countertop is made from cut-to-size boards or a fiberboard sheet;
  • shelves are made of a material similar to the countertop.

All elements are interconnected by a threaded connection or a corner. Of course, such a design is inferior to factory counterparts in terms of external design, but it is many times cheaper and does its job quite well.

Processing and exterior finishing

To homemade table made of wood had a presentable appearance and retained its properties for as long as possible; before assembly, all parts are impregnated with a water-polymer emulsion. It is better to repeat the treatment 2-3 times with an interval of 5 days. After the installation is completed, the surfaces are carefully polished, small flaws are masked with putty. Then varnish is applied: choose better lineups on an acrylic basis which are safe in work.

To prolong the service life, wooden tables are recommended to be protected from strong wetting and direct sunlight. In the garden in the country, it is better to install them in a shaded place, and cover them with foil during rain.

Poorly designed is best remembered dinner table. One that is too low or too high, under which there is not enough free legroom, on which there is not enough space. In order to help you design a table that will only be remembered for its attractive appearance, we will list the basic standards here.

TABLE HEIGHT. Distance from the floor to the top surface of the lid. Usually it is 68–76 cm.

SPACE ABOVE THE LEGS. The distance from the floor to the bottom edge of the drawstring is vertical legroom. The minimum distance is 60 cm.

KNEE SPACE. The distance from the edge of the table to the leg is the space for the knees when the chair is pulled up to the table. The minimum distance is from 36 to 40 cm, the optimal one is 36–46 cm.

SPACE ABOVE THE HIPS. The distance from the seat to the lower edge of the drawstring is the vertical space for the hips when a person sits on this chair, pushed up to the table. Minimum - 15 cm.

ELBOW SPACE. Side space on the table for each seated. The minimum is 60 cm, but 75 cm is much better.

HAND DEPTH. Front space on the table for each seated. Less than 30 cm will be small, and more than 45 cm - too much.

CHAIR SPACE. The distance from the edge of the tabletop to the wall is sufficient to push the chair back when getting up from the table. The architects say that a minimum of 90 cm is needed, and 110 cm would be the best option.

Table with king belt

When you hear the word "table", don't you think of a flat panel with four legs? Don't you think of just such a table, as drawn here? Yes, this design is the most original of the original. In the simplest version, a table - a typical design - consists of only three types of parts: legs, drawers and a lid (tabletop). The legs and the tsarg belt form a strong, but nevertheless open support structure. Structurally, many tables are drawbar tables, although we rarely call them that. Much more often they are called according to their functional purpose or their location: dining, kitchen, bedside, desk. Scrolling through the book further, you will come across the original designs of various tables, and many of them will return to this "basic" table. Such a table, as a rule, can be found in the kitchen or dining room. Its massiveness gives the impression of strength. Although the legs are quite massive, the chiseled profile visually reduces their massiveness. In addition, the individual dimensions of the legs make them ideal for strong carpentry joints. Despite the simplicity of the design of the table with the tsarg belt, many of its variations are possible. The table can be round, square, oval, rectangular. Its legs can be square, chiseled, tapered or carved. Even the kings can influence the look of the table.

Design Options

For example, a round table with the same chiselled legs as the base table looks completely different. This great view gives him a square tsargo belt with round cap. Despite the elegant cabriole legs of the table in the style of Queen Anne, the massive sides make it a work table. The cut-out drawers at the third table make a significant visual and practical difference, making the table appear lighter and taller and providing more room for the seater's hips.


Country style table

This table is called in different ways - a country-style table, a retro-style table, a bar table - and they represent it differently. Furniture researchers usually describe it as a simple, low, oblong table on a massive underframe with turned legs and prongs. Prolegs, especially as strong as in the figure, significantly increase the durability and rigidity of the structure. With intensive daily use, prongs can increase the life of the table by years. The terms "country" and "bar" are definitely associated with the XVII-XVIII centuries, when such tables were widely used in hotels, taverns and bars in rural areas and towns. The surviving examples of such tables do have massive legs - although they are badly worn out by many legs. The table shown here is equipped with one middle prong instead of two longitudinal ones, so that it is more convenient to sit at the table. However, many early tables had pro-legs around the perimeter. The design is uncomplicated. The drawers and prolegs are spiked into the legs with reinforcement with wedges, dowels, etc. The table cover is a wide panel “in the tip”.

Design Options

The easiest way to change the design of a table is to change the legs. Our "original" table has round legs - turned - and the form of turning can be changed endlessly. Just remember that you will need a flat, rectangular surface for the side-leg joints. At a country-style table, you can also change the legs - both in appearance,
and their configuration, as shown in the figure below.


Table with drawer belt and drawer

The name "table with a king belt" refers rather than to style, but to construction. This type of table is the base for kitchen, library, desks, etc. Even for a workbench. A drawer or two adds to the functionality of the table, as the tools that are used when using it can be stored in these drawers. In some cases, a small box is enough, in others, the largest possible one is required. There are only a couple of ways to include such a box in the design. The simplest approach is to simply cut a box opening in the drawer. For a relatively small box and a fairly massive drawer side, it is quite suitable. If the opening turns out to be so large that it creates a danger of destruction of the board, then it is better to replace the drawer with box bars. The bars can be rotated 90° so that their width matches the thickness of the leg. Studded joints provide rigidity. A design with two - supra-jaw and under-jaw - bars is preferable, since the top bar will prevent the legs from moving inward.

Design Options

Installing a drawer in a round table is quite possible. But if the tsar's belt has a square or rectangular shape, then one must be prepared that access to the inside of the box will be limited. If the drawer belt is rounded, then the front panel of the drawer should be made in such a way (for example, a layered-bent or block-glued construction) so that its shape matches the shape of the drawer side.


An alternative to a table with a leg at each corner is a table on one central leg. Its tabletop is attached to a central post mounted on low, flared legs. Here, the drawers are not structurally required, but some single-support tables have them. At first glance, a table without legs and a drawer side gives unlimited legroom. However, although it does have a lot of knee and hip room, its "creeping" legs usually get in the way of the feet of the seated person. This is the price of stability: the projection of the tabletop should not exceed the area of ​​​​support by more than 15 cm. A little more - and you risk tipping the table, leaning on the edge. Critical to this design is the strength of the center post and its connection to the base or legs. The table shown here has an oval top and - in accordance with the major and minor axis of the oval - two pairs of legs of different lengths. The legs are connected to the racks tapering downwards, and the racks with the tabletop brackets are connected with double spikes into the eyes. These intermediate assemblies, in turn, are glued onto a square-core lath and form a central support that expands upwards.


The table on a support appeared in the 18th century as small table magazine type with a three-legged base. To make a dining table, carpenters combined two single-legged tables or placed an oblong tabletop on two three-legged supports. Modern models vary from the simplest utility to multi-rack. The structural advantage of multi-column supports is increased resistance to warping. Although the area of ​​support may be noticeably smaller than the projection of the table top, a large table with this type of support can be quite stable due to the mass of the support.

Put a wide board on the goats - and you get a table. This is the ancestor of the trestle table, which is perhaps the very first type of table. Since ancient times, its form has improved significantly, but it remains an easy-to-make collapsible table. Its elementary form remains a panel or sheet of plywood on a free-standing trestle. And when the trestle stops being free standing, that's when the assembly becomes a table, because they have to be connected to each other, to the top, or both. In the table shown here, each half of the goat consists of a fairly wide stand, cut into the leg at the bottom, and at the top into the tabletop bracket. The wider the trestles, the better the table resists rocking from side to side. A long massive proleg is cut into the racks. The tabletop is fastened with screws to the goats, and the structure becomes one. Although there is enough legroom under the tabletop, do not forget about the leg so that, while sitting at the table, you do not get bumps on your shins. Also, the ends of the tabletop should protrude 35-45 cm beyond the goats to provide enough space for those sitting there. Many trestle tables are designed to be collapsible. Common ways of fastening parts collapsible table shown on the next page.

Design Options

Thinking about the shape of the legs and legs of the goat is the easiest way to change the look of this table. Several examples are shown here. The original goats looked like saw goats, and X-shape was very popular in medieval Europe. The Pennsylvania Germans and other Germanic settlers brought this form to America, and it is still commonly found at picnic tables. Today, the most common is the H-shape. Shakers (sectarians-shakers), who made many tables on the goats, usually used graceful legs "with a high rise"


The familiar dining table can be extended with an additional cover board. Then an ordinary table for a family can be enlarged to receive guests. At first glance, it may not be noticeable that this is a standard table with a drawstring belt, cut into two parts and reconnected using special skids. The skids can be bought ready-made or made together with the table. Each cloth of the table top must be at least 60 cm - the optimal place for one seated person.

Design Options

The design of the extendable table can vary, as usual, by changing the legs and side. The shape of the drawer side and the tabletop has practically no effect on general design. If we are talking about a table with drawers, then they work with the sliding version as usual. As the extension limits increase, it may be necessary to add an additional leg to support the middle section. And don't forget the importance small parts– e.g. fastening the drawer side to the top of the table



Extendable table on one leg

A table on one support is the basic form of a table that has some advantages over a table with a drawstring belt. If you need a folding table, don't forget to consider this shape as well. It is quite possible to make such a table both sliding and folding, and a folding cover that will expand it. The most common option is a sliding lid with an insert section. As shown on the next page, the cover is divided in two and its halves are connected by special sliding skids. Thus, these two cover sheets can be moved apart and an additional board can be inserted between them. What to do with the support is the key question for the master. For the table to be stable, the size of the lid and the area of ​​support must be close. In the example shown, the support is vertically divided into two parts, each of which is fastened to a respective lid web. When the lid is pulled apart, the support also separates.

Design Options

The basic form has a support that separates when the table is extended. This is not the only option. If a relatively small, say 30–40 cm, expansion is acceptable, then extendable table can be done on a non-dividing support. Another option is to make a table on two supports. A table with a support for each sliding half can expand by 90–120 cm.


When choosing one of the types of folding tables, one of the most interesting designs is the system with sliding sections. It is simple to manufacture and use. There is nothing out of the ordinary about the basic structure of the table. The only difference from the usual underframe made of drawers and legs is the presence of slots in the end drawers. The difference lies on top of the drawstrings and legs. Instead of attaching the table top to the drawstring belt, its side sections, attached to long tapering runners, are stacked on top of the drawer legs assembly. The runners correspond to the slots in the sides. The existing central board separating the side sections is fixed with screws on the sides. The table top is laid on top of the central board and side sections, but is not fixed tightly. When unfolding the table, the side section simply slides out from under the lid. The skids have stops to prevent the section from being extended too far. When pulled out, the lid will tilt a little at first, but when fully unfolded, it will be flush with the side section. Since the pull-out sections are part of the design, you won't have to search for them in the closets and storerooms when you need to lay out the table before the guests arrive. You simply slide out a section or two - even if the table is already set.

Design Options

The drawer system can be combined with any type of table support provided that the drawer side is available. Thus, a trestle table or a two-leg table (as in the figure on the right), equipped with drawers, can have retractable sections to increase the number of seats. However, the system is not well suited for countertops with non-rectilinear shapes. When folded, the side section retracts under the cover and its edges remain (or should remain) visible. If the shape is different from the shape of the lid, then the table will probably look rather odd when folded. For example, a semi-circular side section under a square or rectangular lid will create a gap between the lid and the sides.

Two-leg table with sliding
sections

A table with a sliding folding lid (table top) is relatively rare. Despite the low prevalence, this is an excellent system. The table has one additional section - a duplicate of the "main" cover, this section is connected to the cover using hinges and, when folded, lies on the main section (lid). To unfold the table, the “double” tabletop is moved to its extreme position (up to half of the underframe), and then the additional section leans back onto the underframe. The upper edges of the tsarg should be covered with felt or felt to facilitate the sliding of the lid. It is not difficult to make a sliding mechanism. Each skid has a ridge that fits into a groove in its guide. The disadvantage is that during periods of high humidity, the ridges can stick in the grooves. The basic version is usually configured as a side table. In the unfolded state, the edges of the tabletop are quite far from the base, which creates enough space under the table for those seated. The U-shape of the legs will provide enough legroom for those sitting at the ends of the table.

Design Options

When folded, this table looks like a somewhat odd dining table. To limit the overhang of the tabletop over the underframe (ensuring stability), the size of the base part should approach the size of the folded tabletop. Therefore, a folding tabletop should be used on a type of table that does not look odd if the tabletop has a small overhang. Good uses for this include a side table (as a base), a side table (shown here) and other special purpose tables and tables. These tables, when folded, can be placed close to the wall. Folding covers are usually used in traditional card tables, but without a sliding mechanism. Nevertheless, the sliding mechanism is suitable here as well.


A table with a folding board (or boards) is practically the “generic” name for all tables in which sections of the table top are connected by hinges. This is a common species, and it is present in all American history. In any furniture style, from the style of the times of William and Mary to the modern one, you will find a table with a folding board. In this table, folding boards are part of the design. When not in use, they can be lowered to a vertical position, saving room space. There are many ways to keep the flaps in the raised position. The example shown here uses pull-out holders - you lift the board and pull out the support brackets from under it (much like a drawer). For some other support systems, see a table with swivel frame supports, with swivel legs on a book table, and several card tables. The main thing to consider for this type of table is the width of the folding boards, which can be optimally supported by extendable or swivel/articulated arms. Make relatively narrow folding boards - say, no wider than 38 cm. For wider sections - see options with swivel frame supports or swivel legs. A long folding board, like the example shown here, will require more than one bracket. By the way, this example was received in the 20th century interesting name, which applies to a relatively long utility table with hinged lids. This name, which can be translated as "suffering", creates in consciousness a picture of a decomposed big table filled with food for hungry seasonal farm workers during the harvest season. Regardless of what we call it now, people who sat at such a table in 1840 or 1880 probably called it a table with folding boards or folding table.

Design Options

While a basic dining table is quite long and relatively narrow, with a rectangular top with sharp corners, a drop-down table can come in almost any size, proportion, and shape. The table top (tabletop) can have folding boards of a rounded or slightly rounded shape. On a shortened or square base, you can install a round, square or oval tabletop. You can round the corners of the folding sections or make their outer edges curved.


Table-book - Russian name table with swivel frame supports, which are hinged to the assembly of the side-leg-prong. The support post is connected to the turntable by the upper and lower crossbars. The whole support can be rotated so that the raised folding section (board) can be placed on it. The swivel bearing became the forerunner of the swivel leg. It has many structural elements reflecting the state of carpentry in the 16th century when it appeared. But like any well-made frame, it is structurally rigid and makes an excellent support for a folding board. Although the first such tables usually had two frame supports (one for each folding board), there were often tables with one folding board and one swivel support, and it happened the other way around - there were several leviathans with 12 swivel supports. When folded, the tables were usually very narrow and save a lot of space. A large table with two swivel legs per flip board can be made to swivel both towards and away from each other. If they turn towards each other, then with the folding boards lowered, the support legs of the frames will be located next to the main legs, visually making them more massive. When rotated away from each other, the support legs will sit side by side, giving the impression of a table with six legs. The first tables were usually made in the Baroque style, with a complex chiseled profile of the legs. However, the example shown is completely modern.

Design Options

A significant advantage of the book table is the ability to support very large additional sections. A solid support under the flap makes the table very stable even with one section raised. Thus, it is difficult to make a very narrow table with wide folding boards. When folded, the table takes up very little space. Unfolded - has a huge tabletop


This table can rightly be called a table with folding boards, but the swivel leg makes it stand out from others like it. The swivel leg is a descendant of the frame swivel support (see page 158). If the swivel support is attached to the table frame, consisting of the drawer side, legs and proleg, then the swivel leg is attached only to the drawer side. The result is a lighter appearance. Rather, the size, rather than the knot of the swivel leg, is characteristic of this table. The tabletop diameter of only 107 cm will be quite comfortable for four people. The swivel leg is used in card tables with small folding tops. During the Queen Anne period, a smaller version of the table shown here was called the "breakfast table" and was used both for breakfast and for games and tea parties. Larger tables will likely need additional swivel legs for better support for flip boards. The swivel - actually a wooden hinge - makes the swivel leg workable. A sleeker version than shown here makes the connection look like a metal loop.

Design Options

The design of a swivel leg for a table with folding boards appeared in the first half of the 18th century. Although we chose a table in the style of Queen Anne as the "basic" table, the swivel leg was used in the tables different styles. The profile of the stem will typically be the style indicator. Chippendale-style swivel-leg tables often have convertibles, but always with a claw-ball finish. Square shaped legs are also used in chippendale tables. During the federal
Hepplewhite tables were made with legs tapering downwards, as shown here, and Sheraton style tables were made with chiseled, often embossed, legs.

Folded out folding boards transform
rectangular table to square

The advantage of a table with a frame swivel base over a table with a swivel leg is the stability provided by the additional legs. When the folding boards are raised, they are supported by additional legs. A table with extendable legs also has this advantage over a table with swivel legs, but it also has one advantage over a table with frame swivel legs. Like a table with swivel legs, this table has an additional leg for each folding board. But only a narrow crossbar connects the leg to the table. These crossbars are placed in a holder of two guides installed between the longitudinal drawers, and are extended through cutouts in the drawers. The leg is attached to the crossbars. Raise the folding board, extend the leg and lower the board onto it. You have a leg under the flip board and still have four legs under the fixed table top. This structure can hold very wide folding boards.

Design Options

Here are two very different tables with retractable legs, each of which has excellent stability due to the extra leg (or legs) when unfolded. When the card table is folded up against the wall, the extra leg is not conspicuous. By unfolding the game table and extending the extra leg, you will get a support under each corner of the tabletop. Perfect. Extendable legs also make a great addition to a long table with folding boards. If you make two retractable legs for each board, then the table will not lose stability when someone leans too hard on it.



The table-chair owes its birth to medieval practicality. In the Middle Ages, dwellings were small and drafty. Any furniture was expensive, everything was done hand tools. And if a piece of furniture could perform more than one function - well, so much the better. The table-chair is clearly universal. With the lid down, it's a table. With the lid up - the seat. And as with most universal things, its functionality is far from perfect. With the development of the furniture industry, the table-chair became more perfect in design and elegant in appearance. The item shown here has legs and armrests attached to the sides of the seat with spike-in-socket joints. The pronounced end of the shoe-shaped legs make the chair more stable, and the armrests more comfortable. The chair even has a drawer under the seat - more sophisticated storage than a box with a lid. The tabletop is fastened with a dovetail tie-in.

To make a dining table with your own hands, you need a little skill and a lot of time and patience. If carpentry skills are well developed, and at home there is a complete set of tools (from a circular saw to a milling machine), then such work will be completely simple. In this case, you can choose the option of making a table that corresponds not only to skills, but also to financial capabilities.

The choice of materials and the size of the future table

The dining table is the center of the kitchen or dining room, even if it is against the wall. Its size should be selected depending on the size of the room and the number of people who often dine together. The comfort zone for one person at the table is 60 cm. In total, for a family of 4 people, a tabletop measuring 80x60 cm will be enough. But sometimes you have to receive guests, so it is better to increase the size of the table to the maximum suitable for the dimensions of the room.

So it will take up a minimum of space, but if necessary, the usable area is doubled. In this case, it is better not to make the table attached to one wall, because sometimes you may need to move it to another room.

What is the best way to make a dining table?

Solid oak is the ideal material for a kitchen table. Strong, durable and wear-resistant material will last more than one generation with proper care. Pine, on the other hand, is much softer and easier to process, so it is better suited for beginner builders. If you take a ready-made furniture board, you don’t have to adjust and fasten the boards yourself, but such a countertop will cost more.

For the legs, it is advisable to choose strong wood - they must withstand the weight of the countertop with numerous dishes and plates. In addition, the table is often used instead of a ladder - this also needs to be taken into account when choosing wood. Natural wood can be stained, varnished or painted in any color. Or experiment with a combination different types coverings and even change the style annually.

If maximum savings are required, you can buy a laminated chipboard, since the choice of decorative coatings is extremely wide - under natural wood, plastic, monophonic and color. If you order a sheet the right sizes, assembly will take a minimum of time. But you need to choose only products with a durable top coating and isolate the edge of the countertop well, otherwise, if moisture gets in, the surface will begin to “swell”.

How to make a simple dining table

For those who decide to start making furniture with their own hands for the first time, a simple rectangular table with a chipboard top is best. It will require:

  1. Purchase a sheet of chipboard of the right size.
  2. Buy 4 legs - these can be ready-made balusters or bars with a square section of at least 5x5 cm, which will have to be adjusted in height and sanded with sandpaper. In addition, you can find chrome-plated metal legs that will give the table a modern and stylish look. The fasteners included in the kit make it as easy as possible to assemble the table.
  3. If the legs are wooden, the frame is assembled from facing boards - for a stronger fixation. The crossbars are attached to the legs on the sides - with self-tapping screws on the metal corners from the inside.
  4. The legs are attached to the tabletop 10 cm from the edge. Wooden - on the corners, metal - with the help of ready-made fasteners. The frame to the countertop is also fixed from the inside with corners - one on each side.
  5. The wood is treated with a stain or painted with a preliminary primer - depending on the chosen style.
  6. slice chipboard sheet closes furniture edge. It is very convenient to use a hard PVC U-shaped edging. Silicone sealant is liberally applied to its inside (to prevent moisture ingress) and simply snaps onto the edge. The ends are closed with plugs, and excess sealant is removed.
  7. If the countertop is round or curved, you can take a flexible profile - it is attached to the sealant, the edges are cut off after the glue has set. Flexible edging allows you to make an edge with only one seam, which significantly improves the appearance.
  8. For greater reliability, you can use a T-shaped profile, but for it you will have to mill the groove clearly in the center of the entire edge - and not everyone has a manual router. But such an edge with a wide antennae perfectly hides uneven cut edges, if they are replete with chips and cracks. An ordinary edge cannot hide such defects.

The advantage of a chipboard table is its maximum simplicity and economy. To assemble it, you will need a minimum of tools:

  • screwdriver or screwdriver;
  • sharp knife for cutting edging;
  • sandpaper for grinding wooden legs;
  • brush for coating wooden parts.

Folding table-book - for all occasions

In order not to think about placing guests on the floor in the best Japanese traditions, a folding dining table is ideal for a small apartment. How to make a table-book with a swivel mechanism?

No more complicated than a regular rectangular table, only a little more expensive:


In addition, you can make a sliding table. In this case, the frame is made "half". One part is screwed to the bottom tabletop in the usual way, and the second is made wider so that it can go on the first one. Attached telescopic rails full extension from the outside of the narrow part of the frame and the inside of the wide part. But such a design is still less reliable than a rigidly fixed frame.

How to give the table originality?

If you want to make the table special and have the opportunity to realize your idea, why not try it? For example, make it glowing or decorate with tiles.

Luminous table - how to impress guests

For such a table, a tree with defects is specially selected - chips, cracks and holes from knots. First, the boards are adjusted to size and glued together. For better fixation, they can be attached to wooden chopsticks - dowels:


If you need to fill through holes, under them enclose boards covered with waxed paper. You can take ordinary parchment for baking. To prevent the resin from overflowing over the edge of the edge, you can stick adhesive tape on it so that it rises a centimeter above the surface. To make even edges at the chipped board, formwork is made, which is also covered with paper and filled with epoxy.

After the first layer has dried, the countertop is sprayed and sanded "wet" with fine sandpaper, dried and a second layer of paint is applied. This continues until a perfect shine is obtained. In addition, the tree will be protected from moisture, which is very important for the kitchen table.

Table with ceramic tiles - practical and durable

Basis under ceramic tiles it can be anything - an old countertop, a sheet of metal or an OSB plate. The choice of decor is also unlimited, although the mosaic looks better. To simplify the work, you can buy a ready-made mosaic on a grid - you don’t have to assemble it yourself, and the thickness is minimal, which is quite important for table decor.

Tile adhesive is applied to the countertop with a notched trowel. The pattern is laid from the corners along the outer perimeter of the countertop, gradually filling the entire surface.

After the glue has completely dried, grout is applied and, as soon as it dries, the excess is wiped off with a damp sponge. If sunflower oil is added to the water, the grout in the seams is evened out and does not cling to the sponge.

To protect the edge of the countertop, it is sealed with masking tape, which is removed after the grout has dried. If the edge requires processing, it can be painted in a contrasting color, which will give the table even more originality, or completely covered with the same tile.

The mosaic laid out only in the center of the table looks original. In this case, a tree is selected with a jigsaw to the height of the tile and a mosaic is laid out in the resulting recess.

Even if it was not possible to maintain the same depth, the height of the tile can be adjusted by increasing and decreasing the adhesive layer. The main thing is that the countertop is even, so each row of tiles is checked by a level.

It is not necessary to buy expensive materials if you can use what no one needs anymore. How to make an original and beautiful dining table for a summer residence from old pallets can be seen in the video:

The table is the second object after the stool, which a novice furniture maker should take up. The design of a simple table is no more complicated than that of a stool; an unpretentious comfortable table for a summer cottage or for a picnic can be built in half a day using a hacksaw, a hammer and a drill. But a table made using the same technology and slightly ennobled can also look great at home, on the left in the figure, instead of an expensively purchased one. However, the table also gives greater freedom of creative self-expression, it can be a significant and even key element of interior design, it is not for nothing that handicraft furniture makers are called carpenters, and not sofa makers, cabinetrs or bedside tables. Having mastered the carpentry craft, it will be possible to take up exclusive tables over time, the rest of the poses. there.

This article discusses how to make tables out of wood. Wood is an environmentally friendly, affordable and easily processed material with remarkable aesthetic qualities. In utilitarian products, she forgives rather gross mistakes for beginners, but fine woodwork requires high skill. Having learned how to make wooden things, then mastering glass, metal and plastic will be much easier.

Tool and workshop

To make a table with your own hands, you need a separate living rooms production room: woodwork is notoriously dusty. In addition, such good means of toning and protecting wood as wood stains emit harmful fumes during staining; nitro-varnishes, too, although to a lesser extent. Therefore, home carpentry should be well ventilated, and preferably with forced ventilation. You can use the garage, but there will be a lot of sawdust, and they will not benefit the car. Better to work in the barn; if it doesn’t exist yet, then you can build it, but on the farm it will come in handy for a lot of things.

The usual carpentry tool, on the left in the figure, is enough for a start. But the work will go much faster, and the result will be better if modern achievements are brought to the rescue, right there:

  • Swivel miter box, pos. 1, allows you to make saw cuts exactly in size and in angle in 2 planes. It is advisable to take it with a complete bow saw, so everything together will be cheaper, and the work will be more accurate. The miter box is a universal device, it will always come in handy and it is better to buy it.
  • Also universal is a manual electric jigsaw with an inclined shoe, pos. 2, which allows you to cut at an angle to the vertical plane.
  • Disc grinder, pos. 3 and 4, it makes it possible for a beginner to get the surface of a wooden plate in 5-15 minutes, on which an experienced carpenter with a skin in his hand will take at least an hour, and tape, pos. 5, also quickly and efficiently process the ends; is there some more belt sanders for grooves and recesses with a protruding working body. These are already specialized tools, unsuitable for other work, and quite expensive, so it’s better to rent them first. True, craftsmen still successfully brush with grinders; artificially aging, a tree, but this is a delicate work.
  • It is also preferable at first to rent a manual wood router, pos. 6, with a set of cutters. They process shaped edges, choose holes and grooves.

A universal household woodworking machine (UBDS) of various modifications is very useful on the farm. It is compact, fits on a table, powered by 220 V 50/60 Hz 380-500 W. UBDS combines a circular saw, planer, wood lathe and a set of cutters. True, you can’t just grind the table legs on it, the tailstock caliper overhang is too small. But the caliper itself is just steel round pipe, it is easy to lengthen it. The stop of the cutter remains regular, it is mobile, the leg and with a long caliper are sharpened in one setting.

How to choose a tree?

A wooden table can be made from any wood of medium resistance to decay, except for the softest species: poplar, aspen, alder, willow, ailanthus. Of the domestic ones, these include:

The rocks are listed in order of availability. For example, horse chestnut, sycamore and juniper are not harvested at all: the former are too valuable for landscaping in the southern regions, while juniper is endangered and protected. Industrial harvesting of elm is almost entirely used for shoe lasts, weaving shuttles, etc., and mountain ash - on weapon stocks; complete plastic replacement they don't have yet. Stone birch grows very slowly, in limited places, does not renew well, so its harvesting is strictly regulated, and the wood is expensive.

Note: walnut is especially valuable for furniture - its wood combines high hardness with excellent viscosity, the most openwork walnut carving does not prick. And walnut wood from burls - large growths on the trunk - is not inferior in texture to Karelian birch.

At the beginning of a carpentry career, it is better to limit yourself to pine, birch, oak, acacia and boxwood. Pine or oak will go to the countertop; birch - on legs pine table; in the countertop, it is strongly warped from the spilled. Acacia and boxwood make excellent dowels, see below.

On a pine countertop made of boards, you can and even need to take low-grade cheap boards - knotty, serpentine. But, of course, without falling knots, cracks, wormholes and traces of rot in the form of spots of unnatural color: black, gray, blue, green, in general, not similar to this tree. For example, rot marks on black (ebony) wood may be whitish or yellowish.

Why is the countertop substandard? Perhaps also unedged, which needs to be finished on a circular and jointer? And after skillful processing of them, plates of remarkable beauty are obtained, on the left in fig. Manufacturers do not like such a tree: the production cycle is delayed, waste increases. But for yourself with your own hands, this is not so scary compared to the result.

wooden humpback

Commercial pine has a clearly defined zoning of wood in the form of annual growth rings; in other conifers and many hardwood she is there too. On the saw cut of the board, the rings form the so-called. humpback in the form of thin concentric arcs. If the top of the tree is directed across the face of the board, as in fig. in the center, then when rallying the shield for the tabletop (see below), the boards are oriented with humps alternately up and down, from below in fig. If the ridges are directed towards the end of the board (on the right in the figure), then the boards are placed in the shield with ridges in one direction. These subtleties are necessary so that during operation the countertop does not split or warp.

Varnishes, paints, impregnation, glue

A free means of protecting wood from decay is used motor oil, but for what they eat from, this is not the best option. Optimal will be 2-fold, with a break of 3-5 days, impregnation with a water-polymer emulsion (WPE), it will give protection to the table for the entire time of its life. Even birch plywood impregnated with WPE is suitable for furniture front panels: it is also varnished on top and does not delaminate.

Old furniture nitrocellulose varnishes NTs-218 and NTs-2144 with solvent No. 647 are gradually falling into disuse: they are superior in all respects to acrylic varnishes by water based; in addition, they are safe to use. Also, glues, bone carpentry and BF-2 on alcohol are inferior to PVA; however, to obtain a high-quality seam, the latter requires applying glue to both surfaces, keeping them tack-free before joining, and holding them under pressure for 1-3 days, but in home production this is acceptable to you.

Wood for furniture can be pre-tinted and protected with a stain, which allows you to make beautiful typesetting parts; an example will be given below. To tint the assembled units, you can use paints based on the same lacquer and artistic (not paint!) dyes: oil in tubes for NC lacquers and acrylic water-based for the same lacquer.

First, they prepare a “painting”: they take 30-50 ml of varnish and squeeze 1-1.5 cm of paint into it with continuous thorough stirring with a paintbrush. The coloring is stored in a tightly closed vial and added to the varnish to the desired tone; a test for it is done on a piece of wood, the tone is determined by the complete drying of the varnish. Colored varnishes on NC and oil paints can be mixed according to the mixing rules oil paints for painting; acrylic - no restrictions.

First steps

The country table is the first of the homemade ones. If 1-2 brick pallets remain from the construction site, then the pallet table will be the first of the first. Not only because it is extremely simple, but also because it is very useful on the farm.

From one pallet, sanded, impregnated and varnished, you get a garden table like a coffee table, on the left in fig. If there is a pair available, in just half an hour you can make a wall-mounted desktop-rack, in the center and on the right. Chains for it can also be woven yourself from soft wire, covered with a PVC tube or, better, heat-shrinkable. To fully raise the tabletop, a small tool is placed on a shelf of a wall pallet.

With a little more work, a collapsible cutting table for a summer residence is made from one pallet, which allows you to transfer the summer-autumn harvesting campaign to the street without littering with husks and without trampling on the stumps. For the winter this table is collected in a compact package. The construction is clear from Fig; a bucket is placed under the hatch in the tabletop.

The next in order of complexity is the well-known country table-goats, colloquially a goat. Its construction of 40 mm boards is shown on the left in the figure, and in addition to it is a bench of the same device. And on the right - a country folding table on the same principle. It has swivel joints (M8-M12 bolts, washers and nuts with locknuts); in the place marked in green, a stop boss is placed on the nails between the crossbars of the tabletop. When folded, this table fits in the trunk of a car, so it will also go to a picnic. If this is not expected, or the trunk is larger, the countertop can be made longer.

Finally, it also does not require special tools and skills for a gazebo table, see fig. below. Material - the same magpie board and some inexpensive fasteners.

One step closer to art...

To advance in table building, now you need to learn some of the basics of carpentry. A table, in general, consists of a tabletop, its support frame, possibly with niches and / or mechanisms, or simply a plate - underframe - legs, and knots holding everything together. Let's go through them starting with the connections along with the legs, because. their fastening is the weakest point of the table.

Connections and legs

At first, we need to master the connection on dowels - round wooden bosses, see fig. Dowel joints are assembled on a quick-drying glue that does not require exposure: carpentry, BF-2, acrylic. Sometimes, instead of dowels, nails with bitten off hats are used to connect thin boards, pos. 4, but this is bad: the wood dries out, but the metal does not, and over time the connection becomes loose.

For dowels, a thin-layered tree is taken stronger than both connected parts, i.e. most hard rock. A pine table with birch legs can be joined on oak or beech dowels. On sale there are ready-made round sticks for cutting dowels; before use, chamfers are removed from the edges of the dowels. Plastic dowels are also sold, but they are intended exclusively for detachable connections, for example. inserts in sliding tables.

Legs for tables industrial production fastened with split sides, see fig. on right. Pos., marked in yellow - the simplest, cheapest and worst. With its shortcomings in the complete absence of advantages, buyers of Shiroptrebov's Soviet furniture are well aware, even if it remains there. Reliable, well-kept, except for the legs, and underframe boards, drawers with mortise jibs, “green” pos. They also require the least cost, but are quite laborious, so they are rarely used in industry, but just right for an amateur. Drawer side with shaped steel jib, top right in the figure, even stronger; in this way it is possible to fasten legs with a round head and in general any, however, purchased shaped parts made of high-quality steel are required.

Note: legs are attached to the round table, as shown below in fig.

Detachable legs are needed not only for ease of storage and transportation. In a small apartment narrow corridor a table with legs is often simply impossible to push up to the living room, no matter how you turn it. Modern apartments more spacious, and in 1-storey private houses the table can be served / given out the window, so in such cases, the strength and durability of the table with tightly fixed legs comes to the fore.

For tables on a rectangular base, the heads of the legs for blind fastening must also be rectangular, pos. 1 in fig. By the way, the tsargs are also one-piece: then the legs with dowels that pass through a mortise wooden jib. From the inside, the dowels are cut flush and wedged with dogwood or boxwood wedges inserted across the fibers of the jib wood. Assembled with glue, such a connection is so strong and durable that these 200-year-old tables can be fought by grabbing the leg.

Sufficiently high-quality tables on turned legs are assembled simply on dowels, pos. 2. For simpler tables, the legs are made of timber and fastened with self-tapping screws after attaching the tabletop to the tabletop, pos. 3. Even simpler and lighter are the legs of a pair of boards each, pos. 4 and 5. So that they do not cling to the floor, you need to stuff the thrust bearings on them below or put the table on wheels.

table top

The easiest, but not the cheapest way, is to order a countertop made of laminated chipboard (chipboard, laminate). Chipboard for countertops is available in the form of the so-called. postforming - slabs 3.6x1.2 m 20-60 mm thick with decorative coating. The upper edge of the postforming plate is rounded, the bottom face with a drip collector, see fig. Modern furniture laminate is quite environmentally friendly, no matter what gossip does not want to forget the co-furniture, which stank of phenol for months.

Postforming is well bought by small furniture enterprises. They always have his scraps; of them to you willingly and for quite affordable price they will cut the tabletop to size if the company has a jig saw. Perhaps such an order will be accepted by a single individual entrepreneur if he is sitting idle. The finished slab will be closed, i.e. cover the butt PVC edging(edge). If you will be edging yourself (sometimes they ask for an awkward surcharge for edging), then keep in mind:

  • The upper and lower flanges of the edging have a different profile, see on the left in fig. Confuse - there will always be a piping of dirt on the table.
  • Kant must be taken exactly according to the thickness of the plate. It is possible to put on a 24 mm edging on a 25 mm plate, but it will soon slide off.
  • The groove for the edging comb must be selected manually disc cutter; saw, it seems that no one has yet succeeded as it should.
  • Before installing the edge, a thin layer is applied to the surface of the end silicone sealant and the “sausage” is squeezed out into the groove; in this case, the silicone will also be a lubricant, without which the ridge of the edge can simply be crushed.
  • The comb is inserted into the groove with light blows of the mallet, gradually moving along the contour. The tabletop must lie face up on the support; squeezed out excess silicone is immediately washed with a clean rag slightly moistened with table vinegar.

Plank tabletops are rallied in plank clips with wedges and spacers - wimahs. Wimes are quite possible to make yourself; You need 3-4 for a table top. Wym boards (cheeks) are wrapped in polyethylene so that the shield does not stick to them. On fig. for example - the process of manufacturing a round tabletop; rectangular rally in the same way, only cropping to size is easier. The shield is rallied onto the countertop with glue and dowels (see below); if the boards are grooved, dowels are not needed. When rallying to PVA, the next plot is kept until the applied glue is tacky before installation in the wyma.

Often, countertops are assembled without wyms on the plaza - flat surface, covered plastic wrap. It will not work to assemble a good plank shield on the plaza: either it will come out slitted, or the boards will stand on end when assembled. But typesetting tabletops from fragments are obtained in skillful hands just wonderful. For example, at pos. 1-3 fig. - a tabletop made of sawing waste, tinted with wood stain. And on pos. 4-5, the base of the tabletop was the plaz itself made of thick plywood. Tiled and her fight is glued tile adhesive, then the depressions are filled with drinking grout, the surface is lacquered and the contour is edged with a wooden lath.

Note: these examples do not illustrate all the possibilities of making do-it-yourself inlaid art tabletops.

Underframe

Table base with non-removable legs - simple wooden frame, on the left in Fig. Niches and details of mechanisms are not involved in the power circuit. If the table is longer than 1.2 m, or the tabletop is removable/sliding, or heavy operational loads are expected (for example, a work table), the underframe is reinforced with stiffeners in the center. If the legs are fastened with drawers, then the underframe is made integral with the table top, so that a single power circuit is obtained, on the right in fig.

no frame

Tables without underframes are also known, in which the tabletop with legs work in a single carrier system. Very durable, eg. plywood table on the left in pic; its connections are shkantovye. Unfortunately, this is not an economical design for an amateur: the sidewalls cannot be assembled from pieces, they must be solid. In mass production, the waste is not very large, but a sheet of plywood with a thickness of 24 mm or more will go one piece for large sidewalls, and 1 more for smaller ones. The table on the right is already quite possible to make with your own hands: the supporting frame is prefabricated; connections - in a spike with a tightening bolt and half a tree. However, the countertop in this case should be round or square, with rounded or right angles.

... and get into the kitchen

Exactly. The table for the kitchen is the next in order of complexity after the simplest country ones. It must already meet the requirements of apartment ergonomics, dimensions - 75 cm in height for people of average completeness; the width of the seat for 1 eater / rider is 60-80 cm, depending on its corpulence, the width of the tabletop is at least 70 cm. The countertop should be easy to clean, durable, resistant to spilled heat from hot dishes.

All these requirements will be satisfied by a table made of chipboard on metal legs; they are also sold separately in sets of 4 pieces, with fasteners, on the left in fig. Factory legs for tables, as a rule, are supplied with height-adjustable heels. The table, the manufacture of which will be reduced to screwing the nests of the legs with confirmatory screws, will cost 30-50% cheaper than the whole purchased one, but in appearance it will not yield, on the right in Fig.

If you are not too lazy to put your hands on, steel legs you can do it yourself. This is not only a cheaper, but also a more durable option: the sockets of branded legs are cast from a rather fragile silumin, the fasteners weaken over time, they need to be tightened. You yourself can cut out nests from good steel, and weld your own legs into them.

The kitchen is more spacious, perhaps there is room for a larger table. In such a case - on the trail. rice. drawings of a kitchen table in a rustic style. "Rustic" this table is not only in appearance: it does not have a single nail and metal fasteners in general. Just wood and glue. A connoisseur, seeing such, nods his head in understanding and approval, and the design is simple and accessible to a beginner. True, in addition to the tabletop, you will have to rally the shields on the sidewalls, but in this case, the extra work is worth it.

Kruglyashi

Table with round tabletop appropriate in any room, if it fits there. But a tabletop made of boards in this case is not the best option: due to the presence sharp corners it is without a frame, very complex and laborious, subject to splitting. Type-setting countertops from small fragments, like the one described above from waste, are free from this drawback; unlike laminate rounds, they are decorative, stylish, unique, and practically free.

There are even more sharp corners in a small-type table top, but here the “broom law” works. Not the American senator Venik, who loves democracy in Russia to the point of complete oblivion of it at home, but the broom with which they sweep the rubbish. As you know, it is impossible to break him (a broom, not a senator) tied up, and a child will break twig after twig. So here, due to the ease of distributing loads between small fragments, the table top made of them works like a solid plate, and you can cut it off after assembly even with the letter zyu.

Note: the idea of ​​the senator-broom, sorry, Venik, was suggested by the statement of his compatriot Samuel Clemens, world-famous as Mark Twain: “I affirm, and undertake to prove it, that Mr. Cooper has no more fantasies than a bull. But not the bull that lows in the pasture, but the one that is the support of the bridge.

How to make a semi-folding round table is shown in fig; on the right there are the dimensions of the countertop and the assembly order. And in fig. upper right - small round table for the hallway, according to the old classification - business card. Its feature is the minimum number of connections; glue assembly. Any kruglyash will go to the countertop, from a stump saw cut to a cardboard one, made according to the method of manufacturing cardboard shelves, but the underframe must be durable, made of wood (dvuhsotka board) or chipboard.

Moving on to the living room

Table in main room at home should be to face the whole house. At the same time, with the modern desire for laconic design (which also saves living space costs), the table should not be striking for the time being, and occupy smaller place. Therefore, one of the most sought-after pieces of furniture of our days has become a transforming table.

The simplest transformable table, which, with all its transformations, remains a table, and does not turn into a closet or bed - a bedside table; it is quite possible to make it with your own hands "from scratch". There are 2 most common options here. On the left in fig. - the table is deployable, it has a record ratio of occupied areas in expanded and collapsed form. These are most often placed in studio apartments perpendicular to the wall on the border of the kitchen and living areas. With the tabletop wings lowered, it will serve as a bar. By raising the wings one by one, you can get a kitchen or everyday dining table, and fully extended (in the center), it will provide a place for a rather crowded banquet.

A bachelor living in a small apartment is more suitable for a folding bedside table, on the right in fig. It's basically 2 small round folding tables described above, connected by a rectangular insert. You can have lunch alone from it folded, because, unlike the previous version, there is where to put your legs. And having unrolled, spend a romantic evening with a beautiful stranger or sincere gatherings with friends.

All of the above qualities combine coffee-dining tables-transformers with a mechanism. The variety of transformation mechanisms is great, but for tables that are always tables, they basically come down to 2 types: an elevator (pantograph) and a book. How one and the other work, see the video:

Theoretically, a book is more stable than an elevator, although much depends on the quality of execution. It is more popular among book lovers, because the mechanism-book can still be made independently, and the elevator outside the production environment is unlikely.

How the table-book is laid out is shown in stages in fig. on right. For its independent production, you need to know that the key unit is the damping-balancing elastic link. In fairly expensive branded designs, very soft gas dampers (gas lifts) are used, but it is better for an amateur to stop at a spring damper, and not because a gas lift is much more expensive.

The fact is that the gas lift must be coordinated within fairly narrow limits with the kinematics of the lever system, the weight of the table top, underframe and the own weight of the levers. If the balance of the entire system does not fit into its characteristics, the mechanism simply will not work. And the spring can always be tightened / loosened; replace as a last resort. In general, an unsuccessful home-made transforming table with gas lifts rarely manages to be “brought to mind”, and spring almost always. If you still decide to suffer with a homemade acrobat table, in fig. - drawings of the spring transformation mechanism.

Without the availability of or access to drilling, turning and milling machines for metal, most parts of the transformation mechanism will have to be ordered. Then its production will cost a little about $40, and you can buy a good ready-made one for $50-$60. A factory-made transforming coffee table rarely costs less than $200, so even in this situation, the savings are significant.

The transformer table is made under the mechanism. One of the most popular are the Mazetti transformation mechanisms, thanks to good quality at a moderate price for this class of products. In addition, Mazetti movements are available in a supporting frame (inset in the center in the figure), which greatly simplifies installation. The rest of the pos. in fig. show the device and the dimensions of the table for this mechanism.

For a strong feast

Whatever you say, but in a normal family with children, friends and relatives, crowded gatherings at the table cannot do without, and here the transforming table will not always help out. However, we will leave more or less full banquet tables for the living room, as they say, for later: these are products of a higher order of complexity; primarily because of the extension mechanism.

By the way, the good old “sliders” with wooden guides and wooden sliders of the halves of the tabletop (item 1 in the figure) are quite convenient and reliable if properly executed, in addition to this, they can be made by yourself, but such a process requires a special detailed description. Modern sliding mechanisms with telescopic full extension guides, pos. 2, allow you to use not 1, but up to 3-5 inserts, which increases the capacity of the table by 6-10 people, respectively, but they are quite expensive, and their installation requires a description of no less voluminous.

There are banquet tables with clamshell inserts, pos. 3. In elite models, when sliding / sliding the halves of the tabletop, the insert raises, unfolds and puts in place or puts back in the underframe a very complex mechanism, but its manual versions are available for home production.

As for banquet tables with retractable individual tables, arranged like a keyboard stand in a computer desk, they cannot be called popular by any means: leaning forward (and how to avoid this if the house is without servants?), We get the board back into the underframe, and our portion of treats - for festive clothes.

But let's not talk about sad things. Recall that the table is not always pushed apart, and you can use the side table, but the whole table is in any case more reliable. Therefore, in the series of drawings below - a way to make a very durable and inexpensive dining table, and how it looks "live" - ​​see the left in fig. at first.

In addition

A table, and indeed any furniture, often wants to be painted not just with stripes or artistically painted. To protect the drawing from external influences and to ensure the possibility of updating the varnish if necessary, the paints should not be applied, but rubbed into the wood before varnishing. The technique of painting by layer-by-layer rubbing of paints is called glazing. So in conclusion, we offer a master class on wood glazing.

Video: wood glazing master class