You can see the simple mortise and tenon base assemble, with pivoting supports for the dropleaves. The legs were hewn from a massive slap of 12/4 cherry, the most expensive chunk of wood I have purchased to date. It was amazing, almost completely clear and free of defects. You can also see a small groove running around the inside perimeter, this is where the buttons which attach the top slip in, allowing them to move as the top does.
The aprons were drawbored into the legs, coaxing a very tight fit. No glue needed. Drawboring means that the holes for the pegs are made ever-so-slightly offset, so that as the pegs snakes through, it is pulling the joint more and more tightly closed. It must be done very carefully to avoid splitting, but results in rock-solid joinery.
I opted against a rule-joint on the top. I actually wanted to try one, but lack the moulding or rule joint planes required, and refused to resort to a power router. I looked at antique stores and found plenty of examples of this plain butt joint, and personally don't mind it's rustic look. In fact, I found many of the rule joints, while mechanically nifty, looked kindof gaudy to me. This table is 7 6" long. It is definitely about the largest thing I would hope to build on my bench in it's current form.
It seats 8 people relatively comfortably. The whole concept came about in order to comfortably seat a wheelchair user at once end while collapsing in to a smaller footprint for daily use. Here's a little writeup about the house it is going into.
The apprentice's apprentice helps with a final buffing of the pure tung-oil finish.
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