GroupWBench

After much work, we managed to finish building our dining banquette and table. We took a shortcut on the table and used the legs from our old table. I built a base for them and put the new top on and declared the job finished. That was when we found two issues. First, legs at the four corners on a table next to a bench doesn't work too well. You can't slide in to sit down because the leg is in the way. Second, the table wobbled. I don't know what I did wrong, but there was just a bit of wobble in the table. It was fine for most things, but if you tried cutting something on your plate, you would shake the whole thing. So my declaration of "Finished!" was a tad early.

We needed trestle legs that worked with the style of the whole thing. I pondered it and thought that 4×4's in an X would work fine. When I looked online for a picture to show Ivy, I found ready made ones in metal that weren't too expensive. We ordered them from Amazon and waited…and waited…and waited some more. Finally, we got a note saying they gave up trying to get them to us. We ordered another set from a different manufacturer and waited…and waited…You get it. We finally cancelled the second order and broke down and ordered the same legs from the retail house of the devil – the dreaded Wal Mart. The legs showed up and looked great. I don't know what was going on with Amazon, but they really dropped the ball there.

I pulled apart the old table base and installed the new legs. I declared the job finished again. Then we sat down and found that the thing wobbled worse now than before. I calmly glared at it and dared it to keep wobbling. It wobbled some more. It obviously doesn't speak Stan. After much thought we ran to Lowe's and picked up some steel bar. It looked like bending it would be a problem without a vice, so now I have a nice vice in my shop. I cut it to size and bent the ends just enough that they bar would stop the wobbles. A little paint, a little sweat drilling the holes, and a bit more sweat screwing the bars to the table and the legs. The wobbles are no more, but I'm not going to declare the job finished. No telling what would fall apart if I did that.