Nice little project Tom and what a blessing to share such a wonderful
time with your son doing what you enjoy. I think we'd have a much
better world if there was more of that going on.

Regarding the table. The fact that the top strips are not built into a
single piece limits the options a little and will make it a bit harder
to get things to set down firm with a single line of attachment. I
think the up-screwing idea is fine but the two outer pieces might rock
abit with only a single line of screws. You can counter bore this
also, rather than using the long screws and counter sink. Drill a 3/8"
dia hole about 3/4 of the way through from underneath as you proposed
and then drill a piloty hole the rest of the way. Use shorter screws
up into the top pieces. Use multiple screws at the corss members of
the center piece. You migh consider some method of tieing the outer
slats to the center one for more stability.

Another very similar idea is to use pocket screws along the inside
faces of the table aprons and stretchers, up into the table top
pieces. No one can see them there unless they lay under that table
(which I have been know to do on occasion but that's another set of
stories).

I think angle brackets will be a rickety, they just won't handle any
racking well and wioll loosen quickly, unless the table top is one
monolithic piece.

A more structurally beefy way would be to run a few batten across the
underside of the 3 pieces, attached with counter bored screws perhaps.
They could be aligned just inside the legs at each end. Then the apron
2x4's could be notched to allow then to set in and then also screw the
battens to the legs. Not sure it makes sense but I can only draw with
AutoCAD, unlike your beautiful dash and pipe work.


On Aug 18, 2:43 pm, "Thomas G. Marshall"
. com wrote:
I have a very short little planter table that I put together as a silly
father-son project with my 3 year old. The idea was to use up the left over
lumber from my deck. I haven't finished the table because I am not sure how
to adhere the table top in such a way that there are no screws showing.

Looking down, the table underpinning (no top) looks like this (go fixed
width font):

+----+ +----+
| +----------------------------+ |
| +-------------++-------------+ |
+-++-+ || +-++-+
|| || ||
|| || ||
|| || ||
+-++-+ || +-++-+
| +-------------++-------------+ |
| +----------------------------+ |
+----+ +----+

Legs are short cedar 4x4's, and the thinner bars are cedar 2x4's. Now I
have cedar boards (true ¾ x true 5½) to act as a table top. I'll draw these
with #'s OVER the prior diagram so you can get a sense as to what overlaps
what:

############################################
# +----+ +----+ #
# | +----------------------------+ | #
# | +-------------++-------------+ | #
############################################
# || || || #
# || || || #
# || || || #
############################################
# | +-------------++-------------+ | #
# | +----------------------------+ | #
# +----+ +----+ #
############################################

So the question is how do I best screw these boards to the top from
underneath? The entirety of the underpinning is pocket screws (...sort of,
more like 30° angles), so no screws show. But I would like to keep the no
screws showing policy going here.

Do I.....

1. Use angle brackets connecting the 2x4's to the top boards from "inside"
and underneath? These would require very short screws predrilled into the
boards.

or

2. The 2x4's are a true 3¼" I have 3½" decking screws. I'm wondering if I
couldn't just counter sink in the screw the entire width of the 2x4 upwards
and (if I'm careful) have it pierce the top by only ½"... But that seems
sketchy to me.

or

3. something else?

Thanks!

--
Forgetthesong,I'dratherhavethefrontallobotomy...