On Wednesday, September 9, 2015 at 10:31:13 AM UTC-4, dadiOH wrote:
dadiOH wrote:
Jim wrote:
First, let me thank everybody for the input on the wood type I seem
to using for this project. Probably southern yellow pine.

I have the 3 boards (~12x84x1.5)ready for glue up. I am not using
breadboard ends. My plan is to either use biscuits or some kind of
spline for greater strength and alignment. I'm not quite sure here so
any input would be appreciated.

If the board edges are true you need nothing other than glue for
strength. Biscuits or splines could help with alignment; your skill
in gluing together and flatness of boards determine the need for
them. If they are not already flat, neither will help as it is
unikely you are going to be able to bend the boards to align
biscuits/splines.
Myself, I would leave them over-thick, glue up and flatten them later.


I also plan to put boards across the bottom of the top, about every 2
feet or so. Probably overkill, but I do want this to last a long
time.

If you do that, be sure to slot the screw holes in the outside boards
to accomodate movement. At the most. you would need three boards,
two would be plenty.

As an after thought, how are you planning to attach the top to the aprons?
You need to allow for movement there too.

Not sure yet, I'm thinking of either pocket hole or possibly angle iron. I just think it's too big and heavy for those table top things that go in the slots. What are your thoughts?