I use breadboard on pine because the end grain is tough to sand smooth and
then really absorbs stain and goes much darker than the rest. Red oak
different story...hard and not that absorbent. Given your need for speed
and no desire to make a museum piece, think I'd simply sand smooth and stain
with the rest of it. I built a very nice mission style oak table and it came
out great with naked end grain.

"Gary DeWitt" wrote in message
om...
"patrick conroy" wrote in message
...
I need to quickly make a new table top for our kitchen table. It will be
about 30x60" and needn't be "fine furniture" at all. I am considering
what
to do with the ends. I've got some 4/4 red oak, that I'll probably rip
into
5" widths.

I'm considering breadboarding the ends (and I'm also thinking about *not*
doing it, just leaving the planks alone and deal with the movement.
Living
in Denver is likely an advantage here.)

I see some techniques for using splines to attach the breadboards.

My question is - wouldn't biscuits accomplish the same thing?
Biscuits allow for lateral movement - assuming I just put a small dab of
glue on the biscuit center, right?

I need to whack this thing out quickly and am tyring to strike the
balance
between moving fast and having something worth keeping longer than a few
years.

thank you!

Got router and edge guide? Seems to me about the same amount of work
to make a traditonal mortice and tenon style breadboard end, with the
added advantage of considerably more strength, since the tennon runs
the whole width of your table. Just remember to make the "mortice"
longer than the tenon by more than the expected expansion. Use three
screws, with the hole in the center of the tenon just pilot sized, and
the two at the outer edges of the tenon elongated. Plug the holes and
you're done!