Hi,
I am making a coffee table and was wondering if I can use dowels at
each corner leg and maybe 2 along the apron on each side to attach the
top to the bottom? The legs at the top are about 1" sq and the apron
is 3/4x3/4" sq. The top consist of 5 popular boards biscuit joined
together. I use all popular wood for the project. Or, would it be
better to use figure 8's to attach it and how many would I have to
use?
Many Thanks,
John

That would be a big NO on the dowels. After the first time a tabletop
you've made splits down the middle when it wants to shrink more than
the apron will allow, you'll never underestimate wood movement again.
Don't ask me how I know that.

Searching the archives of this newsgroup (as recently as just this past
week) will reveal prior discussions on this topic along with lots of
ways to do it.

Josh



John wrote:
Hi,
I am making a coffee table and was wondering if I can use dowels at
each corner leg and maybe 2 along the apron on each side to attach the
top to the bottom? The legs at the top are about 1" sq and the apron
is 3/4x3/4" sq. The top consist of 5 popular boards biscuit joined
together. I use all popular wood for the project. Or, would it be
better to use figure 8's to attach it and how many would I have to
use?
Many Thanks,
John