Dining room table extension

Uhtred

Uhtred

Uhtred

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
6,372
Location
Bedfordshire
I have been tasked with making our round dining table seat 8 people for Christmas, up from 4 (6 at a push).

It currently has a diameter of 1000mm and we need it to be roughly 1500. My thinking is that it would be best to keep it round for stability. I can just imagine the MIL standing up from the table and putting her full weight on it :D

The standard size for sheet material seems to go up to 1220mm x 2440mm so I was thinking of getting two, cutting them into semicircles with a jigsaw and joining them together with metal jointing plates/nail plates/connector plates.

I just occurred to me, I suppose another idea would be to use just one piece of timber, keep it rectangular, and build a simple stand/legs for the far end. That would have the added bonus of giving me something to attach the top to.

I quite like that idea actually, thanks ocuk :D

Any better ideas? Any opinions of which sheet material? It doesn't matter what it looks like but I'd want to store it in the garage for future gatherings. OSB?
 
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I've seen restaurants in Asia do your first idea of putting a larger wooden circle onto a smaller table when a big group arrives to eat. They were solid circles, but your hinged idea could work. Or perhaps use batons underneath to join the 2 bits together?
Full marks if you can fashion a lazy Suzan on top too to make use of the dead space in the middle. Good luck.
 
You definitely need to consider how you'll fix it to the table for stability. As you say you don't want someone to lean on it and send the dinner flying.

Maybe worth looking at some sort of bracket you can bolt it onto the table without actually damaging the table.
 
Thank you

We did also discuss an oval and that's probably the cheapest and simplest idea, as it would only need one sheet of material and a couple of batons for a leg at each end. I'll run that by her again.

Going back to the circle idea, what if I bought 3 sheets of 6mm thick mdf 1220x2440 and made two circles, then stick them together with the joins at 180 degrees to each other

That should give me the something reasonably solid without having to use batons or anything like that.

Whatever option I go for I'm think MDF is a good bet, I can treat it or paint to protect from moisture and store for future use. It won't be prone to twisting or warping like plywood.
 
I'd be looking at local classifieds (FB Marketplace, Gumtree, etc) and seeing what cheap tables there are.
It doesn't have to be fancy as you can cover it with a Xmas tablecloth.

Far less hassle and likely cheaper by the time you've bought the materials to modify your existing one.
 
What darkblade says, or... Two tables, big board?

I've a friend who hosts a new year's day lunch and needs to fit 15-20 people in her lounge. For once a year, we just pull the dining and kitchen tables together and stick ply down.
 
In the end I went with two tables and a big board on top. I realised that our outdoor table is exactly the same height, so we'll clean it up and put a bit sheet of MDF on top.

The MDF will come in handy nest year for a workbench build

Thanks all
 
My grandparents had a square hardwood dining table that had a central split with a twin set of steel rods in a frame underneath.

On required occasions they table was pulled apart to its allowable extremities and a matching leaf dropped into the central gap.
The sections were pushed together and locked in place giving an extended rectangular version of the table.

Sadly, it was auctioned off after they had both passed away and the house was cleared.
I hope it is still somewhere now and providing good service.
 
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