60″ × 30″ x-base farmhouse table plans

Parts

Cut list

Kerf 1/8″ included. Every cut runs edge to edge.

Steps

• Tape measure
• Speed square
• Pencil
• Drill/driver
• Clamps
• Safety glasses
• Hearing protection
• Dust mask
• Circular saw or miter saw
• Miter saw, or circular saw in two passes, for 4×4 posts
• Table saw or track saw for ripping
• Miter saw
• Impact driver or a strong drill for the structural screws
• Clamps, at least 4 that open past the table width
• Level
• Drill with a 3/8″ bit at least 7″ long (a bed-bolt or long auger bit)
• Forstner bit, 1″, for the barrel nuts
• Socket wrench or bed-bolt wrench
• Sander, 120 and 180 grit

Underlined words have a short explanation: hover or tap them. All of them are on the glossary page.

1. 1Before you start

   Read every step once, start to finish, before you buy or cut anything. Each step names the parts it uses by letter; the parts list gives their sizes.

   Set up somewhere flat with good light. A pair of sawhorses with a sheet of plywood on top makes a fine work table.

   Wear safety glasses whenever a tool is running, hearing protection for saws, and a dust mask for sanding and for cutting treated wood or sheet goods. Tie back long hair and loose sleeves. Keep children and pets out of the work area.

   • Tip At the store, pick straight boards: hold each one up to your eye and look down its length. Skip boards that bow, twist or have big knots near the ends.
   • Tip Measure twice, cut once. Most mistakes are a misread tape, not a bad cut.

2. 2Cut and label the parts

   Cut every part on the cut list. Cut the longest parts first: if one goes wrong, it can still become a shorter part.

   To mark a cut, hook your tape on the end of the board, make a small V with its point exactly at the measurement, and draw a square line through the point with a speed square. Put an X on the waste side.

   Cut on the waste side of the line, so the blade's kerf (about 1/8″) comes out of the scrap, not your part.

   Write each part's letter in pencil on a face that won't show, and stack the parts by letter.

   Sand the faces before assembly while they're flat and easy to reach: 120 grit, then 180.

   ✓ Lay the parts out and count them against the parts list. Measure a few: if one is off by more than 1/16″, recut it now.

   STOP. Let the saw reach full speed before it touches the wood, keep both hands clear of the blade's path, and never reach under a board you're cutting. Support long boards on both sides of the cut so the blade doesn't pinch.

3. 3Glue up the top

   Rip each of the 6 top boards (A) to 5″ wide, taking the rounded factory edge off both sides so the joints close square.

   Lay them side by side on two or three sawhorses or 2×4s across a floor. Look at the end grain: the curved growth rings should point up on one board and down on the next. This keeps the top from cupping one way.

   Spread a thin, even line of glue on each joining edge. Clamp across the boards every 12″, alternating clamps above and below the top so it doesn't bow. Tighten until a small bead of glue squeezes out along every joint, no more.

   • Tip Dry-fit first, with clamps but no glue, so you know the clamps reach and the joints close before the glue starts to set.
   • Tip Scrape off glue squeeze-out after about 30 minutes, when it is rubbery. Wiping wet glue smears it into the grain, and stain will not take there.

   ✓ Every joint is closed tight along its whole length, and a straightedge across the top rocks no more than 1/16″.

4. 4Flatten and trim the top

   After a full day, scrape off any dried glue. Sand or plane both faces flat, finishing about 1 3/8″ thick. Work across the joints first with 80 grit on a belt or random-orbit sander, then along the grain with 120.

   Mark both ends square across the top and cut it to 60″ long with a circular saw run against a clamped straightedge.

   The top is 30″ wide. Ease every edge with sandpaper or a small round-over so it doesn't splinter.

   • Tip Pencil a loose zig-zag over the whole surface before sanding. When the pencil is gone everywhere, the surface is flat.

   ✓ A straightedge laid across the top in several places shows no gap over 1/32″, and the corners measure square.

5. 5Draw the X full size

   On a sheet of cardboard or scrap plywood, draw the base full size: a foot 26″ long and 3 1/2″ tall at the bottom, and a cleat the same size with its underside 21 5/8″ above the foot's top.

   Draw each diagonal as a 5 1/2″ wide band from the bottom of one end to the top of the other. Its outside edge meets the foot at the foot's end, and its other edge meets the cleat at the cleat's end.

   The diagonals lean at 49.1°, and each is 33 3/8″ long from point to point.

   • Tip A full-size drawing catches mistakes before you cut wood. Lay each cut part on it to check before you assemble anything.

   ✓ Measure the drawing: the X is symmetrical, the same at both ends.

6. 6Cut the diagonals

   Set the miter saw to 40.9°. Cut one end of each 2×6, flip the board end for end, and cut the other end so the two cuts are parallel. The board is 33 3/8″ long, measured along its long edge from point to point.

   These are level cuts: when the board leans at its angle, both cut ends sit flat, one on the foot and one under the cleat.

   Lay each cut diagonal on the full-size drawing to check it.

   • Tip Cut one diagonal, check it on the drawing, then use it to mark the other three.
   • Tip Sight down each board before you cut it. Put any curve (the crown) up on rails and aprons, so a load straightens it.

   ✓ All four diagonals are the same length within 1/16″ when laid on top of each other.

7. 7Build the two X ends

   Lay a foot (B) and a cleat (D) on the drawing. Lay one diagonal on them, then the second diagonal on top of the first, crossing it. The two diagonals sit side by side in the thickness of the 4×4s: one toward the outside of the table, one toward the inside.

   Glue the faces where the diagonals cross and clamp them.

   Drill two pilot holes up through the foot into the end of each diagonal, and two down through the cleat into its other end. Drive a 6″ structural screw into each: 8 per X.

   Build the second X the same way, as a mirror image so the inside diagonal is on the inside at both ends.

   • Tip Drill a pilot hole for every screw within 2″ of a board end. Without it the board splits.
   • Tip Put a scrap of wood under each clamp jaw so it doesn't dent the parts.

   ✓ Each X stands upright on its foot with the cleat level, and the two X ends match when laid on top of each other.

   STOP. Structural screws twist the drill hard if they bind. Hold it with both hands.

8. 8Join the X ends with the stretcher

   Stand the X ends up on a flat floor, 33 1/2″ apart between their inner diagonals. The stretcher (E) stands on edge, centred on each crossing: its bottom 11 9/16″ above the floor.

   Clamp the stretcher (E) in place, level, centred on the X crossing. Drill two 3/8″ holes through the X crossing and 3″ into the stretcher end, 1 1/4″ from its top and bottom edges. Keep the drill level and straight: use a square standing beside it as a guide.

   On the inside face of the stretcher, 2 1/4″ from the end, drill a 1″ hole 1″ deep over each bolt hole so it meets the bolt hole. Drop a barrel nut into each, its slot facing the bolt.

   Push a bed bolt through the outside into each barrel nut, turning the nut with a screwdriver in its slot until the bolt catches. Tighten with a wrench until the joint is snug. No glue: the base comes apart.

   The bolts or screws also clamp the two diagonals together where they cross.

   • Tip Drill the bolt hole first, then hold the bolt beside the stretcher to mark exactly where its end lands. Centre the barrel-nut hole on that mark.
   • Tip Re-tighten the bolts after a month: new wood dries and shrinks a little.

   ✓ Both X ends stand plumb, and the distance between the cleats is the same at both sides of the table.

9. 9Attach the top

   Lay the top good face down on blankets. Set the base upside down on it, the outside of each base 10″ in from the top's end and centred across the width.

   Drill shallow recesses near each end of each cleat, two on each side, for the figure-8 fasteners: 8 in all. Screw each to the cleat, then into the top with 5/8″ screws.

   Turn the table upright with a helper, lifting by the base.

   • Tip Tabletop fasteners let the solid top grow and shrink across its width. Never glue a solid top to cross-grain cleats: it will crack.

   ✓ The table stands without rocking, and the top overhangs the bases equally at both ends.

   STOP. The table weighs about 100 lb or more. Lift with two people.

10. 10Finish

    Ease every sharp edge and corner with 120-grit sandpaper so nobody gets a splinter.

    Sand all over with 180 grit, always along the grain (the direction the wood fibres run). Scratches across the grain show through stain.

    Wipe off the dust with a barely damp rag and let it dry.

    Paint, stain or a clear coat (water-based polyurethane is the easiest). Apply thin coats with the grain, let each dry fully, and sand lightly with 220 grit between coats.

    Let it dry for the time on the can before using it.

    • Tip Try your finish on a scrap of the same wood first: stain looks different on every board.