Alternate Top

Yesterday I went by my local hardwood store to look for some boards for the table leaves. The sapele selection was pretty bad: there were only one or two boards I’d consider acceptable for the top. I spoke with Dan, my favorite sales guy there, and he said they weren’t getting any more until next Friday (Nov. 17). That doesn’t give me enough time to build the leaves in time for Thanksgiving…

He mentioned that they did have some 1/4” sapele plywood though. I was going to need some for an upcoming project anyway, so I quickly thought up an alternate top in my head: cut the 1/4” ply to fit the vault opening of the table, and then build a simple support frame underneath (out of 2x4s probably) to support it and bring it up to the level of the rest of the table. That should work just fine for a couple of weeks until I can go through the new sapele stock and pick out some good boards!