The Complete Handbook of Table Legs

Chapter 1: Understanding Table Legs

The Mechanical Reality of a Table Leg

When you strip away style and marketing, a table leg is a structure whose only job is to transfer the weight of the table top and everything on it down into the floor. It sounds like a simple task, and under static, perfectly vertical loads, it is. But a table leg does not live in a static world. Every time someone leans on a table, sweeps a floor under it, or drags it across a rug to make room for chairs, the leg is subjected to forces far more complex than straight-down compression. Understanding these forces---how they arise, what they do to different materials, and how to design or choose a leg that resists them---is the core of working with table legs professionally.

Consider the most fundamental force: vertical compression. A heavy dining table with eight chairs has a top that works out to roughly 200 pounds or more in oak or stone. Eight seated adults each add another 180 to 220 pounds as they lean forward onto their elbows. At peak, the four legs under that table are each carrying somewhere between 400 and 600 pounds of compressive load. A well-made leg, in almost any common material, handles that without complaint. A 2-inch diameter solid oak leg, a 3-inch by 3-inch steel square tube with an eighth-inch wall, and a cast aluminum replacement leg all support that weight easily. The problem is that the load is never