Hi Audrey! Did you get a quote for construction grade pine, fir, or spruce? And what part of the country do you live in? Our local lumber yard is comparable in prices to home depot/lowes. If you have a Home Depot I’d get the wood there.

Hey Phil, this certainly depends on a number of factors. While they certainly can last indefinitely — conditions can cause woods to expand and contract more or less. Doing your best to prep the woods — and to properly assemble is key. To be honest, I did the Kreg screws a few years ago for simplicity to show the process for a beginner with just basic tools. However, if you have a dado blade to do tongue and groove — or a biscuit jointer or domino — you are going to have better and more long lasting results. Cheers!

I read a lot of criticism on Ana’s and Shanty2Chic’s websites regarding the use of kreg screws joining the table top & breadboards. The concern is that since the breadboards are ‘locked’ with the kreg screws and don’t have room to move via seasonal humidity changes, they will eventually warp, shrink, crack & possibly fail. The fix is to use tongue and groove or biscuit joinery.

I made one of the 4×4 truss tables 2 years ago (turned out great btw!) but did notice a bit of shrinkage between the main boards and the breadboards – about 1/8″ to 1/4″. It appears to have stabilized and haven’t noticed any changes since then. I anticipated this for the next 4×4 table build I had so let it acclimatize over last winter in the basement before finishing it and the top warped quite a bit which required a lot of help from the belt sander.

Like most others, I’m here for quality builds on a budget but just looking for your opinion on longevity of these builds – especially the table tops/ breadboards joined with kreg screws. Do you expect them to have a certain ‘lifespan’ (5, 10, 15 years)? Or should a table joined like this last indefinitely?

Thanks! Phil

Thanks for checking out the site Cody! I used basic construction grade fir, but pine would work as well. Cheers

First time discovering your site and I love this table! I’m wondering what type of wood you used? I want to build myself but don’t know whether to go to Lowes and buy some pine or go to a lumber yard for some good hardwood. Thanks for any suggestions!

Cody.

OK, NO PROBLEM!

Sorry, Eric we don’t have plans for the chairs.

John, that’s great – gotta love it out here. Did you have a good time? This would be nice at pub table height, thats a great idea! Be sure to share photos when you finish it. I would recommend bringing the supports up, yes, don’t want them quite as close to the ground since you’ll be going up another 12″. It’ll still be plenty strong though if you don’t end up adjusting anything. To be safe, just meet it in the middle and bring that support up another 6″ off the ground or so. Cheers John!