How to Breadboard a Table Top

Measure the thickness and width of the tabletop. Buy lumber planks that are the same thickness as the tabletop, which will be the breadboard ends of the tabletop. Cut them to the same length as the tabletop is wide. Lumber that is about 3 to 4 inches wide is ideal.

Place a straight edge 2 inches in from one end of the tabletop. It should be perfectly parallel with the end of the tabletop.

Shave the top of the tabletop down using a router until the last 2 inches of the tabletop is 1/4-inch thinner than the total thickness of the tabletop. For example, if your tabletop is 2 inches thick, you should shave off half an inch with the router. Make several passes with the router to achieve an accurate cut.

Turn the tabletop over and make an identical cut on the other side of the same end. You should now have a tenon, or protrusion on one end of the table that is 2 inches long and half the thickness of the tabletop. Repeat on the other end of the table.

Cut off an inch-long segment of the tenons from each side of the tabletop using a hacksaw so that the tenon now starts 1 inch in from either side of the tabletop edge. This will allow the breadboard ends to completely cover the tenon, and sit flush with the tabletop.

Measure the dimensions of your tenons and cut matching mortises, or hollows, in the edge of your breadboard lumber planks using the router. Make several passes with the router until the mortise mates snugly with the tenon. It should not be so tight that you can’t remove the breadboard once you mate it with the tenon. Each mortise should be customized for one of the tabletop tenons so that the perfect fit is achieved.

Apply wood glue to the central 6 to 8 inches of the two tenons and fit the breadboard ends over the tenons. The reason you don’t glue the entire tenon is to allow for movement as the wood expands and contracts with the weather.

Turn the tabletop so the underside is facing upward. In the center of each breadboard end, drill a hole straight down that is three-fourths the thickness of the tabletop, which means it will go through that side of the breadboard and the tenon inside. The drill bit should be sized for your dowel pegs.

Angle the drill about 10 to 15 degrees back toward the tabletop and drill holes the same depth as the straight central hole every 6 to 8 inches along the rest of the breadboard end. Having these holes slightly angled will ensure that if the tabletop shrinks of expands, the movement will draw the dowel pegs tighter, and pull the breadboard ends closer to the tabletop, keeping it flat and preventing warping.

Cover two dowel pegs with glue and insert them into the central holes on the breadboards. Use a rubber mallet to wedge them in tightly. Insert an unglued dowel peg into each of the angled holes, again using the rubber mallet to achieve a tight fit.

Cut off the tops of the dowel just above the level of the tabletop using a hacksaw, then sand them flat with a sander to complete your breadboard ends.