Table Legs for Dummies

Angled wooden corner brace

Around the AN workshop we adhere to a simple credo: "A job worth doing is worth doing well." That's one of the reasons we are so irked by the sort of rubbish published by clueless freelancers at the content farm formerly known as eHow.com. Take today's DotD nominee, one James Clark (also sometimes known as Terrence Strayer and Evan Burgess): James, for lack of a better name, fell into the common eHow trap of pretending to know how to do something and copying some other idiot's "solution." In this case, he dumped "How to Brace Table Legs" onto HomeSteady.com.

A dead giveaway that Clark (if that's really his name) was operating on an MSU¹ basis is that he pretended to use two different "references," neither of which contained the bullshit he typed into Demand Media's submission form. One, for a utilitarian workbench, uses 2-by-4 angle braces; the other is a website devoted to professional and advanced woodworking products. Neither of the authors would be caught dead telling readers to,

"Insert an L-shaped brace in the inside corners of the four legs so that the braces rest flat against the table edges and each leg."

Yes, Jimmy told people to use "4 L-shaped braces and hardware" to beef up the "strength and stability of the work surface," a solution that is demonstrably half-assed. Besides using utterly useless materials, Clark miscounted: if you're going to follow his directions (and you really shouldn't), you need eight braces, not four!

Then again, this is the moron who told his readers that,

"Generally, the farther away from the top of the table that the brace can be installed on the legs, the stronger the brace will be..."

...while failing to understand that the author he was misquoting was discussing angled wood braces (see image above), not the "Metal braces predrilled with screw holes" beloved of eHow's clueless DIYers.

No, James, your "solution" is worthless for any table that will actually be used. Those silly L-shaped braces will not get the job done because they are too narrow. The screws will ultimately loosen and the legs will be wobbly again. Instead, you need to either use some of the table-leg braces depicted in the reference you ignored or use wooden blocks that are glued and screwed into the corners between leg and apron.

Then again. James/Terrence/Evan had no idea what he was talking about in the first place, and his so-called "content editor" was just as clueless. That's a winning combination... but only if the prize is a Dumbass of the Day award!

¹ MSU: Making Shit Up

DDIY - FURNITURE