Expert: Eileen Cronk - 8/28/2006

Question
Hi there - my husband and I have started to refinish my great grandfather's dining room table.  It lacks rails but had a leaf.  It had metal plates that the breaks in the table sit in so put all together it didn't fall in the middle...  At some point in this poor table's history the leaf was mostly abandoned and the underside of the table has a paint stirring paddle nailed to it, so you can no longer expand it.  Can you help us figure out how to install a rail on a table?  It has a standard leaf with dowels, just nothing to help support the integrity of the table as you slide it open.

Answer
Hi Helene
Nice to hear from you.
This is a simple fix but you need some table slides.
Here is a link where they are available.
http://www.vandykes.com/subcategory/59/
There are a lot of different ones on this page, but they all work the same.
If you look on the underside of your table I bet you will see where the original ones used to be and get a fairly good idea of the length.
Simple to install as instructions are included.
Good Luck
Eileen