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How to Make Folding Table Legs

Ainsley Patterson

A folding table is a piece of furniture that is often used to help seat extra guests that may come over for dinner, once every seat at your regular dinner table is taken. A folding table can also be used for things that don't need to be kept out all the time, such as craft areas.

Many of the folding tables that you find at the store, however, aren't very attractive, nor are they very sturdy. So, if you need a folding table to keep around your house, but you would like a more attractive and sturdy version, why not make your own wooden folding table legs and attach the to a wooden table top?

  1. Prepare your wooden tabletop and legs, however necessary, whether that be sanding, painting or staining. The brackets are a bronze-plated steel, so you will want to choose a stain or paint color accordingly.

  2. Determine where you would like the legs of your table to be mounted. Measure and mark on the underside of the table where the outside corner of each leg will be, making sure they are all in the same location relative to their respective corners.

  3. Attach the brackets to the legs of your table so that when the bracket is open, the part that attaches to the underside of your table is flush with the top of the leg. Do this by first lining up the bracket how it will be attached, marking the screw holes with your carpenter's pencil, drilling pilot holes, and then screwing the bracket to the leg with the screws that come with the brackets.

  4. Double-check your measurements and markings for each folding table leg before you begin to attach them. Put the legs in place on the underside of your tabletop according to the markings you made earlier, making sure that each leg is facing in the direction it needs to face so that it will fold up under the table, and mark the screw holes for the bracket on the underside of your tabletop. Drill pilot holes for all of the screw holes, and then screw each leg/bracket combination in place, again with the screws that come with the brackets.