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I pretty much want to attach some angle iron to the studs and some threaded rods to the angle iron. I'll rout out the profile of the angle iron into the butcher block so it sits flush and so that when I tighten down on the rods, it's clamping to something solid. I want to drill holes through the butcher block and tighten them down to the edge of the table.

Here's a drawing:

How much max weight do you guys think the edge will support? Will it sag if I was to put my elbows on the table? Could I rest down a 50 pound book bag on the rounded corner, or would that break? How about if a kid was to sit on it? Or even a full size adult?

I know it's not as strong as it would be if I was to simply put a brace there, but with the limited space this is fitting in, I want to be able to use that corner as a third seat. Plus, it'd be cool. Nobody else would have ever seen a floating table that big!

My other option is to use 1/2" hanger bolts and tighten right up to the drywall.

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  • Could you add an angle brace from the center of the table back to the wall? How long is the angle steel on the short side of the table, can it span the entire width of the table? – Tester101 Apr 18 '12 at 11:30
  • I would think 2 angle braces underneath would help a lot. They should be barely visible, and shouldn't even prevent using this as a table or work desk with a chair. If you do that and make sure to hit several studs, I would be confident in it. – The Other Steven Apr 18 '12 at 14:33
  • I'm trying to avoid adding a visible support, it's supposed to be a "bar" and is going to be about 45 inches tall so anything under it would be visible when sitting down across the room. I'm trying to make function out of a form thing, here. Maybe I can add some support behind the drywall, maybe I can replace the threaded rod with solid 1/2" rod anchored into a 4x6 inside the wall (the wall is made out of 2x6 studs) – kavisiegel Apr 18 '12 at 18:23
  • I don't think threaded rod will give it much added strength. I think it's more for vertical support than horizontal support. – lqlarry Apr 19 '12 at 0:30
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    I don't see the problem of the threaded rod stretching being the issue. You've got a huge, heavy lever pulling against the wall. No matter what you do with those rods, your counter is going to dig in to the wall or studs, compressing the material. Drywall and studs are not designed to resist that kind of point loading. – longneck Apr 23 '12 at 18:57
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I think the answer would really depend on the flexibility of the bar top. You could test the flexion of the board with a jig, and if it's up to muster, then the only other concern is the back corner. That is where the force on the outer corner is going to transfer to, in an upward manner. You mentioned that the angle iron is going into 2"x6"s, so those should be fine.
If the grain of the butcher board runs lengthways, I would stick with the threaded rod, but if it runs the short way, you might run into compression/differential problems with the glue joints.
It's a very smooth idea, I hop you can make it work!

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