Artists and craftsmen too should deal
With good faith and with honest zeal;
Let each of them the other aid
With work well done and things well made,
And as he would be served, thus serve.
— Hans Sachs, “The Book of Trades (Standebuch)” (Frankfurt, 1568)
Hmmm, making some fancy trestles now?
That poem is going on my shop wall….
Outstanding work as usual, but it does raise a question, With those being used as stretchers between legs, shouldn’t the grain direction be horizontal? It would seam that with the grain direction vertical it would be more prone to split when the legs are stressed.
Consider the movement of the top. And consider the short grain introduced by a horizontal stretcher. And consider the cross-grain problems raised by a horizontal-grain stretcher in relation to the legs.
And I think you will have your answer as to why the grain is vertical.
It seems counter-intuitive at first, but it is the best path.