[SML] Break-away table

[John Taylor]

For Spelling Bee last year we did one similar to what Don said. It was 
just a plain 3'x4' table. We built the table, cut it in half but put in 
a safety latch that was pulled just before the crash happened.
Worked well for us.

John 'JT' Taylor
Production Manager
Kirkwood Theatre Guild

On 2/8/2018 8:59 AM, Don Taco via Stagecraft wrote:
> I think I'd try to sell the idea of a drop-leaf table with the 
> mechanism disabled or removed, patched together with just enough balsa 
> struts to hold it together until impact. You might still destroy a 
> table, but it could be reset nightly, and would always break cleanly, 
> without ragged cut edges, and look good when restored..
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From: *"Paul Anderson via Stagecraft" <stagecraft at theatrical.net>
> *To: *"dale" <dale at cybercom.net>, "shood td" <shood_td at yahoo.com>
> *Cc: *"Paul Anderson" <panderson at hope.edu>, "Stagecraft Mailing List" 
> <stagecraft at theatrical.net>
> *Sent: *Thursday, February 8, 2018 6:10:08 AM
> *Subject: *Re: [SML] Break-away table
>
> Thanks for replies.
>
> I thought breaking the whole table was a bit over doing it as well.  
> Not sure if he wants that sort of melodrama or what.  This is in 
> ongoing discussion at this point.  Just looking for possible ideas for 
> construction.
>
> I'm hoping that I don't have to build a whole bunch of tables.  But 
> just one with a couple replaceable parts that break.
>
> Paul
>
> On Wed, Feb 7, 2018 at 5:20 PM, dale <dale at cybercom.net 
> <mailto:dale at cybercom.net>> wrote:
>
>     Never tried building one myself.  You want to literally break the
>     entire table in half or just break some of the boards of the
>     tabletop?      I will observe that in real fights with normal
>     tables the things that normally break (other than the bones of the
>     fighters) are the legs of the tables.
>
>     The old West movie saloon fight scenes tended to use ordinary
>     tables from the cheap furniture store with key structural parts
>     mostly sawn through.  The stuntmen would wear padding under their
>     costumes and land exactly where the cuts had been placed.
>
>           The chairs that got smashed over someone's head were made
>     with balsa wood, also with precut weak points so that even with
>     their low mass, they would still smash nicely.  Also, the old West
>     movies could do things in those preOSHA days that we cant do now.
>
>     Dale
>
>
>
>     Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE smartphone
>
>
>     -------- Original message --------
>     From: Paul Anderson via Stagecraft <stagecraft at theatrical.net
>     <mailto:stagecraft at theatrical.net>>
>     Date: 2/7/18 15:01 (GMT-05:00)
>     To: Stagecraft Mailing list <stagecraft at theatrical.net
>     <mailto:stagecraft at theatrical.net>>
>     Cc: Paul Anderson <panderson at hope.edu <mailto:panderson at hope.edu>>
>     Subject: [SML] Break-away table
>
>     Think round and old west and saloon.
>
>     What if I wanted a table that could break in two with a [fake]
>     head slam?
>
>     ​More or less normal construction with a balsa board down the middle?
>     Normal-ish construction with a saw cut (or crooked) break​ across
>     the middle held by thin strips of something like pine ore lauan
>     underneath?
>
>     If it has side rails-as many/most tables do-they would have to be
>     able to pull away from legs or also break.
>
>     I haven't seen much in terms of how-to info online that didn't
>     look just plain hokey.  Has someone done this other than the
>     movies or is there a URL for better information than what I have
>     come across so far?
>
>     Thanks,
>
>     -- 
>     Paul Anderson
>     Technical Director for Theater
>     Hope College
>
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Paul Anderson
> Technical Director for Theater
> Hope College
> Holland, MI
> 616-395-7104
>
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