Table planks seperating
#11
Hi, My daughter had a table built while her family lived in Zambia. Now that they've moved back to the us and live in a much dryer climate the boards are beginning to separate on one end of the top. She called me for advice but all I could think of is a batten on the bottom and I'm not sure how much good that would be. I haven't seen the table but she thought it was 2" thick. Does anyone have a suggestion?

Thanks, Bill
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#12
Ask her for photos.
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#13
I agree; ask for photos.  The fix will depend on how the table is built, where the split is, where glue joints (if any) are located.

Is the table top one piece?  Not likely, but maybe.  If so, maybe a butterfly ("dutchman") would be a good solution to stop the spread of the split.

If it's separating along a glue joint , then that might be repaired by removing as much old glue as possible and then regluing/clamping.  I have no idea what kind of glue a local craftsman/shop would use in Zambia.  Might be PVA, might be hide glue, or something else.
Ray
(formerly "WxMan")
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#14
If it can be clamped shut, glue might be sufficient.

If it's simply a panel glue-up with no frame or breadboard ends (and you can tolerate the loss of about 1/8" in width) then the most thorough fix would be to rip along the joint and reglue.
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#15
Might better wait until all the damage is over with before doing anything.  Your comment that the boards, as in several, are beginning to separate on one end, suggests more than one crack.  I wouldn't be surprised if the other end starts to crack soon, too.  

John
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#16
(03-17-2022, 11:41 AM)jteneyck Wrote: Might better wait until all the damage is over with before doing anything.  Your comment that the boards, as in several, are beginning to separate on one end, suggests more than one crack.  I wouldn't be surprised if the other end starts to crack soon, too.  

Can't speak to Zambian wood but the local woodworkers here and in SE Asian countries start working the wood pretty much after it's cut especially for the local foreign market.  Wait it out until it stops moving and then apply your fix.
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#17
(03-17-2022, 07:40 PM)atgcpaul Wrote: Can't speak to Zambian wood but the local woodworkers here and in SE Asian countries start working the wood pretty much after it's cut especially for the local foreign market.  Wait it out until it stops moving and then apply your fix.

Seems so.  I repaired a table top made in Brazil from planks at least 3" thick.  It was held together with 3 or 4 threaded rods with washers and nuts on both ends.  I guess the builder didn't know about seasonal expansion or maybe that wasn't an issue in the area where he worked.  The owners had the table for 20 years or so then moved to the US to a very nice house with central heat and AC.  A year later the table had buckled and split in several spots.  The hardest part of fixing it was getting those rods out and handling the heavy planks.  The planks had never been glued, just the rods were holding it together.  I rejointed the planks so they would mate well enough to glue it up.  To make it look like it did before, I epoxied a short piece of the threaded rods back into each of the holes.  

I'm certainly not dissing the guy who built the table.  It likely would have continued to serve its purpose well had the owners not moved to a completely different environment.  High end classic American furniture has survived for several hundred years, some of it without any problems, and some of it with splits, blistered veneer, etc.  It was made by folks who were the best at their craft.  The stuff made by lower end furniture makers, well, you don't see any of that stuff because most of it self-destructed long ago.  

John
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#18
Interested to see exactly how the table is put together? The top shouldn't separate IF it's fixed in a way that allows movement. "DRY" wood in some areas is maybe 14% or more. That's;fine when it stays in that environment, but when it gets moved to a 6% (Nth American Winter) environment it's going to move, a lot. If the design doesn't let it move, then bad things happen. 

So whatever you decide to do, check how the top is attached, and maybe modify that. It may be possible to glue and clamp, and simply modify the top attachment method to allow more movement.
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#19
When I was just a young man in my early 20's, fresh out on my own, I built a trestle table for my first apartment using construction grade fir.
I even used short sections of 2x4's and a crap load of drywall screws as battens to keep it together. Needless to say after a few months the top dried and it split along almost every glue line. Back then I had only the most basic of tools. I ended up using my circular saw with a straight 2x4 to carefully cut out the glue lines and then glued in strips of 1/8" pine. The white pine strips made it look like an design element, not just a crude fix.

When I got married years later, the table was given to a friend. Later it was given by that friend to another friend. 25 years later it came back to me. A little scratched and banged up, but the joints were still tight. It served a few years at our weekend vacation home. When we retired, the wife wanted a new work counter with a storage cabinet below for her craft room. The old table was taken apart and the top (2x4 and screws removed) now lives on as the work surface on the new cabinet in her room. 40 years later and it's still in use.
Telling a man he has too many tools,
is like telling a woman she has too many shoes.
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#20
(03-21-2022, 08:11 AM)Terry W Wrote: When I was just a young man in my early 20's, fresh out on my own, I built a trestle table for my first apartment using construction grade fir.
I even used short sections of 2x4's and a crap load of drywall screws as battens to keep it together. Needless to say after a few months the top dried and it split along almost every glue line. Back then I had only the most basic of tools. I ended up using my circular saw with a straight 2x4 to carefully cut out the glue lines and then glued in strips of 1/8" pine. The white pine strips made it look like an design element, not just a crude fix.

When I got married years later, the table was given to a friend. Later it was given by that friend to another friend. 25 years later it came back to me. A little scratched and banged up, but the joints were still tight. It served a few years at our weekend vacation home. When we retired, the wife wanted a new work counter with a storage cabinet below for her craft room. The old table was taken apart and the top (2x4 and screws removed) now lives on as the work surface on the new cabinet in her room. 40 years later and it's still in use.

Love stories like that, failure turned into triumph.  

John
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