Maple Craftsman Dining Table Build

Two different kind of cracks here. One is a stress fracture of the grain. I'd want a flexible filler. Epoxy is not. The second is a glue joint failure. Epoxy might work here. For flexible, I'd use the finish. Dribble in sealer until it won't absorb anymore.

Now Dave will come along and let me know how wrong I am. :)
 
I would recut the gaps and reglue them. Im not sure how epoxy would look once maple is finished.
If needed, I would cut out any bad split areas,(your first picture of the crack along the grain) and just add another piece to make up the difference in width of table. if you feel you need it. recutting both spots would only cost you 1/4 to 1/2 inch of table width.
Its more work, but I think the top will look better than patched up with something.

its big and heavy, so Id be reluctant to cut it apart, but I feel a good glueup is the start to a proper finish, as Ive learned from previous poor glueups on tabletops.
and being maple, any discoloration will show.
 
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first crack you could try some glue or shellac and saw dust to fill it could scrap out the second one some and try that there as well, if it looks good to you then your ready for finish,, if not then the recut reglue woud be the next answer for the second crack pic.. you could use a straight edge and run a chamfer cut on the bad joint and some other to blend the idea togehter
 
I had some real pros help me cut the center out and put it back together (Carol and Larry).

There's no way I'm cutting that open and regluing at this point. It's been glued up like this for years and has suffered a bunch of abuse being moved around the shop. I'm not afraid of it coming apart and the cracks only go a little way down.

I put a little thinned epoxy in it and it's barely even noticeable now.

The top is smooth as a baby's butt, althought if it was a babys butt, I'd be worried about it being as hard as a rock.

I'm sucking up all the dust in the shop and am getting things ready to start spraying the finish.
 
Just did the math and if everything works out right, that table top weighs 132 pounds.

Not as bad as I thought it would be, but still, probably a bit on the heavy side for a table.
 
Is it thanksgiving yet?

Bad news for those of you that bet it would take 10+ years in the "When will it be done" pool.



table.jpg
 
Congratulations! There may be hope for the rest of us. Which of you is happiest?

Not sure which of us is happier. It's beautiful. When he put it on his "2010" to do list, I added an 's to it so he'd have a decade. However, he's not off the hook for being completely finished...it's supposed to come with a bench on one side :wave:

And he wasn't going to tell anyone. Just take a picture of something else on it and see if anyone noticed. So maybe he's the happiest...
 
hmm, 3 days at work without calling xerox for service, and brent finally finishes the table, proof that the age of miracles isn't over, or signs of the end times? either way, good work young man!
 
The table came out looking great, Brent. :thumb: I, for one, am not going to stoop so low and give you a hard time about how long it took. As I see it, you got 'er done with more than two years to spare! :D
 
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