Table top skewed after biscuit joining and gluing.

[Sherwood Hoover]

I am a nubie! LOL! I am making a small kitchen island/ dinette. I planed and biscuit joined 10, 2 x 4's together for the top (3' x 3'). It skewed (3/8" - 1/2") after this process and now when I clamp it to my frame it causes the table to wobble. I don't have access to a planer large enough to flatten this. Any suggestions on how to get the wobble out or to flatten the top?

 

[Darren Wright]

Welcome to the forum Sherwood.

How much wobble is there?

Other than cutting the top apart and re-gluing. The easier option may be to shorten a leg bottom on a leg opposite of the two that are coming off the ground (one of the two still touching the ground, in other words).

 

[Ted Calver]

Welcome to the forum, Sherwood. If you have a router, you could build a simple router planer sled to flatten the top.

 

[Jim DeLaney]

Sounds like the planing of the edges wasn't exactly 90° to the faces, and that's what skewed the finished top. To take a half inch warp/skew out will likely end up with a top that's less than 1" thick.

When you set it on a flat surface, does it sorta sit on its middle and rock back and forth, or is the warpage lop-sided, and favoring one edge or another?

Also, since you said 2 X 4s, I interpret that as having used framing lumber (pine?), and that's notoriously unstable. You might be better off just making a new top, carefully alternating the joints, one at a time, to get it flat.

Otherwise, Ted's suggestion of a router sled, or a lot of work with a #5½, #6, or #7 hand plane will be you best bets for salvaging this top.

Good Luck!

 

[Bill Arnold]

Welcome to our Family, Sherwood.

You've received good solutions from the others. I'd most likely opt for the router sled.

 

[glenn bradley]

Welcome. To Jim D's point; you mention that you planed the 2x4's but, you make no mention of having jointed a face and then jointed an edge to 90*. An easy way to remember the order to mill your lumber is FEE (thanks Gary Rogowski), Faces, Edges, Ends.

If you planed the faces and then planed the edges or vice versa, there is no perpendicular reference to assure that the boards will glue up true. That is, you would need a true face to reference against a jointer's fence to allow the machine to joint the edge at a true 90*.

Referring back to "FEE" my normal process is to joint one Face and plane the other Face parallel. This gives me two true surfaces to place against the jointer fence. The choice of two surfaces assures that I will joint the Edge "downhill", with the grain. Once the Faces are parallel and one Edge is jointed at 90* I can rip the other Edge on the tablesaw and then cross cut the Ends to length.

 

[larry merlau]

jim has the right idea we need to find out what type of skew you have.. then we ca suggest best route.. the word skew can have many meanings in the woodworking world.