Paul Downes
Member
- Messages
- 959
- Location
- Westphalia, Michigan
I have an old oak dinning room table. The center section is about 4 ft. square and it has 4 1ft. leafs. Since my kids leaned a mattress on it and managed to break some of the leg supports and because the top really needed re-finishing I took it out to my shop and stripped it down. I have figured out that this is not a good winter time project because after removing the finish the top lost moisture and the boards shrunk and I now have a split in the center section. It split on the glue line. the split runs about 2 ft. into one side and 1 ft. into the opposite side.
I tried to clean out the old glue and re-glue it but as soon as I released the clamps it re-split.
I am thinking about sawing the top in half at the split and re-jointing the two pieces and then re-gluing them. I will check to see if the lose of wood at the glue joint will affect the way the table fits with the leaves but I figured to ask around to see if i am forgetting something else.
Does this sound like a reasonable repair? I was really sick to see the top split. Beforehand you could not find the glue joints in the top. Whoever built it originally did a masterful joinery job.
The split is about 1/8th open at one side and 1/16th on the opposite.
I tried to clean out the old glue and re-glue it but as soon as I released the clamps it re-split.
I am thinking about sawing the top in half at the split and re-jointing the two pieces and then re-gluing them. I will check to see if the lose of wood at the glue joint will affect the way the table fits with the leaves but I figured to ask around to see if i am forgetting something else.
Does this sound like a reasonable repair? I was really sick to see the top split. Beforehand you could not find the glue joints in the top. Whoever built it originally did a masterful joinery job.
The split is about 1/8th open at one side and 1/16th on the opposite.