Warped table. advice please

[Lons]

My wife bought a dining table a couple of years ago (wouldn't wait a few years until I got aroundtuit - women are strange :? ) it's a typical oak eastern European jobbie, made to a price. Anyway the damn thing has warped! Surprisingly :wink: though it's affected only one of the extensions so easy to remove and work on.

My thoughts are to make saw cuts along the joints on the underside, clamp flat and glue in wedges. possibly do the clamping with the extension fitted to the table so I can keep the whole thing in line rather than overdoing the flattening perhaps? I could use long metal straight edges or even straight lengths of timber.

The underside is not seen but I can't think of another method except using metal plates.

Imput would be much appreciated as I'm under pressure to get it sorted before we have a housefull for Christmas dinner :roll:

Bob
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[Halo Jones]

Is it so badly out that you could not just plane down the wings so they merge? Guess it means you would have to refinish the top to match.

It is not as bad as my father-in-laws table. Same kind of style but the panels have shrunk so much there is a 2-3 mm gap all round the table. Not pretty but I don't dare mention it.

 

[Gill]

Leave it alone. In four hundred years, Norm Abram IX will be celebrating your table and trying to replicate it using the latest 3D printer. He'll probably input too dark a stain, though .

This Christmas, tell your fellow diners that wood is a natural material, not some sort of plastic which will be polluting the lives of our descendants a thousand years from now. Tell them it should be celebrated as one of the great gifts to mankind, along with roast potatoes, bread sauce, fine wine and good company. The fact that it's still maturing doesn't demean it. Rather, the table is all the more to be cherished as part of the family's legacy.

And when you fall off your dining chair, blind drunk, you can tell them that it's just another example of nature maturing the legs in an unforeseen way and that the booze had nothing to do with it.

 

[templecarpentry]

Leave it alone. In four hundred years, Norm Abram IX will be celebrating your table and trying to replicate it using the latest 3D printer. He'll probably input too dark a stain, though .

This Christmas, tell your fellow diners that wood is a natural material, not some sort of plastic which will be polluting the lives of our descendants a thousand years from now. Tell them it should be celebrated as one of the great gifts to mankind, along with roast potatoes, bread sauce, fine wine and good company. The fact that it's still maturing doesn't demean it. Rather, the table is all the more to be cherished as part of the family's legacy.

And when you fall off your dining chair, blind drunk, you can tell them that it's just another example of nature maturing the legs in an unforeseen way and that the booze had nothing to do with it.

Real Talk

 

[Lons]

Leave it alone. In four hundred years, Norm Abram IX will be celebrating your table and trying to replicate it using the latest 3D printer. He'll probably input too dark a stain, though .

This Christmas, tell your fellow diners that wood is a natural material, not some sort of plastic which will be polluting the lives of our descendants a thousand years from now. Tell them it should be celebrated as one of the great gifts to mankind, along with roast potatoes, bread sauce, fine wine and good company. The fact that it's still maturing doesn't demean it. Rather, the table is all the more to be cherished as part of the family's legacy.

And when you fall off your dining chair, blind drunk, you can tell them that it's just another example of nature maturing the legs in an unforeseen way and that the booze had nothing to do with it.

Real Talk

:lol: :lol: yeah right! :lol: :lol: could easily see that happening.

and there I was thinking that some expert woodworkers out there would be able to offer a magic solution #-o
Apart from halo jones that is who at least offered a serious reply - many thanks for that.

cheers

Bob

 

[tsb]

Why don't you just make a new extension piece out of some new oak

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Looks to me that this was likely to happen because of the design. There is a lot of this furniture around, and it is often made from reclaimed oak, so might start off quite dry. If the boards of the top within the frame swell slightly, they try to push the frame apart, and because the boards are offset toward the table top, and the tenons are pegged through with dowels from the bottom that don't go through to the top, the pressure pushes the ends apart and downward as you have. We have some furniture of this type, but fortunately the people who made ours knew how to do breadboard ends !

Sorry to say I can't see a bodge with saw cuts and wedges being terribly successful.

 

[Wood Monkey]

Not wanting to disagree with Tony, or anyone else for that matter, but I reckon a series of relief cuts on the back, clamp flat, wedge and glue could work. I'd say there's nothing to lose by trying this approach. If it goes horribly wrong then just make up a new section (purposely not mentioning how hard it'll be to match)...

Alternatively tell dinner guest it's a design feature. A drip channel... ;-)

Jon

 

[Chrispy]

This is probably due to a change in humidity, and you may find that it returns flat on its own accord, so you have a good reason for doing nothing at the momment to see what happens, a year may be, two if you can swing it. :lol:

 

[Matt@]

if getting it looking nice for christmas is the aim, take the leaf off 2 days before christmas and stick it against a hot rad with the curved (as opposed to hollow) face toward the rad...

 

[tim burr]

I don't think saw cuts and wedges will work. I tbink the best thing to do would be to drill out the dowels, see if you can knock the panel apart and then reglue and clamp.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

As a relative of mine says - 99% of people won't notice, and of the 1% that do, 99% don't matter.

 

[Lons]

Thanks Guys

This is probably due to a change in humidity, and you may find that it returns flat on its own accord, so you have a good reason for doing nothing at the momment to see what happens, a year may be, two if you can swing it. Good luck Chris

Doubt it will go back and I'd need more than luck to leave it a year or two that's the reason it was bought in the first place, against my better judgement - 'cos she wouldn't wait a few years. Told you so doesn't cut it either anymore :lol:

As I'm very reluctant to re'finish the top at this stage, I think my options are, as suggested: to drill out the dowels, clamp and glue in wedges and if that doesn't work then a new leaf perhaps.

When I retire I might make a "proper" table :lol:

cheers

Bob

 

[Geoff F]

Same happened to my oak table, different design though, four planks dowelled together, 2" thick, 50 years or so old. Sawed through all the joins and dowells, straightened and trued up the joining faces on a planer, redowelled and glued and clamped for a week and so far so good. The top of the table has slightly raised bits along the joins but decided to keep the patina rather than ruin it by planing smooth.

 

[Mr T]

Hi

I would agree with Tim Burr:

I don't think saw cuts and wedges will work. I tbink the best thing to do would be to drill out the dowels, see if you can knock the panel apart and then reglue and clamp.

The top panel has expanded and tilted the end over, it needs to be dismantled if possible.

 

[Chrispy]

It seems to only be the one leaf thats affected, has this been stored somewhere with different temp/humidity conditions? have you tried leaving it all in the same room for a while to see what happens.

 

[Lons]

Problem fixed, at least for the minute as I don't know if it will last. table is in a normally heated, dry room so shouldn't move much I hope - fingers crossed.

As Mr T and others said, the top expanded (centre section of the leaf to be exact) and pushed the end fram downwards.
I drilled out the dowels but couldn't get the steel pins out without serious damage so tapped the joints apart by only 5mm which caused a couple of minor splits underneath and I managed to carefully pare off a couple of mm from the centre at both ends. Clamped the leaf down cut the joints slightley and glued in small wedges using gorilla glue (gap filling?). et voilla!

Many thanks again to all who offered advice =D>

Bob

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AFTER - Leaf at top of 1st pic and left on 2nd
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[AndyT]

Nice to see a successful result!

 

[Lons]

Nice to see a successful result!

Success is relative Andy.
Doesn't change the fact that the table is poor quality mass produced import but keeps the wife happy and buys me some time - hopefully a lot :wink: I'm busy trying to sort out my workshop, much more important, don't you think?

Bob