Woodworking horror

[butters]

Yesterday I met a nice couple that have moved to my neighbourhood about six moths ago. When they heared that I'm a woodworker they invited me to their flat to show me their table that had a problem. What I saw was a woodworking horror.
They have a nice and simple oak table. The top of the table (about 2 m long and 80 cm wide) is made from the old floor (so I assume that the boards are dry) - parallel planks finished with breadboard ends. But... every single plank was convex and three or four of the glue joints between them failed, leaving a gap that was a least 5mm wide. When they bought the table six months ago the top looked well. What do you thing might caused the problem? (Unfortunatelly I don't have any photos).

I have some ideas:
1. The breadboard ends may be glued to the planks and there is no space left for the wood movement.
2. The top side of the tabletop was laquered while the bottom wasn't. That cause uneven humidity absorption which eventually caused cracking and waving.
3. Maybe the planks were not as dry as they should be.

I'm not sure if those mistakes during the production proces might have caused such a great failure of the table. Those are big mistakes but... the condition of the table was so poor that I think that there may be something more.

 

[jimi43]

The easiest way to cup any wood that moves is to finish the top but not the bottom. The other thing with construction is to make sure that you alternate the boards with grain up and down as looked from the end which will even out SMALL cupping across the whole table.

As floorboards they were allowed to move and if they have been restricted now, they will cup...they want to do that with seasonal variation in humitity in the room. When I made a coffee table out of really thick old pine, I fixed the boards to the frame with battens which had elongated slots...screws, no glue. This allows the individual boards to move relative to each other and within each other.

The coffee table is 31 years old this year and good as the day I made it...and this was 1 1/2" pine!

As a woodworker....do them a big favour and cut it all up again and reassemble as suggested in traditional construction...seal both sides and give it back to them. It will only be a few hours work but it will come back in spades my friend...trust me on that one! You may need to hand plane or thickness the cupping out of the individual planks before you reassemble.

Jim

 

[butters]

Jimi: thank's for answering. I think I'll help them. But it won't be just "few hours of work" because the table is stained. Probably it would be impossible to match the colour so I will have to refinish the whole piece. Moreover it's an expanding table so it will require quite a lot of work.
I've never seen a table that was so damaged by relatively short period of time (six months). It's a good lesson - shows how important are simple woodworking rules.

 

[woodbloke]

Yesterday I met a nice couple that have moved to my neighbourhood about six moths ago. When they heared that I'm a woodworker they invited me to their flat to show me their table that had a problem. What I saw was a woodworking horror.
They have a nice and simple oak table. The top of the table (about 2 m long and 80 cm wide) is made from the old floor (so I assume that the boards are dry) - parallel planks finished with breadboard ends. But... every single plank was convex and three or four of the glue joints between them failed, leaving a gap that was a least 5mm wide. When they bought the table six months ago the top looked well. What do you thing might caused the problem? (Unfortunatelly I don't have any photos).

I have some ideas:
1. The breadboard ends may be glued to the planks and there is no space left for the wood movement.
2. The top side of the tabletop was laquered while the bottom wasn't. That cause uneven humidity absorption which eventually caused cracking and waving.
3. Maybe the planks were not as dry as they should be.

I'm not sure if those mistakes during the production proces might have caused such a great failure of the table. Those are big mistakes but... the condition of the table was so poor that I think that there may be something more.

This is an interesting one and I tend to agree with Jimi's analysis. The timber ought to be dry and we can assume that the boards were indoors for some considerable time...but what were the conditions in the house where the boards were? To me it sounds like they were taken out of an older house that may not have been CH'd and the last few months in a warmer environment have caused the them to move. If the top was sealed and the underside left plain, that could also have caused problems, but my guess is that the timber wasn't conditioned to start with. Fixing this problem is going to a major piece of work rather than a minor 'weekend' project...sounds to me like a complete rebuild is going to be needed - Rob

 

[butters]

Woodbloke: you are right. Your analysis may also be true because the table waited for them to collect it in a humid basement. So it started to shrink when they put it in their central heated flat during the winter season.
The table is just nice, not an astonishing piece of furniture. The renovating process would take nearly as much job as making a completely new one. Yet they are to make the decision. As the top is made from the old floor and it has some kind of history, it may have some emotional value for them.

 

[woodbloke]

... humid basement. So it started to shrink when they put it in their central heated flat during the winter season.

There's your answer :wink: - Rob

 

[cambournepete]

First thing I would ask is whether they bought the table recently.
If so then I think they should take it back and complain.

 

[butters]

Cambournepete: I think they bought it 2000 km from the place they live now so that may not be possible. But somebody certainly did a bad job here and will go to the woodworker's hell for this. :twisted:

 

[woodbloke]

I think they bought it 2000 km from the place they live

Where did they buy it and where is it now? - Rob

 

[butters]

In Paris and it's french made. Now it is in Warsaw. I think the weather characteristics of the place it was made and the place it is now are similar.

 

[jimi43]

And there was me thinking old Louis made sure all LES CHIPPIES were PAR EXCELLENCE....you live and learn! :mrgreen: =P~

You DO see the problem though....

From it's place of location...it was only POLISH on one side and FRENCH/POLISH ain't no good on pine....

(oh Jimi - sometimes you're good! =D> :mrgreen: )

Jim

 

[butters]

Oh, I can see that your little war is still running!

 

[Harbo]

Are they certain it was from old wood and not new oak stained to look old?
It sounds like the wood was not properly seasoned to me?

Rod

 

[jumps]

I'm with those suggesting that it was only finished on one side, or a least a differential between the finishing.

With inappropriate construction the changes to humidity etc would cause problems but surely not as consistent as indicated?