I built a dining room table from cherry and put breadboard ends on it. The ends are attached in the middle and floating on tenons at the end and that works fine. My problem is that the width of the table changes enough over the course of a year that sometimes the ends extend beyond the rest of the table and sometimes they’re recessed.
Is there any way to stabilize this? We’ve got a/c and humidity control. What woods would be better than cherry?
Thanks.
Eric
Replies
For your table, as-is and where-is... it is what it is.
Building a top with quartersawn stock will minimize it, but you can't stop it. Just enjoy it.
That is the whole point of bread board ends.
Yup. The breadboard ends are doing exactly what they are supposed to. It sounds like you installed them perfectly. If the top had had cracked, it would be a sign you made them wrong.
As mentioned above, quartersawn stock would move the least. But cherry is pretty stable among the common hardwoods.
You could trim off the breadboard ends.
Nothing you can do about that. And that actually means that the breadboards are doing their job correctly. Just the name of the game with wood. Use it as a good way to show your knowledge when people ask about them ;)
Mine is quartersawn oak but still shrunk about 1/8-3/16" across 42" after I moved it from shop to house. Over a year later it hasn't changed at all, and although I've though about cutting it flush, I've simply left it.
A bit different than your situation, b/c my experience is a top is going to shrink and then stabilize with minimal movement thereafter.
How long has the table been inside? You can keep track of it, I believe you'll find it won't vary that much after 6 mos or so.
For me it a great reminder that I did the job right ;-)
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