this summer i built an island for a kitchen with a solid cherry countertop. the middle section is 3/4 cherry and it has a 1 3/4″ thick, 5 inch wide cherry border around it. just recently the owner called and said that the countertop was cracking. she sent me the attached photo. i can’t figure out why this happened. all of the wood was kiln dried and adequately glued. perhaps their house is very warm and dry this winter? still, it seems like this shouldn’t have happened. any theories or explanations would be greatly appreciated. thanks a lot.
Replies
I looks very similar to a maple top of mine that cracked on a client. Mine cracked from water damage from a broken pipe. By chance did the owner spill a liquid in that area that was not cleaned up quickly? What kind of finish did you apply? Are your joints reinforced (biscuit, spline, t&g) just afew quick thoughts.
thanks for the comment. whats unusual about this is that the crack has occured on more than one area of the border. i can't remember if i reinforced the connection or not. i know that i double biscuited the miter joints. anyway, it looks to me like this is the result of major shrinking, which is what doesn't make sense. it is in a kitchen, so liquids could have been spilled on it, and perhaps she wipes it down often with a really wet sponge. i used a natural sealer made by "earthpaint", out of asheville, nc. it is a combination of cashew nut resin, bees wax, pine resin, cirtrus, and some other things. it has protected my own kitchen counters well, so i'm guessing that a lot of the issues with this situation are related to environmental factors in the owners kitchen.
I would suggest that the field of the counter is contracting and expanding across the grain within the fixed border.You are lucky that so far it is gapping at the border .I would expect it to tear itself apart at any weak point within the border.If the summer is humid you may well see it blowing the mitres apart.The design is inherently asking for trouble.Think bread board ends and wood movement.You are attempting to contain that ,that will not be contained.Sorry to rain on your parade but you may be in for significant re design
so isn't it possible to put a
so isn't it possible to put a border around a field of wood without it blowing out? take for example flooring that incorporates picture frames or french knots. does the fact that that it is resting on sub floor and attached at so many points keep it from moving?
I gotta go with jako on this one. The design was doomed from the start. It would work if the field was cherry veneered plywood.
As for the flooring, it's not glued together. Each board only expands and contracts within its own range - a small amount over its 3 or so inch width. Consider that the board is anchored in place by nails on its groove side and the tounge side is free to expand and contract a little in the next board's groove. When boards are glued up into a slab, you get the collective shrinkage represented at the edges of the slab.
Frank
The wood is shrinking in width perpendicular to the grain and minimally with the grain. The end border (the one perpendicular to the cherry center)is keeping the edge border from moving with the center due to the faces of the mitered corner touching. The edge border might have worked if it fit into a plough in the end border with a floating tenon but it would not be possible to miter the corners. After the shrinking occurred the end piece would stick past but could have been trimmed flush. This wood movement will always occur with solid wood. The only way you could have successfully accomplished this install would have been to use cherry veneer plywood, which is a much different look.
As others have said, this is a doomed plan from the start. Your question regarding flooring is legitimate, but the answer lies in the way flooring is laid up. Each individual strip is nailed to the subfloor, but they are not glued to each other. The expansion and contraction of each piece is limited to the small gap between pieces; it doesn't accumulate across the width of the floor.
Floors move as much as any wood if they are solid. I try to minimise wood movement by allowing the wood to acclimatise to the job for 3-4 weeks then lay from the middle out in both directions which evens the movement because of the angle of the fastners.With borders and Greek key inlays I use butt joints and slip tongues which disguise movement better than blown mitres.However they still move and it is a force that will not be contained easily
It most definitely is possible to put a border around a field, however it should be done in a way that allows that field to expand and contract. A breadboard end comes to mind. The field is tenoned and slipped into a mortise in the end piece. it can be attached with pegs thru elongated holes.
Good luck,
John
I did not catch the "island" part of your post. In rereading your post I would agree with the others, especially if you have high changes of seasonal relative humidity.
I'll agree with others. This
I'll agree with others. This is a flawed design, bound to fail. That's exactly why doors are made with floating panels so that the changes in width of the solid wood don't destroy the panel. One solution would be to have the center panel made with a veneered (both sides) panel over plywood or other stable substrate. This could be manufactured veneered ply, or even better a custome panel with hefty veneer (say 1/16") to withstand tougher treatment.
alex,
I agree with all the other posts regarding the design being flawed. Sorry, yes it was doomed from the start. In fact you have created a perfect demonstration to show the differential movement of wood. You are now an expert on the subject.
The fact that this is a kitchen counter top, with all the moisture that occurs in that environment only made the problem worse.
Even If the field had been made of plywood, the problem would happen. This is why breadboard ends are made as they are. They move. They MUST move. There is no stopping the movement. Mitering the edge treatment actually IS the problem. There is no place for the wood to move (gracefully).
A classic example is a picture frame. If the miter joints are not locked with a device such as a spline, the joints WILL open and close either at the outside corner or inside corner with changes in seasonal humidity. A spline can stop the movement that opens the inner or outer corners, but that movement must go somewhere. In a picture frame, it's in the bowing of the frame.
Such bowing can hardly ever be seen. But if the entire "frame" is glued up all around a field that is either stable, or itself moves, the frame will separate from the field somewhere around its perimeter as bowing occurs. (But the miters will stay closed).
Rich
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