Replies

1. 
   JohnWW | Sep 29, 2006 02:58pm | #1

   There is no easy fix.  The warpage is probably due to a poorly selected piece of wood in the core.  The fact that some of the boards are 6" wide contributes to the problem.  Lumber cores are usually glued up from narrow strips to prevent any one board from have a major effect on the panels stability, and they didn't do that in this case. 

   You can try to clamp the leaf down for a few days to see if it will permanently flatten out, but I've never seen this work. 

   The next thing to try would be to plane off the back veneer.  With luck this will relieve some of the stress on the panel and it will flatten out at least somewhat.  If it does flatten out, then you can glue on a new back veneer and it might stay flat.  A more radical approach would be to plane off the back and much of the core and then glue the remaining front to a sheet of cabinet grade plywood.

   John White 

1. 
   [email protected] | Sep 30, 2006 06:02pm | #2

   I have considered a couple of options. One, of course, is to make new table leaves and do my best to match them. I have also considered cutting saw curfs on the diagonal of the bottom side of the leaf. Then I would clamp the piece flat. Finally, I would fill the saw curfs with Bondo.

   I tried attaching a diagonal brace on the bottom side. It held the leaf flat, but interferred with the table mechanism, so I could not close up the table.

1. 
   JohnWW | Oct 01, 2006 01:17am | #3

   The kerf and Bondo approach would also work.  I had considered suggesting some variation on that also, but decided that cutting away much of the core and replacing it with plywood a more elegant approach.

   John W.