Folks,
I bought a pine dining table this weekend for an excellent price ($140 for an $850 table but the original price seems outrageous). The top is ~1.25″ thick (exactly 30mm) and is roughly 3’x6′. The top is made of several pine boards with the rings alternating bark up and bark down as prudent construction would indicate.
I got the table home and assembled the legs, flipped the table up to standing and discovered why the price was so great. The top is warped (twisted) over it’s length and runs to about 1.5″ across the length/width.
I’ve searched the discussion threads on the topic and folks are recommending saw kerfs either along the length of the top or across the width as ways to ease the twist. Taking the table back is not an option, the bargain price included a “no returns” and we kinda like the table anyway so we’ll figure out a way to use it.
I’m looking for some consensus on the direction to run the kerfs. It makes sense that cutting across the grain would shorten the fibers that pull diagonally along/across the board to induce the twist but I’m not sure how true the same could be said of the length-wise cuts.
The table has a drawer in it and we’d like to preserve that. I’ve considered making the top part of large torsion box to help keep it flat but this seems out of the picture unless I’ve missed a way to make one with an integral drawer.
Any ideas?
Replies
I wouldn't fool around with trying to weaken the top and then force it flat. The easiest thing to do, and certainly simpler than making a torsion box, would be to saw the top into several boards, and then joint and plane them flat and square and glue them up as though you were starting from scratch. This is the only approach that would guarantee a flat top.
Sawing the original boards into narrower widths and mixing them up would produce a more stable top, especially if the original boards were wider than 6" each. You may find, once you've sawn the top up, that one board in particular is badly warped and can't be safely reused and will have to be replaced. If the boards have large knots, irregular grain, and are all flat sawn they were a poor choice for the top in the first place and simply alternating the grain won't solve their deficiencies as you've found out.
The only other possibility is that the table is heavily finished on the top surface and unfinished on the underside. This, combined with moving from a dry to a moist location, or vice versa, could cause warping. If this seems to be the case, then finishing the bottom to approximate the top finish would allow the top to even out the moisture it contained and it would flatten over the course of a week or so. Given the extreme warp you are describing, and the fact that it a twist rather than simple cupping, makes this second scenario seems unlikely, but you should check the finishing before trying something more drastic.
John White, Shop Manager, Fine Woodworking Magazine
Thanks, John,I'd also thought about the top vs. bottom finish scenario (seen that one before) and there seems to be a very thin finish on the bottom but nothing like on the top. It's pine, as I say, and it could just be the sheen of the smoothed wood so it may have no finish after all. The top is composed of 7-8 boards roughly 95mm wide (just under 4") and I'm sure it was mass produced in Asia.I bought the table in an air conditioned store here in Virginia and brought it home to my air conditioned house without checking the top for flatness at the store (lesson learned!). The humidy is pretty high outside and it's very warm so I've put the top in my garage to see how the heat and humidity change the top. I should know in a few days which way the thing moves. If it flattens out I'll put finish on the bottom and hope it helps neutralizes the movement of moisture as you suggest. Thanks for your advice!john rowe
John, I only just managed to resist the temptation to suggest that you remove the bark equally from top and bottom.
Seriously- what sort of framework does the top attach to? And how sturdy is it?
I would remove the top , remove all finish. Then place it on stickers so that air can circulate evenly all round. You may speed up things by wetting the cupped side. (I know you said it was twisted, but there will some cupping I believe). The fact is that it was flat and straight originally, Asia or no Asia, so it can go back to that situation.
Leave it a few days and most likely it will improve. Then you can finish it off with the same polish treatment on both sides. If some twist and cup remains the frame ought to be sturdy enough rectify it, assuming the frame is all square.
One gets wot one pays for as a general rule.
Thanks, Philip,I'll revisit this after I see how the table has moved after some "steaming" in my garage. it's hot and humid here for the next few days and this experiment will tell me how the top will respond to humidity changes. If it comes to removing the finish, then so be it. I have plenty of time before I need to use it.The top has an apron built of 4/4 pine roughly 5" wide with metal corner braces. When I took it off I could tell it was also warped but I think the top influenced it since it flattened out after a day or so and some twisting on my part.Yes, you do get what you pay for generally. I've bought other things at this store and have always been satisfied but I've been able to pick and choose. This was the only table like it in the store and we're in the market, etc, etc. And you gotta admit, it's hard to build a table with turned legs for $140 if you put any value on your time at all.At least I'm fortunate enough to see how other things sold by this national catalog retailer wear over time and use and I can usually toss the catalog in the recycle tub because of what I've seen at the outlet store.
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