Table top problem

[Syd Lorandeau]

Hi,
Am fairly new to flat work, have done some. Present problem is I am making a dedicated table which will be 15" wide by 80" long out of cherry, which I have. I do not have enough boards that are 80" long. Do I;
1. Plane them thin and glue to a piece of plywood
2. With the router make a glue joint of some sort to support where the butt ends meet
3. Go buy some cherry that is long enough
4. Other options
Syd

[Dave Novak]

Personally I wouldn't try to build a table top any longer than my shortest board. Hiding a butt joint is difficult if not impossible.

[Sam Murdoch]

Personally I wouldn't try to build a table top any longer than my shortest board. Hiding a butt joint is difficult if not impossible.

Agree - build a shorter table or go with your option # 3. There are some more creative options but if you want a nice table and not one that looks like you cut out a section of floor and put it on a base - well you get our meaning :D

[Dan Bowman]

I'm not sure what kind of table you intend to build, but based on your first strategy, you might consider cutting some cherry plywood to size and edging it with solid cherry strips

[Kent A Bathurst]

$0.02

Buy lumber the correct size. You won't be happy with the results otherwise. Use your existing boards for the next project.

[Neil Brooks]

$0.02

Buy lumber the correct size. You won't be happy with the results otherwise. Use your existing boards for the next project.

Boy. If you can fork over the buck$ ... it's really hard to argue with that.

I could point to a number of joints that would let you join end grain, in a configuration like this, but ... I really avoid them, without a Very Good Reason.

[Richard Wolf]

I would buy longer boards, but some times that is not an option. This is the only solution I would use to make the top from shorter boards;
http://www.woodbin.com/misc/board_lengthen.htm

[Jerome Hanby]

1. Unless you are cutting and planing to typical veneer thickness, seems like you are asking for wood movement to give you fits.
2. Be hard to make that invisible or attractive
3. Probably the best option, but can you find new boards that "match" the old ones?

For 4, how much too short are your other boards? Could you work out some form of frame and panel design that would make up the missing length? Maybe some design with a middle cross piece. This doesn't sound like a dining table so giving it removable leaves doesn't sound like a good idea. Would matching tables, each 40" long work? Maybe you could come up with some contrasting wood and splice your short boards together with it. You would still see the seam, but it becomes a design element, what other wood looks good with cherry? Maybe Walnut?


Hi,
Am fairly new to flat work, have done some. Present problem is I am making a dedicated table which will be 15" wide by 80" long out of cherry, which I have. I do not have enough boards that are 80" long. Do I;
1. Plane them thin and glue to a piece of plywood
2. With the router make a glue joint of some sort to support where the butt ends meet
3. Go buy some cherry that is long enough
4. Other options
Syd

[Gary Kman]

If you don't like the previous ideas, don't try to hide a joint, make it a design detail. Every dining table that uses leaves does it.

[Carl Beckett]

I have done this two ways:

First method I cut a dovetail joint butting two end to end. These were relatively narrow stock, and although the geometry didnt look 'that' bad I didnt like the end result.

Another time I took an adjacent board and split it in half thickness wise. Then I built two boards from it by using the full legth on the tops, but using the shorter pieces on the bottom layer. If a little gap where the bottom pieces come together its not noticeable, and I glued these up as a single board each and then just handled them like a regular piece. This does leave an end grain line, but with good gluing and grain matching it was not noticeable, and differential movement hasnt been an issue.

I can recommend method 2 as satisfactory.

[keith micinski]

If you don't like the previous ideas, don't try to hide a joint, make it a design detail. Every dining table that uses leaves does it.

I completely agree with this. The proper solution is to buy the right length boards, barring that don't try and hide it make it stand out and be part of the design.

[Mike Cutler]

Syd

The easiest solution is too purchase more Cherry.
The boards can be resawn and book matched from the center of the table out to each end, but this is a lot of time consuming work,and if the material isn't spectacular it probably isn't worth the effort. The design needs to be good also, or it could end up looking sort of cheesy.

Mike