mesquite tables - end grain glueing

[Charlie Fox]

so i havent been on in a while as my day job has kept me away from my lower-paying yet more satisfying job of woodworking, i think some of you know the feeling. although my day job did give me 2 days off in Death Valley this week so its not always bad.... ;-)

anyway - i was pleased when the missus wanted me to make a coffee table and end tables to go with the new sofa. i jumped on it. i typically like my tables made with wood legs from the same plank but she likes the metal. i personally do not like the contemporary metal/natural edge wood look at all, but when she found an industrial look i was all over it. so you see the results below - basic pipe fittings from Home Depot treated etc - not cheap! $150 for each end table and $210 for the coffee table! so see the pics below - my question is - the coffee table is two pieces glued down the middle long-grain with titebond as is standard, but the end boards were glued using Loctite epoxy, so there is a long-grain to end-grain joint there. this is mesquite - i.e. very stable wood - in fact the center of the coffee table was milled in 1980 and repurposed for this project, the end pieces were milled in Jan 2015 and well air-dried since then.

thoughts? i have always avoided end grain gluing but figured with epoxy it must be fine - if it fails no big deal since its my table and i can fix it. but i would like to make some combo cutting/palenta/serving boards out of walnut and mesquite, mixing long grain surfaces with an area in the center of end-grain for cutting on. curious if this has been done before or i am being a naive grasshopper.... ??

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[Sam Blasco]

Is it a butt joint, or a few tenons, like a breadboard end? I've always been taught to only glue in the center tenon and pin the end to the tenons via a slot in the tenon (not a hole), this allows the top to expand and contract as the seasons change without the adhesive fighting it, since those two orientations will have different rates. Wood will expand more across the grain than with it. You want the main table to be able to slide freely in your ends. The type of adhesive will not matter, except the the epoxy will be more stubborn and unforgiving, and you won't be able to heat the joint to help undo it. If your living room keeps the same temps and relative humidity thru the year you may experience no trouble. We never had much trouble with some of our older chest of drawers that my wife had when we lived in Miami (pretty much 100% humidity all the time), but when we moved to Central Texas we definitely noticed movement issues with the different seasons.

[Prashun Patel]

If the long pieces expand and contract, they will crack the joint to the end caps OR it will cause the center boards to bow.

This may or may not happen in your particular case, but I have at least one bread-board end desk made out of quartersawn red oak (which I thought was stable) and it expands and contracts relative to the breadboard end by a good 1/4" over its width.

A flat sawn slab would in theory be more inclined to move.

[lowell holmes]

I made a Brazos Rocker at Homestead Heritage about 15 years ago. It was a Paul Sellers class.
I made my chair out of mesquite. Other than a weak tenon on a back splat, there has been no perceivable movement.
We were told mesquite has the lowest moisture content of any wood. Check the link below and see what others have done.

http://www.mesquite-lumber.com/tables/

[Brian Holcombe]

Charlie,

I'll pile on to the sentiment that you may be remaking that table. Those big cross joints shouldn't be glued solid, something will give as wood moves! Before the modern approach, they used to use to swell wood to break stone in the process of removing stone from a quarry. Nothing stops wood movement.

Likely in your case the joint will simply break and you can try again. Epoxy or no epoxy, long grain to end grain does not make for a lasting joint.

What you'll want to do is make a set of floating tenons (and don't tell anyone I suggested using floating tenons!) with the center tenon locked solid, and the outer tenons made with elongated mortises in the long grain piece.