Worth pausing joinery for the summer?

[Sam Shankar]

I live in Washington DC. My shop is separate from the house. It's heated but not air conditioned. I'm working on the base for a large trestle dining table right now, and was hoping to finish it and move on to the top before summer really kicked in. The clock has just about run out on that.:)

I don't have a ton of experience with doing this kind of big joinery in a piece that will see a lot of stress. And very worried that I'll end up with a wiggly base in what will hopefully be the table I live with for the next 20 years. I'm a weekend warrior and a slow worker, but there is no rush to finish besides what's in my head. (Though we all know that can be significant.)

Any thoughts on the relative merit of my options:

1. Stop worrying and just fit the joints as tight as possible.
2. Store the pieces in the basement (which is cooler and drier) when I'm not working on it. (Will that even help?)
3. Put the base aside for the summer, find wood for the top, and work on that instead. (Is that kind of work less risky in the heat?)
4. Put it all aside and build other stuff til the fall.

[Jim Becker]

Sam...your jointery should always be done with wood movement in mind. If you do that, you'll be fine. Furniture can be built year-round if it's done correctly. You should have zero issues completing the base and then moving on to the top regardless of the conditions.

[John TenEyck]

If your wood was kiln dried you'll be fine. Keep working; all will be well.

John

[Gary Markham]

As long all your pieces are in the same space while the build you will be fine. Just don’t do some parts and take them inside while you do work on other parts. Then you would have a problem unless you took them back out and let them acclimate to the shop again. Everything should be acclimated to the same environment keep the parts in the shop and work on as you can.
gary

[Richard Coers]

You don't think every furniture factory in the world is air conditioned do you? Just know and understand seasonal wood movement and you will be fine.

[Sam Shankar]

You don't think every furniture factory in the world is air conditioned do you? Just know and understand seasonal wood movement and you will be fine.

Ha! Well that's a good point. But maybe you haven't been in DC in the summertime? I will move ahead, thanks everyone.

[Richard Coers]

Ha! Well that's a good point. But maybe you haven't been in DC in the summertime? I will move ahead, thanks everyone.


You're right I haven't. But Central IL is no slouch for heat and humidity when that Gulf air gets pumped up here. Temp and humidity come very close to the same number during certain parts of the day. When I owned a professional shop in an old brick and concrete warehouse, that thermal mass got hot in the summer and we didn't have to turn on any heat until almost November. Our air compressor got so hot running sanders, you couldn't put your hand on the tank.