Well that was stupid.

[Steve Wurster]

Apparently I wasn't thinking when I did this, because earlier today I completely glued this lip onto this board. I didn't use screws from behind like I originally thought of doing. I didn't only glue the middle and find a way for the ends to float. Nope, I glued basically the entire piece (all but the very ends to avoid squeeze out). I wasn't thinking about wood movement at all; I just went ahead and glued it.

And now I have a nice cross-grain scenario that will almost certainly split that nice bookmatched walnut at some point in the future. Well, dang it. Ugh.

walnut.jpg

[Ron Selzer]

Apparently I wasn't thinking when I did this, because earlier today I completely glued this lip onto this board. I didn't use screws from behind like I originally thought of doing. I didn't only glue the middle and find a way for the ends to float. Nope, I glued basically the entire piece (all but the very ends to avoid squeeze out). I wasn't thinking about wood movement at all; I just went ahead and glued it.

And now I have a nice cross-grain scenario that will almost certainly split that nice bookmatched walnut at some point in the future. Well, dang it. Ugh.


walnut.jpg

If this piece is for you, then I would go ahead and use it.
If for someone paying for it then remake it
A lot depends on where it ends up, if in a house like mine that rarely is open to the outside then probably not an issue. If in a house open a lot of the time then yes probably a problem.
Keep the house closed up due to allergies, a/c, heat. humidifiers in the winter and dehumidifiers in summer, electronic air cleaner with fan running all the time. Yes there is an outside air intake to the furnace for makeup air.
good luck
Ron

[Andrew Hughes]

Beautiful lay up of walnut.
Walnut is pretty stable quartered is even better.
I say let it ride.
Good Luck

[Frank Pratt]

That's a tough one. With such an exceptional board I'd hate to chance it. How hard would it be to just cut the lip off, plane the board smooth, and put on a new lip?

[glenn bradley]

Agreed. Cut it off, pare or plane off the waste and do it right. Just my two cents.

[Steve Wurster]

To answer Ron's question, this board is for me. Well, it's for my house. It's actually destined to be the top of a music stand for my son; that lip will be where the paper rests (so the picture shows it from the top, as it were). The humidity in our house isn't perfectly stable. I made our bedroom hamper out of cherry years ago and the top has breadboard ends, and the field on that definitely moves with the seasons.

To reflect Andrew's comment, this board here is about 18" wide; that seems a little wide for me to say that it will remain stable, even if it is mostly quartersawn. Like I said above, I know the humidity in my house isn't stable all year long.

To answer Frank's question and Glenn's comment, I might be able to cut off just the lip and make a new one. The lip was installed using 4mm dominoes for alignment, not that it should matter. My biggest concern with trying to cut this off is my lack of confidence in my hand tool skills for something this long (the lip is about 17.5" long). I'm not worried about removing any waste that remains; heck, I can even do that with my drum sander. I'm mostly worried about damaging the rest of the board while trying to remove the lip. Any advice for me on the best way to remove that lip?

Thanks all.

[Matt Day]

If fits on your table saw, use a sled to cross cut the lip off. If not, use a circular saw with a clamped on guide. Easy peasy.

[Christopher Giles]

If I understand the situation correctly, I would cut through the dominoes (if you can remember where) with a Dremel, then place a block against the lip and whack it a few times with a hammer towards the center of the top until the glue line breaks. You will almost certainly have to replace the lip. Should be very doable.

[Lee Schierer]

Agreed. Cut it off, pare or plane off the waste and do it right. Just my two cents.

I agree with Glenn, cut off the bread board end and start over. The dominoes should be obvious once you slice off the majority of the end piece.

[Eugene Dixon]

Router and jig?

[Steve Wurster]

If fits on your table saw, use a sled to cross cut the lip off. If not, use a circular saw with a clamped on guide. Easy peasy.

I don't want to cut the bookmatched piece at all. I only want to remove the lip that sits up above the bookmatched piece. That's a rip cut, basically, at 90 degrees vertically to the bookmatched piece. The bottom of the main piece is flat though, so I might be able to put that flat down on the table saw surface, with the main piece sticking up and riding against the fence, and rip off most of the lip piece. I own a sliding table saw so this cut might be a little weirder to make compared to a cabinet-style saw, but still doable without using the sliding wagon.

[Steve Wurster]

If I understand the situation correctly, I would cut through the dominoes (if you can remember where) with a Dremel, then place a block against the lip and whack it a few times with a hammer towards the center of the top until the glue line breaks. You will almost certainly have to replace the lip. Should be very doable.

I don't remember where the dominoes are. There were marks on the pieces for when I cut the mortises of course, but those were sanded off before assembly. I thought of just whacking the piece as-is, but wondered if that might damage the main piece. I have no problems with replacing the lip; got plenty of suitable walnut sitting around.

[Steve Wurster]

I agree with Glenn, cut off the bread board end and start over. The dominoes should be obvious once you slice off the majority of the end piece.

Yeah, that's my current plan now. When I get into the shop later I'll see if I can easily and safely remove the lip by riding the back of the main piece up against my table saw fence. Or since I own a slider maybe I'll rig up something that can ride on the wagon. Either way, I can rip off most of that lip and then tackle cleaning up the remnants before making a new lip.

[Christopher Giles]

If all else fails, I would simply plane that bugger of with my electric hand planer. Presumably, there are no metal fasteners in the lip. Should only take a few minutes, but lots of shavings!

[Paul F Franklin]

Router and jig?

This is probably what I'd do. Set a couple of blocks on either side of the lip for the router to ride on, and just remove a bit at time with a straight bit until it is close enough to plane or sand flush.