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About Jamie Yocono
Expertise
Woodworker, Furniture designer/builder, industrial arts educator. Bachelor degree in Furniture Design, and journeyman carpenter, with a 4 year apprenticeship. Currently owner of custom furniture/cabinet shop in Las Vegas, NV. Can answer most woodworking questions EXCEPT those regarding repairs, refinishing, and antiques.

Experience
Bachelor in Furniture Design - Ohio University (1980) Journeyman Carpenter, Local 639 Adult educator - Developed adult education woodworking program for the University of Akron, and taught classes there for 9 years.

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Cabinets, Furniture, Woodworks - cherry table top

Expert: Jamie Yocono - 11/4/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi Jamie,
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I want to build a cherry table that will be 5' x 5'. I'd love to use the wood grain to make a design in the table, such as a large diamond shape in the middle of the table with its boards running 45 degrees with respect to the "main" table boards. I'd also like to frame the table with the same boards with mitered corners. That means that two of the boards would be perpendicular to the end grain. All of the boards will be 3/4" x ~5". I plan to use tongue and groove and splines. I am concerned about the boards swelling and warping. Is my plan doable and what precautions should I take when building the table? Thanks for any answers!

ANSWER: Hi Greg,

You're asking some good questions about making that 5x5 tabletop, and I'll try to help. Incidentally, I built a table this size about 6 years ago, it was quite a job! Much heavier than I anticipated. I ended up hiring a mover to deliver it, it wouldn't fit into my cargo van.

As you probably know, wood expands and contracts with the seasons. That means when it's a humid season, it will swell ever so slightly, and shrink when it's a dry season. Ever have a drawer or door that sticks at certain times of the year? Blame the environment.

As a rule of thumb (and this is just something I go by) wood can move as much as a quarter inch per foot. So on your 5x5 top, you could have as much as 1.25 of a difference from season to season. (Some people say a half inch per foot.) If you don't make the top properly, or don't attach it the correct way to the aprons, you are liable to have some problems.

There is a distinct possibility that making the top as you described, you could have some issues with movement. Framing the top with a mitered edge might also present a problem, especially if you cut a dado into that mitered frame, where the table top floats within the dado.

That's why people generally veneer large tabletops. Well, I take it back - there are a variety of reasons why they use veneer, but combating seasonal movement is one of the more important reasons. The substrate of a veneered tabletop is much more stable than solid wood, meaning it won't move nearly as much as solid wood. MDF is a good choice, which is why it's so common to see.

Now I don't know if you have any capability to veneer your top, or even if you want to, but I think that you might want to either reconsider your design, or consider using a veneered top.

For example, when I made my 5x5 top, I actually made it in two pieces, 2.5x5, which mounted on the aprons side by side. I used table leveling clips, to keep them together and tight. But making them separate allowed me to deal with the movement of each half, and it's worked out well. Yes, there is a seam down the middle, but it never opens up, and it is nearly invisible.

So you have to think about that movement on your top. All the tongue and groove and splines won't help it, if there is no room for it to expand. Now the apron is a different matter altogether.

When mounting tops to table bases, the top has to "float", so that it can move when it wants to. Most furniture makers use table top clips. Check out this article to see what I mean: http://americanfurnituredsgn.com/Table%20Top%20Mounting.htm

You can make your own clips out of wood, or buy metal ones. Here's a link to see the metal ones I use: http://www.knapeandvogt.com/fasteners.html?page=details.317

OK, I think I've given you a lot to think about at one time, so I suggest you go back to the drawing board and redesign you top to take that movement into consideration. A frame might not be the best solution. Once you come up with a new way of dealing with it, write back and I'll take a look at it.

Good luck, hope this helps and gives you some direction to follow.

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Jamie and thanks for the quick response.

Unfortunately, you gave me the answer that I suspected. And I am pretty committed to building this with solid wood because, well, the wood is sitting in my garage already! After talking with a friend who is a fellow woodworker, he suggested another design (which I believe that you alluded to). To cap the two ends where I would have endgrain showing, he suggested cutting dado's into the sides of two cap boards and long tennons on the endgrain boards. Then he suggested only glueing the cap boards to the middle 1-2 boards and cutting the tennons an inch or two short on both ends to allow room for expansion. Is this a reasonable way to combat the wood expansion?

Thank you for the clip suggestion. I believe that is what I'll use.

Thank you for your time,
Greg

Answer
Greg,

Much better plan - what you've described are called breadboard ends. If you have access to Fine Woodworking magazine back issues, there is a good article about making a tabletop with these ends in issue #141. The article is entitled Trestle Table with Breadboard Ends by Charles Durfee.

If you just Google "breadboard ends", you'll find some good information about their construction. Here's a good one:

http://www.finewoodworking.com/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesAllAbout.a...

Good luck, sounds like you're on a much better path for building a successful table.

Jamie in Vegas

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