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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2019
    Location
    Indianapolis, IN
    Age
    42
    Posts
    2

    Default Hat in Hand, I Come Humbly for Assistance...

    I'm a relative novice in woodworking but not completely green. I decided to take up a project building a large dining room table for my wife. On this first iteration, I chose very inexpensive pine such that if I make an error, it's an inexpensive learning experience.

    So, to this point, I've jointed/planed the boards and began my glue-up. I have 11 2x6 boards at 6' long, so it's a large table. I glued the panels in 4, 4, 3 first. Tonight, I glued the two "4" plank sections together... and this is where my problem began. For reasons yet unknown, I ended up with a roughly 1/4"(6.25mm) "lip" on the center seam where these two larger panels come together. The ends are flush, but the lip begins about 6" in from the edge, grows to the aforementioned dimension in the middle before then slimming back to the flush, finished edge at the other end.

    So, as humbly as I can, I ask for your suggestions on how to smooth this tabletop. Is this a matter of using a large hand plane and going over and over until it finally blends? Belt sander? Router sled? I'm lost.

    All suggestions appreciated.

    Thanks.

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Brisbane
    Posts
    145

    Default

    How did you join the two sections of 4 lengths together? Dowel ? Domino? Biscuit? Nothing?

    Are the individual lengths of 2x6 joined only with glue or as above, with biscuit/dowel/domino?

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2019
    Location
    Indianapolis, IN
    Age
    42
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    2

    Default

    Everything is glue only. I leveled the bar clamps and laid the boards directly on them. Then, I clamped cauls across the boards. However, when I joined the two sections, I didn't have any cauls long enough to stretch across the entire width.

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Alexandra Vic
    Age
    69
    Posts
    2,810

    Default

    The easiest way to smooth the top is to saw through the glue joint where the step is occurring to recover the previously glued up panels and have a second chance at the job after you rejoint the edges. You will loose a little width overall, but this would be better than sanding planing 1/4inch out of the entire table top surface to eliminate the step.

    Your issue demonstrates the value of a good 'dry fit' assembly prior to attempting a glue up, as it gives you an opportunity to establish that you have enough clamps, set up for the job, and experience any other issues that might arise in the process while you have time to overcome them.

    For a glue up of that size, I would be looking at a minimum of 3 clamps beneath the glue up and at more ready to be placed midway between them above the glue up once the panels are in place. This approach evens the pressure on the panels. If all clamping is applied from above or below the glue up, there is a tendency to push the panels away from the clamp bars and bow them.

    It is fairly common to have to tap along the the glue line with a soft mallet once the clamps have modest tension on them to cause the panels to slip against each other to smooth the joint, then progressively tighten the clamps while checking and adjusting the surface. Alternatively, you can use a lot of pairs of strong rigid cauls to maintain the surface flatness, but this requires quite an amount of material and clamps to set up properly. Remember also that ideally the cauls should have a degree of convex against the surface to counter their tendency to bow when clamped together outside the table surface.
    I used to be an engineer, I'm not an engineer any more, but on the really good days I can remember when I was.

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Bundaberg
    Age
    54
    Posts
    3,402

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by malb View Post
    The easiest way to smooth the top is to saw through the glue joint where the step is occurring to recover the previously glued up panels and have a second chance at the job after you rejoint the edges.
    Yep; cut through the glue line and rejoint. I would also add some form of aligning method such as dowels or biscuits; even just a couple of hand drilled dowels in the middle of the join will help massively.

    As you said; it's cheap pine in case you make an error so use that to your advantage. We all make boo-boos; sometimes the same ones more than once . Often the best cure may sound a bit drastic, but in this instance you get to learn about wood movement when clamping; the use of alignment tools or methods and another go at jointing edges. All good experience!
    Nothing succeeds like a budgie without a beak.

  7. #6
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Not far enough away from Melbourne
    Posts
    4,200

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by ChappyEight View Post
    I'm a relative novice in woodworking but not completely green. I decided to take up a project building a large dining room table for my wife. On this first iteration, I chose very inexpensive pine such that if I make an error, it's an inexpensive learning experience.
    Ok lets go back to the beginning. You started out with cheap pine boards. Where did they come from and were they square and dressed when you got them? Did you joint and thickness them before glue-up or just use them as they were?

    If you glued together four boards which were "nearly square" they the errors compound and the resulting glued-up section will be further out of square than each original board - so much so that when you put two of them together and added pressure they could have slid along each other under the pressure.

    Without seeing the current situation it's hard to give good advice but MalB and Chief Tiff's advice to cut down the latest glue line looks pretty sound. After that make sure all three pre-glued assemblies are jointed and thicknessed before attempting to re-glue again. If you are not sure what I mean by jointed and thicknessed, ask and we can help. You said you are a relative novice so I am not sure what you do or don't know, not trying to be patronising, but trying to find out where your knowledge level is so that we can help you get back on track.
    I got sick of sitting around doing nothing - so I took up meditation.

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