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22nd February 2011, 08:33 PM #1
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Any tips on repairing this table ?
Hello everyone. I recently inherited my fathers / grandfathers family dinner table. It was made in New Zealand, apparently out of kauri, sometime pre 1940's. Unfortunately, it has been sitting around in the hot Melbourne summers of the last 10 years and developed a crack in one of the boards. Also, the legs seem to have separated from their dowels and opened up a bit. The table has one of those screw type attachments that allows you to expand the table and fit in an extra board. I have a feeling the table had been sitting around in the heat under the tension of this screw and that has what has caused the split. It has immeasurable sentimental value to me and I would appreciate some advice on how to fix the crack. I'm not opposed to rubbing this old beauty back and refinishing either so any suggestions would be great. I've attached a couple of photo's which should show the problem fairly clearly.
Thanks.
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23rd February 2011, 06:30 AM #2
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I would suggest cutting it along the crack so you have two straight surfaces then glue it together using biscuits, then finish accordingly.
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23rd February 2011, 07:48 AM #3
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As Oldiephred says. It looks like it has split along the join, so that would be the place to split it and clean it up. You may find that it has been joined using dowels, which can also cause it to split if they are too long. As advised, use biscuits - they are really only to help align the boards anyway.
While the top is removed, separate the legs from the skirts. I'd replace the dowels with floating tenons.
Before you strip it, see how it goes with U-Beaut polish reviver - that may be all it needs. If you do need to strip it, the method will depend on the finish. At that age, it's probably shellac. Test it by dabbing a bit of metho on an inconspicuous spot. If it goes tacky it's shellac. You can strip it using 0000 steel wool and metho, cleaning up with paper towels. You may need to give it a couple of goes.
When you re-assemble, be sure that there is allowance for movement across the grain - buttons, elongated screw holes and figure 8 clips are your friend.
Let us know how you go.
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23rd February 2011, 09:50 AM #4
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Ok, great. Thanks foir the advice. Keep and eye on this thread as I'm sure there will be plenty of questions to come.
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25th February 2011, 08:16 PM #5
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Look forward to seeing the outcome of this project. I would do it exactly as suggested, saw straight through the crack and then biscuit join it back together.
Reality is no background music.
Cheers John
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