Thread: Repairing a Warped Table Top

Pinex

Welcome to the mad house where opinions and advice flourish like weeds in a flower bed.

If you can, post a picture of the table top. It will help identify the type and extent of the warping and whether there is any breakdown in the gluing of boards. The advice will come once people can see your problem.

Jerry

War does not decide who is right. War only decides who is left.

Would love to give you advise or some ideas but like Jerry said we need to see some pictures.
Lawrence.

Well I would put up pic. if I knew how.I looked at Help part of forum on posting pics. but Im new at this caper and dont understand,never mind.Thanks people anyway Martin

Originally Posted by Pinex

Well I would put up pic. if I knew how.I looked at Help part of forum on posting pics. but Im new at this caper and dont understand,never mind.Thanks people anyway Martin

Pinex, welcome.

When you click on the "post reply" button, a box pops up and you type your message in as you have already done.

Next scroll down just below the box and you will see "manage attachements"
Click on that and a new window opens up then click on the browse button and you can then navigate to where your picture is on your computer

Now click the "upload" button (the top one of the two and hey presto it will be done)

Finally click on the "submit reply" button and you will see your finished post

Just remember you will have to reduce the size of your image below 100kbytes otherwise it won't upload.

Good luck,

Chipman

Hope this works,here goes

Thanks for the leg up Chipman,very clear,easy to understand.Thankyou.Martin

The table top is a jacobean style,constructed in oak and about 19mm thick.You can see by the pic. on the left hand side of pic.how the top has moved away from the top of leg about 10mm.Now that I have posted a pic.(thanks to Chipman) some feed back would be most welcome.Thanks again.Martin

is the top solid or in 2 peices?

i dont see a way to fix without runining the finish but others will be mutch more experianced at this than me.

Actually it is two pieces running diagonally from right leg front to left leg back,sorry should of mentioned Martin

Hi again,

First some questions:
Does the warp change with the weather? If the table top is sealed on the top and open to moisture underneath, that will cause timber panels to buckle (from what I can see, it is too localised to be the main cause.) I dont think steaming will help

What do know about its history? How long has it had the warp?

I have been giving your problem some thought but haven't really come up with anything. I once had a badly warped heart shaped mirror frame (RIMU) to fix for a friend. It was a bit like your table, most of the warping was occurring in a small area. In the end, I cut it through so it was in two parts, flattened the two halves, recut the edges and joined it back together again and needed to be refinished. It needed a new mirror and wasn't an antique.

While this might work, I would hate to do it to your table top!

Another possibility or long shot is to make a series of fine kerf cuts underneath almost all the way through .Fill the gaps with a good gap filling glue (eg epoxy). If the gaps are a little wide, you could run strips of veneer through them to help with the filling. Then clamp it flat and and wait for the glue to set.

I hope someone comes up with a better idea. Otherwise, you might need to consult a specialist restorer, especially if the table means a lot to you.

Chipman

Just saw the information that came in while I was writing this post... Doesn't really change anything as I assume the warp is along the grain on the left side of the table running diagonally as you said

The strange thing is the warp is diagonally across the ajoining boards,not parallel with it,I know nothing of its history either or how it was stored,but an interesting point you bought up might be a clue as to why it happened.To me,underneath has not had the same seal as the top,so maybe if I take top off apply heat there it might come back.Whats your view,appreciate any opinoins offered.Martin

Strange indeed!

It is very rare for a warp to run across the grain at an angle! So it is a twist rather than simple cupping. In that case, heating is very very unlikely to fix it. Wood can twist like a cork screw and it is very difficult to do anything with it. It is usually caused by tensions in the original piece of timber.

Chipman

I have had success with this procedure.May sound drastic but it works. remove the top from its base,place it in a sheet of plastic,outside with the bottom of the table top facing up (the finished side to the plastic) and leave it for several days or until the top has corrected.Once level, coat the bottom with a sealer and secure it to the base.Remember do not glue it to the base,it must be able to move also when placing it outside be sure it is not in the sun but in a position where it can receive the morning dew and cover it if rain is expected.Good luck

Thanks Billym will give it a go,sounds so simple,will let you know how it goes.Thanks alot Martin.