Repairing a Cracked Table Leaf
George VondriskaA friend of mine owns a very old dining room table. It belonged to her parents, and has an heirloom aspect that she’s very proud of. Unfortunately, over time, some of the table leaves developed cracks. Not huge cracks but, still, unsightly. I wanted to help her save the table.
What NOT to do
Sometimes when woodworkers run into splits like this they want to simply push glue into the crack, get clamps on it, and squeeze the crack closed. The good news: you’d probably be able to get the split to close. The bad news: that’s not a long term fix. In all likelihood the crack will simply open up again over time. There’s internal tension that causes the crack, and you’re fighting that tension trying to squeeze it closed.
What you SHOULD do
The best way to take care of this is to cut right through the crack, typically a ripping cut, joint the sawn edges, and glue the pieces back together. For the table leaf I fixed I used a bandsaw instead of a table saw for the rip cut. This keeps the kerf and lost wood as small as possible. Because the table was already finished I used biscuits to keep the finished faces in alignment as I glued them back together. Biscuits aren’t necessary for strength, only for alignment.
The result was a nearly invisible repair. The heirloom table is back in business, and ready for many more years of service. It’s tips like these that can help keep your woodworking going smoothly. WWGOA works hard to keep the tips flowing. Be sure to have a look at all of our great woodshop tips.
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That's a great tip and beautiful work. But on my band saw, I would have trouble cutting as straight as you appeared to do. I have an old, Sears band saw with a 1/4" blade in it now. Perhaps a 1/2" blade wouldn't do this but the 1/4" wonders and attempted straight cuts are never straight enough. I mainly use it for scroll-work because I don't have a scroll saw. I would be inclined to use the table saw, even with its 1/8" kerf, in order to get a straight cut that would then require less passes across the jointer. What do you think?