# Ruined It: I can't never have nothing nice



## DuhOne (May 1, 2019)

hey there, the wonderful, antique, inherited, lovingly stored until i had an appropriate and suitable place to care for and display it proudly, table... i never considered that storing wood -- albeit well protected from all things kinetic -- in a garage without climate control would ever do such damage. Wood is still pretty as ***k but these 'splits' down the grain caused my heart to sink. Duh? Is there anything that can be done to stop further damage? What are the other things that -- like the garage climate issue -- might I be overlooking now that may only be realized later? The splits range from extremely fine to the widest of ... a snug fit for say a parking-garage payment ticket, like the kind you pull from the machine. Bad ideas i've considered include: injecting elmers into the cracks, walnuts and glue, attaching with glue and screws a patch from underside of the table to prevent travel of the existing spits, etc. etc. Any help or ideas or thoughts or hits over the head with a fry pan are appreciated.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

DuhOne said:


> hey there, the wonderful, antique, inherited, lovingly stored until i had an appropriate and suitable place to care for and display it proudly, table... i never considered that storing wood -- albeit well protected from all things kinetic -- in a garage without climate control would ever do such damage. Wood is still pretty as ***k but these 'splits' down the grain caused my heart to sink. Duh? Is there anything that can be done to stop further damage? What are the other things that -- like the garage climate issue -- might I be overlooking now that may only be realized later? The splits range from extremely fine to the widest of ... a snug fit for say a parking-garage payment ticket, like the kind you pull from the machine. Bad ideas i've considered include: injecting elmers into the cracks, walnuts and glue, attaching with glue and screws a patch from underside of the table to prevent travel of the existing spits, etc. etc. Any help or ideas or thoughts or hits over the head with a fry pan are appreciated.


I did the same thing but I knew it was going to happen but didn't have any other place for storage. 

At this point about all you could do for it would be to put it someplace with a dehumidifier. It's not as much the heat in the garage but the moisture in the air. Preferably if you could eliminate both it would be better. Let the moisture content go down for a couple of months before doing anything. If you do that it won't get any worse. 

It may be too the table was not constructed to allow for wood movement. Wood expands and contracts anyway and having it someplace not climate controlled just made it expand and contract more. Sometimes a skirt to a table is so firmly attached to a table top that it won't allow the wood to shrink and the top splits because of it. 

After the table has a chance to dry and stabilize then you can evaluate what to do. When it dries if there isn't large cracks you can remove the skirt and lay it on a work bench and work glue into the cracks and clamp it. Get someone to help you and hold one side of the crack down on the edge of a table while pushing down on the other side. This will open the crack a little more and you can apply a bead of glue over the crack and rub it into the crack with your thumb. It takes a little while but you can keep adding glue rubbing it into the crack until it comes out the other side. Then clamp it and let it dry. Then do another crack the next day. The joint you repaired will be stronger than the wood was before it split. It won't need any patching material glued to the underside. That could cause further damage. 

After the repair is done re-attach the table skirt and don't be surprised if the holes don't line up. The skirt probably has more to do with the split than the garage. It prevented the top from shrinking when it wanted to. If you have a biscuit cutter you might cut some slots on the top of the skirt and use the Rockler table top fasteners to re-attach the skirt. This would allow for wood movement in the future.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Yup, you don't deserve a nice table .......lol*

This has happened to most of us "undeserving" folks as well. :sad2:
I would remove the top and bring in onto the environment in which it will live. Let it acclimate for 2 weeks and then see how it looks. Post some close up photos and we can give better advice. I wouldn't do any repairs until the top has reached equlibrium moisture content.


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

Wood will move, and there is little you can do to stop it, I would let the table sit in its new home for a while and see what happens. Once it has acclimatized you can assess the situation, only attempt to fix it if you are confident you will not be doing more harm than good, if the table has value it may be worth seeking professional advice on how best to proceed. In the meantime table runners and placemats can cover a lot of imperfections.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

I heard this recently, but I do not remember the source: "Three conditions are inevitable: death, taxes, and wood movement."

What is the climate like where you live? Can you post photos of the table from above and below, showing the splits and the joinery details?


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