21
votes
Accepted
How can I attach a solid table top to perpendicular cross rails?
You can use screws, but in a slightly different manner. Instead of simply pre-drilling a hole and screwing the screw, you can use a router to create a slot with a countersink or counterbore bit.
...
- 2,390
18
votes
Accepted
How is it possible to let wood reach equilibrium moisture content?
In such a wildly changing environment, how is it actually possible to let wood reach its EMC, or is the advice misguided, and does it not actually matter?
It does matter, and the moisture content bit ...
- 12.1k
15
votes
Accepted
What general considerations do I need to take into account for wood movement?
That page you link to is correct, wood movement is almost completely across the grain. Longitudinal or long-grain movement is so slight it can nearly always be ignored.
Just to note, we must ...
- 59k
15
votes
How can I attach a solid table top to perpendicular cross rails?
Tabletops are often attached to the frame and aprons using tabletop fasteners such as these, which allow for some wood movement:
(Source)
This is what they look like installed:
(Source)
rob♦
- 18.6k
13
votes
How can I attach a solid table top to perpendicular cross rails?
The wood in your top will expand and contract in one direction, while the cross braces will expand and contract perpendicular to that.
There are a couple of different products and techniques that ...
- 4,382
13
votes
Accepted
which direction does wood expand?
Wood is made of fibers. Think of wood as a bunch of soda straws or flexible rubber tubes bundled together. When you add water, the fibers expand to hold the extra water. When it dries, they ...
- 8,026
12
votes
Accepted
How does one properly mount a breadboard end?
I can think of a couple options for mounting a breadboard, which you will have to adapt to suit your tools and skill set:
Use biscuits to join the breadboard to the rest of the top (not necessarily ...
- 12.1k
8
votes
How can I deal with wood from DIY stores that is crooked and may or may not be dry?
It might be a regional issue, but I hadn't heard the term "regularized" in the context of buying lumber. Perhaps that threw off the people at the store, although even if you had asked for S4S (...
rob♦
- 18.6k
8
votes
How is it possible to let wood reach equilibrium moisture content?
There are many techniques for designing a piece of furniture that will not tear itself apart with environmental fluctuations, but the key point you're missing is that you ideally want to work the wood ...
rob♦
- 18.6k
8
votes
which direction does wood expand?
In which direction do wood boards expand?
Short answer: across the grain.
Wood does move along its length but the amount is negligible and can almost always be ignored.
This has been posted ...
- 59k
7
votes
Accepted
How can I fix warping on board made of glued 2x4s
This is not really an answer but a large comment that could point out several pitfalls that could have brought you to this point. I am not sure of the best advice for your situation as the warping ...
- 20.1k
7
votes
How is it possible to let wood reach equilibrium moisture content?
To warp or to twist, that is the question
It is extremely important to let wood sit for a while in the environment it is intended to be used in before using it for a project so that it reaches ...
- 995
7
votes
Do pocket hole screws allow for proper expansion and contraction in planked table tops?
Do pocket hole screws allow for proper expansion and contraction in planked table tops?
It completely depends on where they're sited. They're perfectly acceptable in some places and utterly wrong in ...
- 59k
7
votes
Accepted
What is the proper humidity for a shop and how should I achieve it?
There's a lot written about the ideal conditions for the workshop but you have to be careful about the source since the figures quoted aren't as universal as sometimes implied or stated, some sources ...
- 59k
7
votes
Why does my teak dining table have splits?
The top is attached (at least in part) using buttons, although it's hard to tell what's going on with the cross-bracing framework. Buttons are one of the established ways of allowing for seasonal ...
- 59k
6
votes
Can corner joints on a planter box that are warped and coming apart be fixed?
I would say that it is more likely that this joint failed due to the moisture from watering the dirt rather than being outside. Simply re-gluing it and keeping it inside will not be enough to fix it.
...
- 3,581
6
votes
How can I fix warping on board made of glued 2x4s
I know cheap construction 2x4s can warp
There are multiple possible causes for distortion in a glued-up panel like this. Often more than one of them are to blame, although there may be one major ...
- 59k
6
votes
How is it possible to let wood reach equilibrium moisture content?
I believe that the main problem with your question is assuming that the wood moisture content can change in an instant. This is not the case. Wood fibers do reach a moisture equilibrium with the ...
- 3,096
6
votes
Accepted
Do pocket hole screws allow for proper expansion and contraction in planked table tops?
will pocket hole screws allow the table to expand and contract as it is supposed to?
I'm assuming you built something that was fastened together along the lines of this
(source)
where you used ...
- 12.1k
6
votes
How can I create a planked wood table top with a plywood core?
There are several issues to address in fabricating such a table top.
First, as you pointed out is wood movement. The plywood base will not have any appreciable movement in either direction while the ...
- 7,854
6
votes
Accepted
How can I create a planked wood table top with a plywood core?
I was wondering how I could make a table similar.
You can't really, and shouldn't try. Making a table that looks similar is easy enough, but actually laminating solid wood to plywood is inherently a ...
- 59k
6
votes
Accepted
Should breadboard ends be quarter sawn or plain sawn?
I'd say go with quarter-sawn ideally.
Quarter-sawn wood can be relied upon to be much more stable, but it must be said many a breadboard end has been made from plain-sawn wood that has held up well ...
- 59k
6
votes
If I mill / surface my own wood, will it warp as bad as pre-milled / surfaced wood from the store?
Short answer, yes you can get your wood more straight than you will find at the box stores, and even from your hardwood dealer.
It would stand to reason, as you say that they should be able to ...
- 1,838
5
votes
Accepted
How can I keep a cedar tree round from checking?
To repost and add to my response to your previous question:
You will likely not be able to prevent checking and cracking of this piece as it dries. You have different rates of shrinkage depending on ...
- 12.1k
5
votes
How can I deal with wood from DIY stores that is crooked and may or may not be dry?
I hate to say it, but wood is not usually predictable down to the millimeter, and your design needs to take that into consideration. For example, when making solid wood panels - these can shrink, ...
- 121
5
votes
Proper spacing between floor boards to allow expansion?
Yes, wood moves, you want to space the boards to allow for expansion.
A common way to space boards when doing decking is to use one of your fasteners as a gauge. e.g., a 2" deck screw temporarily ...
- 4,382
5
votes
Accepted
How should I orient a spline along a long edge join?
The spline will expand at the same rate as the board it is in, if the grain is running parallel to the grain in the board, so there shouldn't be a problem. The reason splines are better when the ...
- 8,026
5
votes
How can I deal with wood from DIY stores that is crooked and may or may not be dry?
Don't know where you are, but in my area, the wood from big box stores is extremely variable. Finding a specialty supplier will probably yield better results.
To answer your questions:
Wood that ...
- 3,007
5
votes
Can corner joints on a planter box that are warped and coming apart be fixed?
Easiest would be splicing in a little triangle reinforcement.
As described in this article.
You will need to clamp the corner closed when you make the cut in them and glue it up again. Here is the ...
- 4,384
5
votes
Accepted
Is this cedar planter box design asking for problems w/ wood movement?
You're right to check about wood movement with the vertical orientation of the boards on the sides, which orients the longitudinal grain horizontally (not vertically as you'd see in traditional chest ...
- 59k
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