I have a pair of 3 x 3 glue-up bed posts that I bought years ago and am only now getting to working with. 1 has started to separate right in the top 5 inches (see pic). Careful testing with blocks and clamps doesn’t get it to move noticeably. Does it seem like it would it be worth adding a bolt or 2 and plugging the holes to keep it from moving any further? It spent 5 years in an attic but now that it is in a controlled climate I wonder if I can assume it has stabilized ?
Glue-up ash post separating
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The years in the attic has dried the wood to a permanent twist. I doubt if any "fix" will get it back to a seamless condition.
I would use the thinnest table saw blade and rip it into two pieces, hand plane the twist away and reglue them. The new glue joint will be all but invisible, and trouble free.
I would use the thinnest table saw blade and rip it into two pieces, hand plane the twist away and reglue them. The new glue joint will be all but invisible, and trouble free.
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Yeah, 5 years in an attic has dried the oak and may have caused the glue to fail in that joint. I had two 50 year old Heywood Wakefield table tops split from attic storage and they could not be pulled back together. Oddly enough, the other two joints in your post haven't failed. If you can't force the joint closed with screw clamps, I'm not sure bolts and nuts will either. I don't think hydrating the open joint with wet water will move the wood back together. I assume the picture is the top of the post, so any fix will be visible in the finished piece. Can you turn the post over to use it? If it were mine, I'd use my 3//4" pipe clamps placed one against the other the length of the opening to see if it will close and if so, I'd try thinned epoxy in the joint and all of those clamps, but the wood may resist and crack next to the joint. The suggestion to resaw, plane, and reglue sounds good, but I'd be thinking of replacing the damaged post with a new one. More costly, but a lot less time consuming and less troublesome.
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Anything short of ripping the post into separate pieces is a "fix" or a "hack", and not a permanent repair. It split open because of a "condition" and will most likely open up again unless a proper repair is made. Filling the crack may look nice now, but it's not going to last.
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I'm not "Mr. Wood Worker" but I do know epoxy. Thinning epoxy is not a good idea. The solvent used will not evaporate in a joint like this one. That trapped solvent will have a big effect on the strength. Most notably making the epoxy much weaker. If the joint could be closed with clamps it would be doomed for failure the next time the weather changed and the moisture in the wood added a new stress.
Ken
If it's a short split in a long piece, I'd be inclined to sliver it. You need a narrow ripping just a bit thicker than the split and at least a few inches longer. Then you can clamp the back end of it to the bench with a bit of a spacer below it and shave it to a feather edge taper working off the leading end so the piece is always in tension. With straight grain stock and a sharp, small plane, this is not hard. Work glue into the split as far as you can and drive the sliver into place. Let it sit overnight and plane it flush.
You will know it's there, and your eye will always be drawn to it; but no one else will ever notice.
You will know it's there, and your eye will always be drawn to it; but no one else will ever notice.
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a quick test with a clamp to see if it will come together under pressure. if so, you have nothing to lose to try to squirt some glue in there and clamp it. i use compressed air (low) to get the glue down in there as far as i can before i glue up.
it may have been glued up with microwave glue, which doesn't hold up well to any moisture.
it may have been glued up with microwave glue, which doesn't hold up well to any moisture.
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