Greetings all,
I have a table repair I'd like to solicit opinions on. This is a cherry trestle table built in 2002. As you can see from the pics, one of the joints has visibly opened creating a concern the joint might fail. This has opened largely due to my moving from San Diego to Hawaii two years ago, that is, from a dry to a relatively humid environment, although it had opened a bit prior to moving. The joinery is a large mortise and floating tenon. All other joints show a bit of movement, but nothing like this one. That particular piece of flat-sawn cherry just swelled much more than the others.
So the biggest question is might this joint fail? The table support a 3/4" thick piece of glass that probably weighs the better part of 100lbs. The glue used was Titebond Original wood glue, which has some ability to tolerate this kind of movement. I am concerned about this, but after 12 years, seems to me it would have failed by now if it was going to. Thoughts?
My choices are (I think):
-Do nothing. This of course implies the joint won't fail.
-Saw the leg off and redo the joinery - which would be a little project all by itself and not easy with an assembled table.
-Do something to fill the gap - which would be for aesthetic purposes only - and then reinforce the joint with a butterfly dovetail on both sides. This would provide some reinforcement and be an interesting little detail.
Thanks very much for your thoughts and opinions,
-Joe
Sorry for the inverted images; import kept flipping them!
I have a table repair I'd like to solicit opinions on. This is a cherry trestle table built in 2002. As you can see from the pics, one of the joints has visibly opened creating a concern the joint might fail. This has opened largely due to my moving from San Diego to Hawaii two years ago, that is, from a dry to a relatively humid environment, although it had opened a bit prior to moving. The joinery is a large mortise and floating tenon. All other joints show a bit of movement, but nothing like this one. That particular piece of flat-sawn cherry just swelled much more than the others.
So the biggest question is might this joint fail? The table support a 3/4" thick piece of glass that probably weighs the better part of 100lbs. The glue used was Titebond Original wood glue, which has some ability to tolerate this kind of movement. I am concerned about this, but after 12 years, seems to me it would have failed by now if it was going to. Thoughts?
My choices are (I think):
-Do nothing. This of course implies the joint won't fail.
-Saw the leg off and redo the joinery - which would be a little project all by itself and not easy with an assembled table.
-Do something to fill the gap - which would be for aesthetic purposes only - and then reinforce the joint with a butterfly dovetail on both sides. This would provide some reinforcement and be an interesting little detail.
Thanks very much for your thoughts and opinions,
-Joe
Sorry for the inverted images; import kept flipping them!

