Hey gang I need a few extra heads on this one. The pictures are of a desk designed by a friend of mine and built by a guy who is out of contact. As a result this repair lands on my doorstep. As far as I can tell there are only two options to fix:
1) Cut, straighten, re glue. -The problem in this case is that the crack is a stress fracture down the center of the board rather than a glue line failure. Therefore it is not running parallel to the edge of the board so a bunch of material will have to be removed and from what I can tell the apron/drawers are flush with the top, so this option seems to be out, leaving the only other that I can think of…
2) Cut and replace with a new board.
Am I missing anything or should I just figure on going ahead with option 2?
Thanks all,
Jamon
P.S. Anticipating someone might ask here is the story of the desk. It was build around 4 years ago, put in a store, moved to another store then sold to the owner 1-1 ½ years ago, where it has been sitting in his office since. The crack developed just this winter.
Replies
If it was my desk, I'd put a butterfly joint on it and call it character.
I'll second the butterfly...
I'll second the butterfly patch idea, maybe even two of them.
Then I'd look how the top is attached to the base. I suspect there was no allowance for the top to move on the base. Hard to tell from the photo if the side is plywood or solid, but in either case it looks like the top wanted to contract and the side didn't.
Frank
Figure out why first
Before you do anything to repair, you need to determine why it cracked. It appears as though it is attached cross grain to the piece below it, which can destroy a piece if not done right.
I also notice that the left side of the crack is higher than the right side, which would seem to indicate some pretty serious stress in the wood. If that's the case, I'd also recommend a butterfly patch and living with the character. Are other boards in the piece bowed/cupped/twisted? That would indicate you might have more issues down the road.
Matt
I can't tell how big is the desk, but it looks pretty big with a one inch top. So this might not work but I would do exactly as you thought, but instead of using a table saw use a band saw to follow the stress crack. Sand lightly the band saw marks put together, if you still have a gap do it again, it might take 3 or 4 pases before you close the crack.
While the butterfly is a good idea, it might not fit the style of the desk.
As others have mentioned it really looks like this is a solid wood top firmly attached to a side that is either a plywood or other veneered product, or which is woodwith the grain running horizontally. That is a construction that is doomed to fail. The top will vary in width over the seasons, shrinking as it dries in the winter, expanding in humid seasons. If the sides are plywood or other veneered panel, a solid wood top must be attached so that it is free to shrink and swell this just isn't going to work. If the structure won't allow that flexible mount, then one solution would be to replace the solid wood top with a plywood or other veneered man-made panel.
Or, if the sides are solid wood with the grain running horizontally, then you could run the grain of the top from front to back to match the grain on the sides. Might look nicer to rebuild with grain on sides running vertically, which is the usual practice.
Crack in Desk top
Jamon,
I haven't seen it addressed yet, so I wlll jump in. As others have noted, the problem may be a cross-grain issue - I can't tell from the photo. But, I do see a definite difference in height of the two sides.
A breadboard end may provide a solution if there is enough overhang. Instead of gluing in the center and letting each edge move with the seasons, I would clamp the crack tight, then glue on each side of the crack, letting most of the seasonal movement occur on one side with the usual bread board techniques.
But - wood will do what it will do!
It may be wise to provide a batten, fastened with slotted screw holes to reenforce and align the sections.
Frosty
Remove top and report what you found?
Can you remove the top and let us know if you did find it was firmly attached? If it was, you can re-fasten it later with figure-8's whatever to allow future movement.
Now - with top removed - what does it look like? Has the 'unevenness' across the split been reduced or gone away?
If so, what does it look like if you take a long, strong clamp and try to pull the split together? Does it pull together even? You just might be able to simply glue together the split. (I've done that on some nice 5/4 white oak that had end cracks - worked great.). There may be no need to bandsaw etc.
If it pulls together, try glueing it with Titebond III or a similar good, strong aliphatic glue. Let it cure at least 24 hours. If it looks good, consider adding 'butterflys' on the bottom of the top - where they won't be seen - for some reinforcement.
If it doesn't pull together even, you still might be able to get it to do so with a batten underneath - provided the batten also allows for movement across the top grain.
If this doesn't work - then try other suggestion here - the bandsawing, top 'butterflys' etc.
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