Replies

1. 
   ring | Oct 30, 2010 01:08am | #1

   keep it simple and honest

   First, measure the moisture content.  If you suspect that it isn't completely "in tune" with the surroundings, then rip the board in half as you propose and store them properly 'till spring.

   If you're content with the MC, then go ahead and build the table.  Use BB ends if that's what the design asks for.  But a correct attachment to an apron underneath is all that's required. 

2. 
   sapwood | Oct 30, 2010 11:51am | #2

   If the wood is now dry and flat, why would it warp after you incorporate it into a table top?

   I would advise you to pay as close attention to the finish on the bottom of the table as you do to the top.

3. 
   Johnnypopper | Oct 30, 2010 02:45pm | #3

   I don't think it will

   I'm fairly confident this wood will not warp, however I have never glued up a plank this wide either. For this reason I'm making sure to not overlook a detail and preceed with the widest base of information I can muster.

   JP

4. 
   Jammersix | Oct 30, 2010 05:16pm | #4

   Book

   If you're truly looking for the largest base of knowledge you can muster, the book you're looking for is named Understanding Wood, and is about thirty years old.

   Not only will it answer these questions, it will change the way you look at wood.

5. 
   bduffin104 | Oct 30, 2010 11:34pm | #5

   As the others have suggested allow for movement

   I usually put screws near the center of the top from below through the floating cross cleat. I don't put screws through the apron itself and is left loose.

   You might find the photos useful.

   You may, however, have an entirely different design in mind.

   Best of luck whatever you do,

   Bret

   
6. 
   sapwood | Oct 31, 2010 12:04pm | #6

   I think there is a widespread myth or old wives tale... call it what you will, that says if a woodworker takes a flat board from his stock and incorporates it into a piece of furniture then it will go from flat to cupped or worse. I think this is an unfound fear of the unknown by most. Folk don't want to waste that precious board so they go overboard to keep it flat at all costs. 

   I've had lumber in my shop for years (decades really) that is flat and stable. If I were to take it from its rack, cut it to size and make a table top out of it there is no reason for it to suddenly decide to cup, split, warp, etc. Sure, if I were to constrain cross-grain movement, there'd be problems.  Likewise if I were to varnish the top while leaving the bottom of the table top bare. But simply moving it from the rack to table aprons in company of its kin, won't cause any change.

   The OP didn't ask how he should build the table so I assumed he knew the best practices. I think he believes, at least a little, in the old myth.

7. 
   roc | Oct 31, 2010 02:54pm | #7

   Think in other dimensions

   I was surprised to read in an article in another magazine that Toshio Odate was concerned about wood movement in a humongus plank he and his apprentice were working.  I would think that big a plank would eventually just sit there and be stable but he was afeared and he has a world of experience so probably right.  Humongous for me he works stuff some times that makes this table look like a checker board.

   Any way they were well along with the table when he became sure it was going to bow (length wise obviously by this term ) and he redesigned in mid stream to build a structure under the table, disqcuized as a drawer frame.

   I have experienced some slight bowing in the planks for the top I am making.  Two to three millimeters at the middle of a six foot span.  I back tracked on this project, bandsawed the planks a bit thiner, they sat around for months, planed them flat, they sat around for months and then I found the bow when finally gluing them up.  A couple bowed several did not.  Hopefully the more stable ones will resist the bowers if they have any bow left.   I am dead set on having my thick plank with plane, black, subdude, hollow,  pillars under it with no anti bow structures.

   Sooooo . . . anyway . . . the under bits may need to resist bow as well as cup.

   I heisted the photo so now I feel guilty and am posting the place I got it.  We are all one big happy family, right ?

   http://blogs.popularwoodworking.com/editorsblog/Masterful+Joinery+Its+All+In+The+Details.aspx

   
8. 
   BruceS | Oct 31, 2010 03:57pm | #8

   Worries

   My only worries would be that by the look of the grain direction and curve that it might be a pretty reactive with built in tension.  But you will never know till you rip it.

9. 
   Johnnypopper | Nov 01, 2010 09:56pm | #9

   Thanks for all the replies!

   Thanks for all the replies, my plan is to complete some other pending projects first while leaving this wood sit in the corner. Come around March I'll check moisture and get started on the project.