Replies

1. 
   billinIN | Feb 17, 2005 08:20pm | #1

   Sounds like your lumber wasn'r as dry as it is now.

2. 
   Frozen | Feb 17, 2005 08:58pm | #2

   Any fix will likely be temporary. Wait until summer, and it will probably close up again. How was the wood finished? I would wait until the wood adjusts in higher humidity (late summer), and put a finish on that seals it better. Seasonal changes will still be there, but the total change won't be as drastic.

1. 
   jroy | Feb 17, 2005 09:21pm | #3

   I used multiple coats of shellac.  I have been watching for wood movement since the spring, and over the summer I started to notice a couple of joints seperating a tad.  Just looking at it is driving me nutty!!

1. 
   Frozen | Feb 17, 2005 09:48pm | #4

   My understanding is that shellac is a good sealer, so my suggestion probably wouldn't help. It sounds like the problem is that the initial moisture contnet was too high.

1. 
   jroy | Feb 17, 2005 10:16pm | #5

   what does one do in that case?  there is a slight gap where the tail sits i thought about using crazy glue and clamping.

1. 
   JohnWW | Feb 17, 2005 10:45pm | #6

   Jr,

   This is totally normal, it has little to do with the finish or whether or not the wood was "dry enough" when you did the joinery.  Every dovetailed chest, no matter how well made, will have exactly the same "problem" in a climate that has large humidity swings.

   When the air is humid the boards will be a little thicker than when the air is dry.  When the air gets humid again, the alignment will go back to where it was.  If you fill the gaps or try to force the joints closed there will be new problems later on when the wood expands again.

   As always, I highly recommend reading "Understanding Wood" by Bruce Hoadley.  The information it contains is the first thing that all woodworkers need to know before they try to make furniture.

   If you don't understand wood, you can't be a skilled woodworker.

   John W.

   Edited 2/17/2005 2:48 pm ET by JohnW

2. 
   jroy | Feb 18, 2005 05:08pm | #8

   If you don't understand wood, you can't be a skilled woodworker.

   John W.

   I am not against people offering constructive critisism of my posting, its a way for all of us to learn (sometimes from our mistakes)

   BUT........please dont post flippant smart a** remarks like the one you posted to my question...unless your name is krenov or frid or some other renounded craftsman...

   sorry to vent to everyone else 

3. 
   JohnWW | Feb 18, 2005 07:37pm | #9

   JR,

   Maybe I should have been softer and have said "If you really want to be a good craftsman, you should understand wood."

   I apologize, for the second time in a a couple of weeks, for being abrasive when I offer advice, I will try even harder to be diplomatic.

   However the point is still valid, in any profession, a good craftsman must understand the basics of the material they are working with or they will never produce the best work he or she is capable of.  Knots is filled with questions similar to yours, from people who need to understand how wood responds to the air around it. 

   After awhile, it becomes frustrating to see so many people repeating the same mistakes again and again for lack of a basic understanding of the material that is at the heart of their craft.  It is also frustrating to see bad advice given out by other posters who also don't understand wood movement.  Before somebody takes offense, the advice you were given by other posters, in this case, was accurate and useful.

   As to James Krenov and Tage Frid, both of them believed, and taught, that a basic understanding of wood was an absolute necessity for a craftsman, perhaps they said it more diplomatically.  

   Another recognized expert who believes this, is Bruce Hoadley, the author of the book I urged you to read, "Understanding Wood".  His opening comment in the chapter on wood movement is:

   "Someone once said that more than 90% of all problems with wood involve moisture.  For those that ignore basic wood-moisture relationships, that is probably a conservative estimate."

   Again I apologize for being too blunt.

   John W.

    

    

   Edited 2/18/2005 12:13 pm ET by JohnW

4. 
   Frozen | Feb 17, 2005 10:48pm | #7

   If you originally built this in winter, the dovetail parts may have been compressed beyond their elastic limit, and have shrunk back in the current dry season. This is the kind of movement you can expect in hardwood floors. When you have the floor refinished, they fill the gaps and put down the new finish. If this is done in the winter, the stuff in the gap will be compressed and will bulge out of the gap in summer.