How to repair warped table top?

[Paul Conners]

Planks (a light wood?) that make up the top of a small table are weather
warped. "Cupped" upward.

This isn't meant to be a centerpiece of the home, but it would be nice to
make it presentable again.

What's the usual repair recommended for such a condition?

Tools available: the usual drills and hand tools; table saw; router; belt
sander; palm sander; paint gun and compressor.

Suggestions welcome.

Thanks.

[dadiOH]

Paul Conners wrote:
> Planks (a light wood?) that make up the top of a small table are
> weather warped. "Cupped" upward.
>
> This isn't meant to be a centerpiece of the home, but it would be
> nice to make it presentable again.
>
> What's the usual repair recommended for such a condition?

Replace the boards. And put them so if they cup they will cup with the
center up. Fasten in the center and keep painted/varnished.
_____________

> Tools available: the usual drills and hand tools; table saw; router;
> belt sander; palm sander; paint gun and compressor.
>
> Suggestions welcome.

Well, you could ....

a) plane down the boards to make them flat on the surface

b) if thin/narrow enough, bend them down and fasten

c) if not thin enough, remove and rip one or more kerfs on underside, put
glue in kerfs, bend flat.



--

dadiOH
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[RonB]

Depends on the amount of cup and the edges of the table. My wife
inherited an attractive elm claw foot from her mom. It had a similar
problem and one of the glue joints had failed too. I removed it from
the legs, removed the edge trim, sawed through the failed glue joint
and glued it back together. Before gluing I took a thin pass through
a thickness planer to level the top out again. Came out looking
good. If you don't have a planer, search around for a friend or
school that does.

RonB

[SonomaProducts.com]

Very hard to say how I would address it without seeing a picture. Can
you post a pic somwhere? Be careful if you plan to try and address it
with a planer because depending on the defect the planer rollers can
sometimes just hold it flat while it planes it, then aftewards it
rools right back into it's curl and you have a nice flat but curled
surface still.

[DanG]

I like to start this type of conversation by saying, "you're not happy
with it the way it is now, are you?" or "it doesn't work now, does it?".
I guess we can't hurt too bad.

I would remove the top. On a nice spring day I would lay it on the
grass with the humped side up. Let it sit there a day preferably with
some sunshine. The piece has probably gotten wet at some point and the
top dried quicker and pulled the warp. I am suggesting you try to
equalize the moisture throughout the piece. I'm thinking you will see
some substantial improvement after a day of absorbing ground moisture on
the shrunken side and air/sun drying on the top side. I would them give
it lots of weight on a flat table surface, not on the concrete patio or
garage floor. After a week, see what you have.

--


___________________________________

Keep the whole world singing . . .
Dan G
remove the seven

[Paul Conners]

> I would remove the top. On a nice spring day I would lay it on the
> grass with the humped side up. Let it sit there a day preferably with
> some sunshine. The piece has probably gotten wet at some point and the
> top dried quicker and pulled the warp. I am suggesting you try to
> equalize the moisture throughout the piece. I'm thinking you will see
> some substantial improvement after a day of absorbing ground moisture on
> the shrunken side and air/sun drying on the top side. I would them give
> it lots of weight on a flat table surface, not on the concrete patio or
> garage floor. After a week, see what you have.

> [Dan G]

I like your suggestions. The lawn and sunshine are readily available. But the
only large flat surface is the garage floor. And weight? Hmm... 2 front
wheels of the Toyota come to mind...

Thanks.

[Twayne]

In news:0001HW.CB6339DE...@news.eternal-september.org,
Paul Conners <pconn...@gUSmail.com> typed:

Find someone with a planer and have them smooth it out for you into a flat
surface.

[Unquestionably Confused]

I thought his suggestion ingenious as well. How about that Toyota, an
appropriately-sized sheet of 3/4" plywood (make a sandwich of your
"moistened" top) and a piece of 2x10 as a caul?

[Michael Joel]

Just a note - cupping takes place towards the moisture not away from it.

[Paul Conners]

> Just a note - cupping takes place towards the moisture not away from it.

Just to clarify: the concave side is moist, and the convex side is dry?

[Michael Joel]

Paul Conners wrote:

>>Just a note - cupping takes place towards the moisture not away from it.
>
>
> Just to clarify: the concave side is moist, and the convex side is dry?
>

Yes.
Table top looks like a U (not as drastic I hope). Top got wet while the
underside remained drier. When it dried out the compressed fibers
(caused be the dry side restricting even swelling of the wet side)
distort it... according to the books :)

As mentioned, a possible sollution is to wet it all down lay it on
stickers and put weight on it to dry.

The "proper" method for an antique is to router out the underside and
replace with hardboard. That leaves the original top surface while
providing a flat base for it. Something I probably would not have the
nerve to do.

Mike

[Paul Conners]

> As mentioned, a possible sollution is to wet it all down lay it on
> stickers and put weight on it to dry.

> ...
> Mike

What are "stickers"?

[Mike Marlow]

Google is your friend...

Man - does *anybody* do any kind of looking on their own any more?

--

-Mike-
mmarlo...@windstream.net

[dpb]

On 2/22/2012 11:58 AM, Paul Conners wrote:
...

> What are "stickers"?
>

goatheads, sandburs, wavy thistle, ... :)

Sorry, couldn't help it.
--

[Paul Conners]

> Google is your friend...

Sticker
A sticker is a type of a piece of paper or plastic, adhesive, sticky on
one side, and usually with a design on the other.

Stickers, Bumper Stickers - Sticker Giant
Stickers made easy. 26,000 bumper sticker designs in stock. Custom
sticker

Stickers - Shop for a new Custom Stickers
Political stickers, art stickers, funny stickers and millions more!
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123stickers.com - Custom vinyl stickers | Custom Banners ...
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custom

Then I tried "sticker wood" and got this and the like:

<http://www.ebay.com/sch/items/?_nkw=wood+stickers&_sacat=&_ex_kw=&_mPrRngCbx=
1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_sop=12&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_sadis=&LH_CAds=>

There comes a point where the flaming of "Don't you use Google?" is worth
it...

[Michael Joel]

Sticks of wood (lumber). Usually they are used in stacked lumber to keep
the wood separated for air flow - and flat.

I did not mention that you would want a flat surface under the stickers.

Mike

[Paul Conners]

> Sticks of wood (lumber). Usually they are used in stacked lumber to keep
> the wood separated for air flow - and flat.
>
> I did not mention that you would want a flat surface under the stickers.
>
> Mike

Thank you Mike.

Three or four 2in x 2in sticks for a 36in x 48in table top?

It will be placed on a concrete slab apron in front of the garage. No cracks
or obvious defects in the slab.

Thanks.

[Michael Joel]

Whatever will allow air movement and keep it basically flat (flat is
relative really - a wal-mart straight edge is "flat" - unless of course
you compare it to a $45.00 straight edge - which is more flat :) ).

Let me clarify (at the danger of possibly being accused of trying to
change tack) what I meant when you asked "concave moist side". I meant
yes - as in moist side that has dried. I did not mean simply the moist
side causes a cup - it would have been made moist while compression was
placed on it (i.e. the dry side) and then dry out (but it may also take
many many times of this before a cup is seen). Information that is only
needed if someone is interested - from books - and not even needed to be
mentioned to answer your OP - so I guess my headache was caused once
again be me :)

Mike

[Mike Marlow]

Here ya go then.... http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/for/for55/for55.htm

I did a google search on the phrase "what is a sticker for drying wood" and
came up with this link and a bunch more.

--

-Mike-
mmarlo...@windstream.net

[Paul Conners]

> Here ya go then.... http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/for/for55/for55.htm
>
> I did a google search on the phrase "what is a sticker for drying wood" and
> came up with this link and a bunch more.
>

> -Mike-

Thanks. That helps.

[Paul Conners]

> Excellent example is the cupping of hardwood floors, which "cup"
> (concave side up) when wet from the underneath ... dry on the top, wet
> on bottom ... one of the main reasons why a moisture barrier is always
> used _beneath_ a hardwood floor.
> [Swingman]

This doesn't hold water ;-) when speaking of this table top. The bottom is
not likely to be "soaked" in water but free to dry, much more so than the
top. The top is exposed to water (rain, spillage), whereas the underside has
little exposure to water except for the little that drips around the edges of
the table and which gravity will pull it off immediately.

The bottom side of the table top looks nearly pristine, whereas the top looks
like it's been through a war: the factory finish (polyurethane?) is still on
the underside of the wood but long since baked off the top (from sun
exposure).

[Swingman]

You obviously did not bother to read the very specific quote at the end
of my post that deals with "sun exposure". LOL

You're right that what you quote above does not apply to your table
...nor was it ever intended to.

What does indeed apply to your table is the description you used in your
original post ... the term "weathered".

You might want to go back and read the second "example" I used for the
effects of moisture on the dimensional stability of wood, as well as the
quote at the bottom which specifically deals with wood subjected to sun
and "weather".

If you did not accurately describe the condition of your table, then you
have no one to blame but yourself for misapplying the examples. :)

Just so there is no mistake how appropriate the quote was to your table
suffering "sun exposure" (sic), here it is again:

<quote>
Wood warmed by the sun experiences a virtual RH far below the ambient
RH. The surface dries faster than the rest of the lumber. This is why
cupping and checking often occur on decking boards; the top surface is
much drier than the rest of the board. Shrinkage of the top surface
commensurate with this dryness causes cupping and checking parallel to
the grain
</quote>

It really does help to read an _entire_ post, not just those parts you
want to take exception to. :)

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