Advice Needed on a Dining Room Table Project

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mpholway

Board of Directors, Events Director
Matt
Staff member
Corporate Member
I am working on a project per my lead designer's (Wife's) specifications, and I need some advice. It is a large dining room table and the top is going to be constructed by gluing up segments of walnut. The segments will vary from 12 to 24 inches long, 2 inches wide and 1 1/8 inches deep.

My question is this: Will it be enough to edge glue the segments together or will I need to join them somehow? I am hoping that edge gluing is sufficient because joinery on so many segments would be a significant undertaking (as if milling that many pieces from rough sock is not). If edge gluing is sufficient is there a particular glue that would be recommended/required? I use Titebond II for most of my work now and would love it if edge gluing with that will be sufficient.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Matt
 

Henry W

Henry
Corporate Member
... I am hoping that edge gluing is sufficient because joinery on so many segments would be a significant undertaking (as if milling that many pieces from rough sock is not). ....Matt

Matt - If you can make a dining room table from a rough sock, then I want to go into business with you! Just kidding, of course, rough stock is what you meant.

To actually answer your question, I would have no qualms doing what you propose: edge gluing pieces with TBII. In fact many methods really only help with alignment, not with strength (dowels, splines, etc.). Go for it - just ensure that end grain 'joints' are MIS-aligned in adjacent pieces.
 

mpholway

Board of Directors, Events Director
Matt
Staff member
Corporate Member
Matt - If you can make a dining room table from a rough sock, then I want to go into business with you! Just kidding, of course, rough stock is what you meant.

Henry -LOL on the rough sock reference. Thanks for getting back so quickly.
 

Rwe2156

DrBob
Senior User
Matt,

First, as you probably already know (or will quickly know) it will be near impossible to glue this top up in one session without losing your mind.

I would use dowels or splines on the butt ends.

I would glue up the boards end to end first, basically making one long board, then joint the edges.

Then glue up a few of these long boards together in one unit no wider than your planer can handle.

After running the sections through the planer, treat them as one big board: joint the edges and skip plane.

If you do it this way, keep the boards thick as you can and don't worry about minor misalignments.

Although it takes a bit longer, its way less stressful.

If this is a dining table you want a waterproof glue. TBIII is good, but has a short open time especially in summer. If that's an issue, I would go with epoxy.

Hope this helps (and makes sense).
 
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Phil S

Phil Soper
Staff member
Corporate Member
Numerous sources have told me that Titebond II moves over time, enough that you will feel the glue line thru the finish after six months or so. I do not see the need for water resistance for an interior piece with a finish coat. Titebond Original or hide glue 192 would be my choice.

If you need to borrow some Bessey clamps, I have quite a few
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
I don't understand your plan for building this dining table. Strips (24" or 12" l x 2" w x 1 1/8" t) ?

How long is the table and how wide (48" l x 24" w)?
 

zdorsch

Zach
Corporate Member
Are you talking about something like this table (not with flooring, but the general look)?

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If so, I think splines/dowels/biscuits will be a must to keep everything aligned. Glue will hold it together just fine, but seasonal movement may open up the joints.
 

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chris_goris

Chris
Senior User
I am working on a project per my lead designer's (Wife's) specifications, and I need some advice. It is a large dining room table and the top is going to be constructed by gluing up segments of walnut. The segments will vary from 12 to 24 inches long, 2 inches wide and 1 1/8 inches deep.

My question is this: Will it be enough to edge glue the segments together or will I need to join them somehow? I am hoping that edge gluing is sufficient because joinery on so many segments would be a significant undertaking (as if milling that many pieces from rough sock is not). If edge gluing is sufficient is there a particular glue that would be recommended/required? I use Titebond II for most of my work now and would love it if edge gluing with that will be sufficient.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Matt

Butt joining any wood without some sort of mechanical interface will surely fail over time. The woods fibers will wick glue and have little surface area to bond together. This is the purpose of the finger joint and this is what I would use in this situation if you MUST use this wood for this purpose. The other issue I see is varying rates of expansion (ever so slight, but it will be present) across the face of the table between these butt glued parts. This will probably cause problems later on as well. Sorry to be a downer, maybe you should consider using this stock and making an end grain butcher block top , or even edge grain instead?.
 

jhancock

New User
Josh
I would suggest veneering. Based upon the application and design, this would definitely be a veneer project.
 

Willemjm

Willem
Corporate Member
Numerous sources have told me that Titebond II moves over time, enough that you will feel the glue line thru the finish after six months or so. I do not see the need for water resistance for an interior piece with a finish coat. Titebond Original or hide glue 192 would be my choice.

If you need to borrow some Bessey clamps, I have quite a few

Have to agree with Phil, just use Titebond Original and edge gluing will be sufficient. You would either have to do this with a few pieces each glue-up, or make a jig to do larger sections. You are basically making a butcher-block top which is done all the time and is pretty stable and durable if done right.
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
Wood moves very little along it's length from moisture changes, it mostly moves across the grain. If the wood is dry and the top is finished with a finish that does not allow moisture changes (on both sides) I see no reason to expect the end grain joints to open up over time.

The top will be weaker if you have butt end grain joints in it but it should still be plenty strong as long as they are not aligned. If you and your wife like the look, I would go for it.

I usually use Titebond II only because it is very close to the price of the original Titebond and Titebond III is significantly more - it fits my price point. I have used the others and see little difference. I don't think properly made joints with any of them creep or move. Creep would be a greater risk if there was continual stress on the joint. But table tops see very little stress most of the time.
 

mpholway

Board of Directors, Events Director
Matt
Staff member
Corporate Member
Update - Photo showing current state of the project. Yes, there is a table in that pile somewhere...
attachment.php
 

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