Repairing a Cracked Table Leaf
George VondriskaDescription
A friend of mine owns a very old dining room table. It belonged to her parents and is an heirloom that she’s very proud of. Unfortunately, some of the table leaves have developed cracks over time. They’re not huge cracks, but are still unsightly. I wanted to help her save the table.
What NOT to Do
Sometimes when woodworkers run into splits like this, they want to simply push glue into the crack, get clamps on it, and squeeze the crack closed. The good news: you’d probably be able to get the split to close. The bad news: that’s not a long term fix. In all likelihood, the crack will simply open up again over time. There’s internal tension that causes the crack, and you’re fighting that tension trying to squeeze it closed.
What You SHOULD Do
The best way to take care of this is to cut right through the crack—typically a ripping cut—joint the sawn edges, and glue the pieces back together. For the table leaf I fixed, I used a bandsaw instead of a table saw for the rip cut. This keeps the kerf and lost wood as small as possible. Because the table was already finished, I used biscuits to keep the finished faces in alignment as I glued them back together. Biscuits aren’t necessary for strength—only for alignment.
The result was a nearly invisible repair. The heirloom table is back in business and ready for many more years of service. It’s tips like these that can help keep your woodworking going smoothly. WWGOA works hard to keep the tips flowing. Be sure to have a look at all of our great woodworking tips.
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4 Responses to “Repairing a Cracked Table Leaf”
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I saw that the other end of the leaf had a crack in it, too. It didn't line up with the one you expertly fixed. I suppose that the crack has to be fairly parallel to the edges in order to do this. How often does that happen?
Noted you ripped board freehand without fence. Do you feel the boards usually stay square after jointing due to such thin kerf?
I really like the final look!
A lot of table leaves have an edge board, 2 or 3 inches deep on the back of the leaf. I presume you just cut right thru them also?