Renovating an Heirloom Dining Table

This is table I have just replaced ...

The plan is to restore it and give it to my son and daughter-in-law.

My wife and I purchased it shortly after we married, some 42 years ago now. At that time it was said to be 150 years old, and so now it is nearly 200 years old. The table is a kitchen table typical of those built in farming communities in the Eastern Cape area of South Africa. The timber is Yellow Wood, a much prized and now rare light softwood, found only in Southern Africa and South America, and Stinkwood, which is a hardwood similar to Teak.

When we purchased the table, it had undergone a "restoration" by a local furniture maker, amateur I suspect. It held up well, but over the past five years began to develop cracks and splits. I aim to repair these. So for discussion is the extent of the finishing, the repair of the splits, and modifying the way the table top is attached. Glue(s) to use? Photos below ...

Splits in the table top ...

Slip at one leg joint ...

The top is attached with pocket screws (not the Kreg type!) made with a brace and bit. These do not build with wood movement in mind!

Further, the bracing of the top looks like a modern add-on and, again, prevents movement ...

The tops of the legs are all chamfered to avoid contact with the table top ...

These are the screws that came out. Not 200 years old – obviously, the braces are a later addition ..

The restoration is more along the lines of choosing what should be repaired and what should be left untouched.

I decided to close up the split in the one apron.

The plan was to blow and lift out any debris in the split, and then use the air gun to blow glue inside it.

However, as the split did not run through the wood, air driven at it simply pushed the glue out, not in. In the end I thinned it a little, dribbled it in, and pushed it down. Wiped down the surface with a wet rag, and then clamped all securely ...

I discovered two factors about the table top.

When I loosened the battens, the boards were revealed to be loose, that is, only held together by the battens ...

Further, the battens looked like they were added by the "farmer-restorer" 45 years ago. The ends of the battens were sawn as if with a panel saw, and no attempt made to finish the ends. The screws looked modern ...

Loose boards.

The plan is now to remove all the battens, clean the edges, and reglue the boards together.

The second feature is interesting: along the underside of the table top, along the edges, are these round marks ...

They appear as to be the marks from the clamp of a meat grinder or mincer. I recall when I was young my grandmother using one. The indents are a reminder of days gone by and will remain.

Time to begin working on the table top.

First to come off are these horrible, not-original battens (which are likely the cause of the top splitting as they would have restricted movement) ...

Removing the battens releases one board (of this three-board top). It just comes away. We will deal with this a little later.

The immediate need is to determine what glue was used. What is left is brittle, which suggests hide glue to me. The wood is so dry that it scrapes off without much of a fight.

I want to deal with this split. It looks like it will be a challenge, and I could use some insights ...

It is possible to remove some of the old glue and filler with a awl ...

... and then dig deeper with a blade ...

We are left with a 3-4mm wide slit at the edge ...

The underside is narrower, about 2mm ...

I use a clamp to see if it can be pulled together ...

About a 2mm gap remains ...

But underneath it is tight - which means that the top is not going to close up any more than it is right now ...

What this suggests is that the split is triangular internally, and this is the result of inner tensions. The top is coplanar - I added a flat guide along the top when clamping - so it is not cause by a cup.

The question is how to (1) glue this, and (2) whether to fill the gap (whether it should be filled?), and if so, with what - tinted epoxy with a layer of tinted shellac stick on top, or stick to hide glue with Shellac stick? Overall, I do not want this large a split to remain as food, etc will accumulate in it over time.

The better repair, in my opinion, is to recognise that the split reflects tension, and it cannot be forced together with a clamp. It will just split again.

The top is made from three boards. Removing the battens, the board on the left side was completely loose and came away.

The edges of the joining boards was dry with a little hard glue, which scraped off with little effort. I suspect hide glue (as what was there was brittle) but there was too little to test ...

This was re-glued with Old Brown hide glue (seen here warming) ...

... clamped along with cauls, and left to dry for 24 hours ...

The result looks pretty decent. A glue line is evident, but in-keeping with the rest of the table top ..

Up close, this is the worst of the join ....

There are now two splits to deal with. The first is the large one that closes up underneath but leaves a 2mm wide slit on the top ...

The plan is to add hide glue and pull it together. It will join along the lower side, and then the remaining slit will be filled with either epoxy and hard wax stick or just wax stick.

The smaller split ...

... will be glued and pulled together. It should close up almost completely. What is left will be left as is.

Hide glue was pulled through the splits with a vacuum cleaner, sealed below with tape, and clamped with a caul ...

Well, after the glue dried and the clamps were removed, I was not thrilled with the result. The width of the split was too great for my liking. At around 3mm, it would need filling, and I had decided that I did not want to fill any splits. The table is old and splits happen. Just not a split this wide ...

The issue was simply that the split could not close up - no matter how much force was applied by clamps - as the lower edge closed up and prevented the top side closing.

The answer was to saw the split until it was a parallel-side split ...

A clamp was used to pull the edges together, progressively, as the split was widened ...

The smaller split was also sawn out ...

Once satisfied, the end was clamped up again .... this time with a series of clamps, to spread the load more evenly ...

Turning the table top over, the plan was to reinforce all the splits with butterfies ...

The wide splits received two ...

There were splits at other end of the table top, although these were still fine in nature. However, I did not want this to develop as a problem area in the future when the table went across the country, and therefore more butterfies were added ...

Note that the joins between boards were not touched. Only expansion splits due to expansion ...

Interestingly, I noted that the builder of the table had marked the board order when gluing up the top.

Glue up again, and out of clamps, the wide split was now under 1mm ...

The smaller split was similar ...

And these were in-line with the splits on the other end of the top ...

I am happy with this. To finish the top I plan to give it a light sanding (by hand), partly to remove any rough edges from gluing boards and splits, and also to key in a finish coat. About 20 years ago I decided that the top needed to be treated in a way to make it waterproof and tolerant of spills. Shellac and wax was not durable enough. So I rubbed on a few thin layers of poly. As sacrilegious as this sounds, it has been a blessing of sorts. The finish is thin enough to not look like poly, and durable to have withstood the years of family eating and dining with friends. The poly is thick enough to sand back a smidgeon, enough to level joins where the edges are raised, and then add a finish on top. I am thinking of a water-based poly as this will not change the colour of the current finish.

Now it is time to pull the legs apart!

t wasn't in the original plan, but it became apparent that some of the legs had gaps that indicated they were only held by the pegs ...

So ... to start, all the pegs were drilled out. To do this, first pull the legs in tight with a clamp to ensure that the tenon is not chewed up ...

Then reverse the clamp to push the mortise-and-tenons apart ...

Pretty dry, would you agree ...

Interesting tenons ... only shouldered on the outside ...

Made new 3/8" pegs ...

And then, after cleaning away the vestiges of the unknown glue from the joints, reglued with hide glue, fitted all together, and wacked in new pegs ...

The underside of the table top was cleaned and oiled. You will recall that the top was cracked quite significantly, with one board completely loose. In part, movement was likely to have been promoted by the imbalance of a finished outer side and an unfinished underside. This would have been exacerbated by the battens across the underside and each board screwed to the aprons - all preventing movement. Frankly, I am amazed that the table lasted as long as it did, which is 40 years since it was "renovated" before my wife and I purchased it. Over the years I could see cracks appearing. The underside no longer was dry, and the battens were not being re-installed ...

As much as possible, the markings of the table has been left to tell its history. The "circles" around the perimeter almost certainly come from the screw of a meat mincer, which was commonly attached to kitchen tables. One addition comes in the form of butterfly reinforcements where ends have split. These are only on the underside where they cannot be seen ...

There are a few other butterflies at the other end of the table. Also seen here are wooden buttons to hold the top. The screws were thrown away. The buttons were made from the old cross bracing, and the slots created with a biscuit jointer - that will confuse someone in the decades ahead!

Now the table can be flipped over and the top side finished.

There were two issues. The first was the large splits opened when the top was buttoned down. I decided to add a little coloured epoxy filler as the gaps were large (see the earlier pictures), and I did not want food to get stuck inside.

This worked well, with the epoxy being allowed to sink a little under the surface, leaving the splits visible but no longer dominant ...

The second issue was related to gluing the loose board. Although the levelling went pretty well, there was a very fine glue line and ridge. This was cleaned up using a very sharp card scraper taking the finest of shavings, however the process left a line cut through the finish ...

There were several areas like this, others also created by hand sanding the top with 240 grit to create some tooth for a new finish.

To re-colour these areas, I used a touch up pen on a pad wet with alcohol ...

The retouched area ...

Examples of sanded-through sections ...

... and ...

The legs were oiled and waxed (what a difference!) ...

And the top received three rubbed on coats of water-based poly. Keep in mind that the table will be used for family meals. This is not going into a museum.

Now, just when you think we have come to an end, I am about to build a matching table ... one which can be used as an entrance hall table, and then added to the end of this table as an extension. It will be the same style.

Thanks for keeping me company.

Regards from Perth

Derek

November 2024