Refinishing an old table

[Toller]

I am refinishing a table made in the Philippines in 1946. The top is two pieces of lauan, 40x20; screwed to two pieces running perpendicularly. It is then just set in bamboo base. The lauan pieces are connected by dowels, and are about 1/8" apart. The owner says the gap has been there as long as he can remember, and since the screw holes don't seem distorted, it has probably always been there. I could joint it and glue them together. Good or bad idea?

Also, when I sanded the top down I cut ever so slightly into one of the dowel holes. I could chisel a piece off the bottom and glue it in and then (carefully) sand it flush. Does that seem reasonable?

[Dave Gordon]

pieces of lauan, 40x20;

says the gap has been

distorted, it has probably

holes. I could chisel

Does that seem

Ah that famous "cross-grain situation". The two pieces of luan have shrunk since they left the Phillipines for dryer climes, but the perpendicular pieces haven't since wood shrinks very little along its length. The joint has popped.

[Toller]

So, do I joint and glue them, or just reassemble with the gap; since that is how the customer knows it. The stretchers are warped badly and have to be replaced.

[whit3rd]

I'd joint and glue. Dowels almost always indicate the joint was originally glued. I'd also think about trueing the stretchers with a hand-plane, but that depends on how bad the warp is. Obviously, you'd want to retrofit the stretchers with some provision for wood movement, too.

[Toller]

The stretchers are about 35" long, with a 1" dip in the middle. Trueing them would leave them 1/2" thick!

The stretchers certainly should have had some provision for movement, but they don't. Okay, the center joint split and must have relieved some of the stress, but they were still 20" across themselves. Built in the Philappines and moved to a Rochester winter, I am really surprised they didn't split into several pieces. But since they didn't, I wonder if they aren't safe now?