Yellow Pine shrinkage

Hi guys,

At the moment I making the computer desk that was featured on the New Yankee Workshop. The first bit of the project I completed was the desk top which came out great. As my workshop is so small I moved it into my house for storage without applying finish until I was ready for it again. I had a look at it last night and found that the main body of the table has shrunk maybe 1/8 narrower each side of the both breadboard edges. Question 1 If I trim back the breadboard edges and apply a finish straight away can I expect little or no more shrinkage?

Question 2 As of yet I haven't made the doors but the timber has been stored in the workshop all of the time. If I complete the doors and apply the finish before moving them into the house can I expect little shrinkage?

Basically my workshop is my 12' x 10' shed at the end of the garden, so there is no heating etc...

Hopefully someone can help this relatively new woodworker, I'm just getting back into it for the first time since I left school.

Cheers,

Neil

Neil,

One of the reasons to use breadboard ends is for exactly what you experienced... wood moves (shrinks and expands) as the moisture goes up and done. Don't cut the ends of the breadboards, come the spring and higher humidity, the top will expand.

Pre-finish any panels you're making before installing them into any frames to avoid having unfinished wood exposed when the panel shrinks (when its dry) and expands again when the humidity goes up. Ideally, if you can move the wood into the area where it will be used to condition it for 2-3 weeks would be ideal, then do the final milling, assembly and finishing before the humidity rises again would help seal the wood at that moisture content (almost). Be sure to seal both sides, edges and ends.

Bob S.