For starters, I am a beginner woodworker, just trying to learn a few of the tricks of the trade. I have made a couple of coffee tables recently, both out of cherry. The first was intended to be a very large, beefy and rustic table, with a live edge. The top is roughly
36" x 60" and about an inch and a half thick. Legs all 1 and 3/4" square, rounded edges 3/4 of the way up and some beadwork on the aprons. The wood was dry and all quartersawn. Nevertheless, I had a very tough challenge trying to joint those boards due to their size. The table came out great though and I've had very little movement on the top (glued and biscuited). I finished with some Poly and wetsanded and polished with rottenstone for a really nice finish.The second table however, just a bit different. This one was fashioned out of 1" thick cherry, mostly flatsawn. (Same legs, aprons but a nice oiled finish.) I made a much smaller table and the top is say 32"x 48". I tried to carefully joint the 3 boards I used for the top, used biscuits again and a good glue- clamped flat. I have now noticed two of the joints opening up just a bit- which is causing me a bit of concern.
My longwinded question- what can I do to improve my gluing results? I bought a large cherry dining table, 8' long 4' wide that has 6 1" boards glued together without a trace of imperfection anywhere. I want results like that!
I really appreciate any pointers, links or other suggestions. Also, how can I correct any spitting that might occur? Could I use some type of screw from under the table top (maybe in a pocket jig hole) to draw the boards back together? Other techniques to correct.
Thanks much
PS- I do recognize the importance of seasoning the wood, and the issues that cause wood movement- what I am interested in other techniques to improve the success rate and also how to correct the splits after the fact!