Refinishing an old table

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.

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.

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.

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?