"Wooden desk starting to split, what to do?" Topic

Just 10 minutes ago sitting here I heard the crack of doom and found the far corner of my desk is spitting. The crack is only a few inches long now but I'm afraid it will spread.

The desk I got in Guyana, it's hardwood but I can't say exactly what. It was in storage for over a year before I finally got it so I'm surprised it's cracking now. If it had arrived in spinters after time in a Guyanese warehouse, a US warehouse and a slow boat to China I wouldn't be shocked.

Any ideas?

Because of one of my old jobs I was a lot in contact with dealers in imported furniture, and this usually happened, according to them, because of central heating making the air in your house too dry. Might that apply in your case?

That sounds reasonable, I'm in Beijing and the city is very dry now, even without the heat on. I actually had a bamboo vase (also from Guyana) split on me.

Any solution? Should I brace the split (ie metal peice screwed into both sides)? Putty it?

I believe I can confirm Gungnir's suggestion as to probable cuase. In the late 60's and early 70's i was in an office where a regular stream of people were returning from overseas postings. This was a regular happening with furniture bought in tropical locations during its first winter in dry of a temperate heated house.

At that time all you could really do was to accept the warping and/or cracking of the first two winters then fill and sand as needed. If you tried to correct anything earlier you usually ended up doing more harm than good.

Perhaps there is a more modern treatment but I don't know of it.

x42

I fear X42 is on the right track, very little you can do about it now that I know of.

I have a similar problem with a box I bought in Morocco, except in that case I was taking a dry item into a humid climate and it warped. I just sanded it down. It still won't close properly though.

I'll put a humidifier in here, it might help.

I really like this desk. :(

On the good side those that were patient and allowed it to dry thoroughly before doing anything to it usually ended up with a beautiful piece of furniture often becoming family air looms. It was those that tried to hurry thing that ended up completely spoiling things.

Moving it about so that it may dry evenly might help. The humidifier might work but I'd watch in case it makes one side dry slower than the other and increase warping.

x42

You might think about a whole house humidifier (or big free standing unit in another room) to make sure it's even by the time it gets to the desk, rather than risking the side nearer the humidifier being damper and not drying evenly.
Phil

family air looms eh? I envisage a great steam powered machine churning out chunky sweaters, much like the knitting machine my mum had in the sixties.

How about moving to Chongqing or Guangzhou, lol, for almost constant humidity?

Don't go with a brace yet. If you can remove the desktop do so carefully and use a good carpenters glue and then clamp it. After a few days it should be set enough to remount the top.

If the top doesn't come off you may still be able to glue it. It will depend if the split was caused by the top drying out or if another part of the desk shrank and put stress on the grain of the top. If the glue doesn't work then putty and refinishing might be necessary.

If the crack was the result of stress from another part of the desk you might need to put a patch in. I'd recommend matching the wood as good as possible and then widening the crack in a v shaped pattern. Then glue a wedge patch in, sand it and then refinish. It can be difficult if you don't have a lot of esperience so if it is the last option, you might want ot take it to a refinisher.

wood is a natural material and will move, quite a bit over time. Good carpenters spend a lot of rime and effort making sure that items are not glued across the grain and that mechanical fixings do not restrict the natural movement.

Shrinking due to drying out is one of the principle causes of movement and you cannot counter it.

Bracing and screwing it or gluing and clamping will only result in the stresses from drying out being transferred elsewhere on the desk and possibly making things worse. trying to prevent the movement is your WORST cause of action.

If it is due to humidity then Gungnir is right – just leave ti to dry as evenly and as slowly as you can – pull the desk away from radiators, heated airvents, sunlit windows etc as you can.

You may be able to limit the effects somewhat by treating the wood with danish oil. This oil is used to seal wood and sinks deeply into the grain of the wood. Danish oil is widely available under a range of trade names. Its similar to things like tung oil.

Beware though that if your desk is of a type that is already heavily finished, for example with high gloss varnish or coloured finishes, that the oil may either react with the existing finish or be prevented from penetrating the wood. If in doubt test the oil on a hidden part like the underside of the desk.

You wont be able to fix the crack you have, but you may be able to limit any further damage.

"trying to prevent the movement is your WORST cause of action."

… i mean course of action …

Well, I'm no expert on asian hardwoods but I do know a thing or two about oak and such.

A possible reason you are having trouble is that they may not have cured the wood sufficiently before they made your desk. Failure to do so leaves moisture in the wood that will escape at differing rates relative to the surface areas and edges. This in turn will lead to the wood warping or curving as it dries -- the part of the wood that is not exposed to surface air will retain it's moisture longer and will be forced to conform to the curving of the areas that are drying more quickly. This sounds a lot like what you are experiencing. Sadly there is nothing to be done for it short of clamping it in place for several weeks. Even that doesn't always give you a result you will like.

The bit about humidity above works essentially the same way and may be the other side of the same coin.

mjc

Sunny window for the win! Yup it was the corner nearest my sunny window. The light it burns!

Anyway thanks for all the tips so far. THis desk was made by an Amerindian village in the jungles of Guyana as part of a peace corps program so I hope it will last. But I'm sure the effects of Beijing's dry climent was not high on anyone's list of considerations.

For now, would drilling a hole at the end of the crack stop it from spreading further?

1: drilling holes works for metal not wood in this case.

2: You can do a search for 'wood movement' on the 'Net. Basically they will tell you to remove any screws that hold the top on, then only fasten the top in one small place – front, centre or back depending on the design, and either let the top 'float' or use some form of loose joiner. You can elongate (make oval) any screw holes by the width of the crack which may fix the problem, make 'figure-8' shaped metal joiners and put a screw in each end, use blocks with fingers that go into slots…… there are about a dozen common solutions. If they used nails, remove them & proceed as for screws.

If the top is held on with mortise & tennon joints – part of the frame that holds the table up goes into the top & is fixed there, you are going to have to get a very fine saw & cut the tennons (the fingers that go into the top) off & refix the top as outlined in the above paragraph.

Don't bother trying to fix the crack untill you have modified the top so it can expand & shrink – it will keep cracking in a new place every time you glue it up.

I'll second bsrlee's train of thought. Happens most often when large slabs of wood (desk and table tops) are glued/screwed in place to wood with the grain moving in a different direction.

The fix will depend a lot on the construction used more than the wood or materials used. That you can go through and look at how it is put together, and double check against one of the wood working sites online (I like Fine Wood Working myself – active community there who will be more than happy to help).

For keeping things under control…it goes back to old school wood oils. The water will leave the wood as it dries out and come back when the humidity raises again. One of the reasons people used to oil furniture back in the day was to 1) force the water out and 2) keep it from coming back [additional reasons too…but those are unrelated to this]. The oil wouldn't allow the wood to dry out and become brittle, but it would keep the moisture content more consistent. People stopped using oils when furniture stopped being made of real wood.

mrln68 has an excellent idea. We own several pieces of antique Oak, Maple, and Chestnut. We keep them well oiled, even the undersides and backs. It's not the perfect solution, but it has worked well enough for us.