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Question: Dear Norm,I am an avid watcher of your show and have learned much from you. I recently completed a set of tables, 1 coffee table, 2 end tables and a sofa table made from red oak. All the lumber was machined from rough stock. I would like to know if it is normal for the the field area of my tables to shrink leaving the breadboard edges to be approximately 1/8 inch longer than the field 4 months after completion when it was flush during assembly. Should I leave it alone or can I trim the breadboard edges to be flush once again. I have had a lot of compliments on my tables, but I'm a little disappointed that this shrinkage occurred. What can I do if anything to prevent this form happening again. I would like to end a couple of photographs to show you this but I'm not sure how through this link.Yours TrulyRoman MankoOshawa, Ontario,Canada Answer: This is typical with any project that has a breadboard edge. On projects we've built, the field shrinks in the winter because the heat in the house dries the wood and in the summer the field often expands beyond the breadboard edge because the wood will absorb moisture from the humidity in the air. Wood moves quite a bit across the grain with changes in humidity but not much along it's length so we make allowances for that movement when connecting two pieces of wood with a cross grain situation. We secure the breadboard edge with a little glue in the middle of the field and secure the ends with dowels which pass through elongated holes in the tongue of the field which will allow the field to expand and contract with seasonal changes in humidity.The only way around the inherent esthetic problems of a breadboard edge is to eliminate it from the design which is something we've done for some of our projects. |