Pembroke Table Leaves

[Ty G]

How come the leaves on drop leaf table such as Pembrokes do not cup like crazy?  Do makers make sure to use quarter sawn lumber here?  I am reckoning it just boils down to good wood selection and crossing fingers.

Thanks

 

[albreed]

Ty- The ones that did are gone.......You're right about wood selection, though.-Al

 

[millcrek]

Ty, I tried to post some pictures of a table that has the leaves and top reinforced with sliding dove tails but my picture files were to large. To make a long story short I wasn't able to get them re sized, so I turned them into a post on my blog. If your interested they are here.
http://millcrek.wordpress.com/

 

[Ty G]

MillCreek, those are great images.  Have you seen the through d.tail before?  Is that done often on those drop leaves?  Thanks.  I bookmarked the blog to go back and read through.

 

[millcrek]

Ty, That is the only table I have seen like that, but here is a solid wood door built almost the same way.

if I have posted the picture.

 

[John Cashman]

Wneh I first started woodworking, a local church was clearing all the pews from its lower level, and I was able to get a huge quantity of oak. The backs were laminated, two outside pieces of half inch quartersawn oak sandwiching a 3/16 inner layer -- I've still never seen anything like that. The seats were all wide, solid oak. Every three feet or so they had a sliding dovetail let into the underside, presumable to keep the boards flat. I don't know if it made a difference or not, but they were still very flat after a hundred or so years.

 

[dkeller_nc]

One reason the leaves on a drop leaf table probably don't cup as bad as the center surface was that they may not have been used, and therefore cleaned, nearly as much as the center section.  Bob Flexner has convincingly explained why almost the cupping on cupped tables is almost always "turned up", regardless of the orientation of the growth rings.

The summary is that when water is applied to the top surface in the form of a damp rag, the wood fibers swell.  Since the table surface is restrained by its mounts, these fibers get crushed.  When they dry out again, they shrink, which forces the top to curl "up".  The leaves on a pembroke table aren't typically constrained in this way, and also would not be expected to be used quite as much as the center surface.

Most all pembroke tables I've seen that are from the age of handwork (pre 1830's) have flat-sawn tops and leaves, not quartersawn.

 

[Jeff L Headley]

Ty, It probably comes down to their sawyer. As today you should go with the sawyer that provides you with the most stable lumber possible. If he didn't cut it then he knew someone who did. Sawing timber into lumber is an art left to the experts. Period cabinetmakers knew what they wanted where but relied upon their suppliers to provide that material as we do today. When someone supplies you with an infiierier product you learn from that and don't go to them again. And yes! some of those discoveries are not here today to be discussed or at least not in their original design. Period furniture, you gotta love it. I can tell you some horror stories over inferior lumber suppliers. Exploding tables and such. I am sure that they would have gone with a dependable supplier over time especially if they wanted to stay in business. A small note: Provide room on your Pembroke table top for shrinkage over the years or your drop leaves will hang at an angle.
Ty,
Best wishes and may your leaves never hang at an angle.