This table top was not OEM. The top that came with this set was flat black and had ship-lap lines, so the top wasn't exactly smooth. If you were brazen enough to try to use this as a writing surface, when your pen tip got to a lap joint, it would fall right through the paper, eliciting a "fuck" with the volume to match the value of the paper you were writing on.
I replaced it soon after we got it. Here is the top I put on there eight years ago:
In the time since that oak top was installed, we removed the center leaf and placed it someplace that would ensure it was good and bowed when we wanted to use it again. We recently wanted to use it again. It took clamps, hammers and a lot of tongue and lip biting to position the expansion leaf to mate with the outer segments. We got it back in, but still, it didn't quite sit right. The edges were not completely and perfectly aligned; one piece was slightly proud of the other creating edges that suddenly stopped anything slid across the table. A tall, top-heavy glass of anything doesn't come to a sudden stop without consequences. And food was always getting into the minute gaps between the leaves (leafs?). We are indeed fucking pigs at my house; sliding glasses of sugary drink to and fro; more food on the table than on the plate.
Once again we didn't like our table top. So, two weeks ago, I broke the table down. I made relief cuts in the bottom of the center leaf to get it to lay flat(ish). I then cut new edges on all three leaves and jointed the them. Then I glued all of it together with biscuits. I installed continuous breadboards across all three sections. I sanded it smooth, and viola! One big fucking table.
Now I have a table top that is too wide from any vantage point for me to pick up by myself. It's five feet in one direction and five(ish) feet in the other direction. Also the glue joints, despite being clean and sharp and flush with yellow glue, gave me a small bit of worry. To make sure that the one (or two) bitch glue joint(s) I didn't like wouldn't separate I installed a bow tie Dutchman.
Two coats of red oak stain, three coats of satin poly, finishing wax, and now the table looks like this.
It's darker and smoother and harder to handle because of it's ridiculous size. It's also prettier and more functional.
cp
