Large work table top - Question.....

[Dennis Peacock]

I am working on a large table top for a friend who is remodeling an office space. The top is all yellow poplar. He has to take the top up 3 levels of stairs as it won't fit in the elevator.

The finished dimensions of the top will be 10 feet long by 42 inches wide by 2 inches thick.
I've had to glue up the top in 3 sections to help reduce the weight of him having to haul something that large up the 3 flights of stairs. Three 14" sections that are currently 12 feet long and 2.375" thick. I need to plane each large section down to 2" thick.

My question is this....how do I work through this so that when all 3 sections are put together that they are flat as a table top? My planer is only 15" wide so each section will fit well within the limit of my planer. I will put biscuit slots in each section so that my buddy can put biscuits in the slots and put the top sections together with glue and clamps once they are in the office space where they will be installed permanently.

I may have bit off more than I can "chew" here....but I'm not afraid to tackle most any project.
Your advice, tips, and pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Note: once all the machining is done, I will trim the top sections to the final length of the top - from 12 feet to 10 feet long.

[Ethan Melad]

I'd consider using a mechanical fastener instead of having your friend try and glue it in place. Use something like a draw bolt, bolt & t-nut, or tite joint fastener.
Tite Joint info: http://mmb.devtosite.com/wp-content/.../TiteJoint.pdf

[Peter Quinn]

My experience....with wood that thick it's beyond biscuits. I'd make a continuous spline, I'd shoot for 1/2", run it in with a slot cutter referencing the show face, may take 2-3 passes, slot it as deep as you can with the cutter you have. I like to use plywood for the splines, bb if available. You can do a stop cut if ends are visible, I don't bother if they are between walls. I like the idea of counter top fasteners if this thing ever has to come out again, make a very slight round over, a "pencil line" the designers like to call it, at each meeting line, or a very slight chamfer. If it must be field joined with glue, plane it to final thickness, spline it, clamp it up in the shop and sand/level it with the splines in as a finished top so it requires minimal dressing in situe. I'd hesitate to create something that can't be carried back out unless it's going to be left in the space in the future....though you have gravity on your side on the way back down!

[Prashun Patel]

Have you lifted the pieces yet? A poplar slab table may be lighter than you think. Navigating 42" x 12ft may be an issue around stairs, but if it's a straight shot into the conference room or if maneuvering is not an issue, I would glue it up in the shop. Align it with splines or Dominos or what have you and then use a handplane to take the mating surfaces flush.

If you must assemble on-site, then I vote too for the draw bolts. Talk to Jamie Buxton. He helped me think through this on a recent dining table I made.

Either way, I'd use battens along the bottom to assist in keeping the pieces coplanar.

If it were me, without seeing your pieces, I would consider ripping the center board again down its middle and gluing each portion to the respective outside board. Then you could install the two halves on site with a 1/8" gap between them. This will not only make installation a snap (and post-installation flattening a non-issue), it can be an aesthetic positive for mild-grained woods like poplar, and it will simplify your planning for wood movement.

I'm not that keen on a solution that requires gluing on site. It means they can never move it.

[Brian Henderson]

That was exactly my concern, if you glue it together, how is anyone ever going to get it out again without taking a sledgehammer to it? Nothing is forever and having to either destroy the table or just abandon it seems silly and perhaps a bit irresponsible.

[Dennis Peacock]

Thanks for the ideas.....I'm only doing as I'm told by the contractor who's actually doing the remodeling work in the office space. If I have "fastener" choices to hold the sections together (in lieu of gluing onsite) then I would feel much better about the entire project.
I will call and talk with the contractor later today.

[Steve Wilde]

If it was me I'd glue it all up as one piece in the shop and then cut it down the center like you would a table with a leaf. I'd then use some mechanical fasteners to pull the two pieces together like they do countertops. Just my 2 cents...

[Kent A Bathurst]

Use mechanical fasteners, and a serious hammer with a block of hard, jointed wood. Get the fasteners snugged up, then use the hammer and the block to "persuade" the sections into level. As long as you did a good job on consistent thickness thru your planer, I don't see any real issue here.