Bowing sapele tabletop

[Mark Visconti]

I plan to attach it to the skirt. I will use blocks with loose tenon into the skirt and screws into the underside of the tabletop. The blocks have a cutout so the loose tenons can be pulled out later with a pliers if the table needs to be taken apart. Did this on another cherry table and it worked great when I had to disassemble the top to move the table. That top rested on the skirt, but the block isn't dependent on the skirt and top meeting. We do lift from the skirt when moving tables. If you look along the edge of this table you would be able to see the block thru the <1/4" gap. I guess I should have trimmed the pre-existing legs so that everything is level with the skirt. Thanks for pointing that out!

[Tony Shea]

I too have had issues with Sapele moving on me in a panel of a small jewelry cabinet. I had to scrap the panel and use bubinga instead.

Having said this, my sapele had some wild grain and was probably some reactive wood and is not the norm for sapele. Typically sapele can be very stable, similar to real honduran mahogany. Large table tops similar to yours often have a tendency to bowing and sometimes cannot be prevented without using joinery or other measures. Jim is correct in that I think your only option at this point is to use screws to help pull it down. You may even need to use battens on the underside with screws or sliding dovetail to get this wide table top flat.

I would highly recommend researching table top buttons for attaching your top to the aprons. These do a really good job of accounting for wood movement and is the method I always opt for to attach table tops to a table base, that is if I have aprons to mount to.

[Jim Andrew]

I used to have a terrible time with glued up panels till I built a solar wood drier. Now I have a ready supply of dry wood.