Sometimes woodworking is a big fat bummer

[Michael Sobik]

I'm trying to finish up this chest or drawers for my son who's clothes are literally cascading out of his closet. I finally put the first bit of color on it yesterday, only to discover one of the side panels has cracked .

I thought I did everything right with this piece, but obviously I did something wrong. It's made of maple, the grain between the top and sides is oriented the same way, and the case is joined with Dominos.

The AC is on in the shop and it looks like the drop in humidity caused the side to shrink, but the top either hasn't shrunk to match or it's shrinking at a different rate.

Is there anything I can do to repair the crack? Any ideas on what I can do differently next time? It's really a bummer to be so close to finishing this and discovering this!

[alex grams]

I am not very experienced in things of this nature, but how final is the piece? Can you take the top off and access the crack? A simple odd fix may be to put a pocket hole on the inside so that the screw would bridge across the gap and pull it together some, then filling the remaining gap with some wood filler.

I wouldn't rely on this fixing the crack, but it would give some support to stop the crack from spreading any more.

Kind of an odd fix, but like I said, not a whole lot of experience in this.

Nice piece by the way, I can appreciate your frustration.

[Ben Rafael]

I've had maple with that grain pattern at your crack. It has cracked on me too.
IMO, it appears that the crack area is much harder than the wood surrounding it. Drastically Different densities expand and contract at different rates, you get crack.
Since your crack is on the back of the piece I would just fill it and be done with it.

[Todd Bin]

what finish did you use? If it is repairable, then I would sand back the area and use CA glue (super glue) to fill in and around the crack. then sand and touch up the finish. But what concerns me is why did it crack in the first place?

[Richard Magbanua]

Michael,
Being pretty new to ww I aspire to work such as yours. It looks very nice. As far as the cause of the crack, my attention is drawn to the moulding of the top. I see you've used nails which would allow for movement. Did you glue this to the top as well? When attaching moulding to the end grain of a top such as this the advice is usually to glue the first few inches at the front of the case and use just brads for the rest or get fancier and use a sliding dovetail cleat inside the moulding. Other than a defect in the wood that's all I can think of.

Good luck and nice job!

[Pete Bradley]

Could be the pieces started at different moisture contents, could just be a natural stress point in the wood. Sorry if this is obvious, but you didn't glue the moulding to the side did you?

Pete

[Michael Sobik]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions, everyone. The molding is actually glued and nailed to a molding frame that sits on top of the case. It's floats above the case and joins the case to the top (it has two "tops" the top of the case and the actual top that you see).

I'm inclined to agree with Ben at this point. The grain patterns are so different probably causing different contraction patterns. I thought about not using that piece, but I liked the way it looked. Oh well, lesson learned.

The only thing to do at this point is patch it up and hope it doesn't get any larger. I can't get at it from the backside, and all the pieces are permanently attached now.

[John Thompson]

Having the knot at the end of the stock with open end grain probably should have been avoided. Maple grain can be squirrelly and around a knot gets very squirrelly. If the wood was not properly dried.. open end grain where moisture will escape quicker than any other surface and the internal stress released from the area around the knot probably all combined to do you in.

Being for a son and how they treat furniture... I would fill at this point and then try to hide with finish as best as possible. If the chest is adjacent a wall on that side or something beside it probably nobody will notice and more-so with a son and his friends that go in the room. Been there and done that.

Sarge..

[Lee Schierer]

Your photos don't show what is inside the dresser that could be preventing the wood from moving as it needs to to accomodate moisture changes. If there is a screw, drawer runner, frame or corner brace inside that holds on the top, then that is possibly what caused your crack. I would attempt to glue it once I corrected the cause. You can work glue into the crack with dental floss and clamp it. The pocket screw on the inside would also help out the glue and prevent the crack from gowing.

I had a similar problem on a dresser I made out of hickory. I glued the drawer slide supports tot he side panels 90 degrees tothe grain of the panel. Once the heat dired out the air in the house, the side panels both cracked. It sounded like a rifle shot when it cracked one evening while we were watching a show. I was able to repair it by cutting the cross pieces free and gluing the panel. It has not broken since.

[Kevin Davis]

I've used this product with some success for cracks. It might work for you.


Chair Doctor™ Glues




Chair Doctor™ glue does exactly what the name implies; it fixes chairs. If a chair has a loose rung, an injection of Chair Doctor glue will first swell the rung and then bond it in position. The secret is the low viscosity. It will soak into the end grain of wood, swell the wood and then freeze the wood in the swollen state as it cures. A film of dry glue lines the wood cells, preventing contraction. The glue can penetrate the narrowest of cracks. If you happen to leave any excess or spillage, it can be removed with a damp cloth. Any missed on a surface will dry clear.
Chair Doctor comes in a 2 fl oz bottle with a slim applicator tip that lets you place the glue accurately. Chair Doctor Pro includes 4 fl oz of glue, 1 syringe, and 3 sizes of blunt-tip needles. Usually, you let Chair Doctor glue seep into a loose joint, but for many loose joints you can actually slip our finest needle alongside the tenon to the base of the socket, then inject it full of glue. For very difficult repairs, you can drill a tiny hole (from below or behind) and inject glue into a joint that way. With a syringe, it is very easy to do a large number of joints quickly and neatly. Even better, everything cleans with just water so the needles and syringe are reusable indefinitely.
For regular cabinetmaking, our 2002 GF glue is definitely the best choice,
but for fixing loose joints (where you cannot or do not want to take everything apart), Chair Doctor glue is ideal.
Made in Canada.




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Chair Doctor™ Glue, 2 fl oz
05K99.01 $8.80 $7.90

[jason lambert]

Nice piece, and nice job. Is the top attached solid ly, glued on it should be floating. using table clips I usally do them liek this

Look at the 3rd pic down
http://www.forcemachinery.com/festoolmods.htm

Other than that it loos good I would guess it is the knot causing issues. just fill it and move on done right since it is right under the lip you would be the only one htat notices it.

[Michael Sobik]

The case is free essentially free floating. The top attaches to the molding frame. It's only glued in the front, and is held down with slotted screw holes. The drawer frames sit in dadoes in the case sides and are only glued on the front 1" or so. The more I look at it, the more I'm inclinded to believe it's the stupid knot. I'm really kicking myself now for using it, I remember noticing how dense and hard it was when I was dimensioning the lumber. I just thought it looked nice

[David DeCristoforo]

Let me take a bit different approach here (unusual for me I know...). All of the replies address possible causes and fixes for "the crack". So there is no need to expound further on that subject. "Next time" you will have more experience and will most likely be able to avoid this particular pitfall. What I would like to suggest at this point is that you forget about the crack. It's there. You still have a beautiful piece that you made for your son. He has a beautiful dresser that his dad made for him. He will probably will this dresser to his son and after that it will go to your great grandson. I'll bet a dollar to a donut that none of them will enjoy owning this dresser less because of that crack.

[Gary Benson]

Yes and yes to David's point. That crack is no worse than any other grain pattern or color variation in the rest of the piece. Overall, great job, I really like it.
Gary

[Eric Larsen]

Write a little note for your great grandchildren on the inside of the case, near the crack. Then don't tell anyone you wrote it. Something like, "Damn, came *this* close to perfect."

I did the same thing with the tile under the fridge that cracked. "Mea Culpa. Good thing it took moving the fridge to find this note."