One time our neighbor gave my daughter a beautiful old Cherry table and chair set. The top was slightly damage by water marks. I disassembled and reglued as needed. I spent a long time on that table top and can honestly say that it was beautiful. That was in Ohio. We packed it all very gingerly and took it to Colorado

My daughter was thrilled. When we returned to Colorado the  following year for visit, I didn't see the table. She said it was in the garage. When I looked at the top and chairs.......all were cracked and some were warped. Then it dawned on me, I rebuilt and finished it in Ohio and high humidity. I did some research and found out that when this was made, they didn't finish under the table or chairs, they put some type of oil on it. The oil was long gone and the dry air quickly sucked all moisture out of it. All that work...........gone

 

Sorry to hear that Ron. 

Thanks for sharing the lesson Ron...not something I would have ever thought about either but it makes perfect sense.

I had a similar experience. I made a clear pine 5/4 thick top tressel table 42X96 for my son in Albuquerque and I live in western WA and I delivered it unfinished to him in NM. He wanted to finish it with stain and polyurethane  Like the picture but had parrellel spreaders between the legs.

 

2 months later he call and said it cracked down the center, not on a glue line.

 

He loved it, it matched the lintels made from pine over the doors and windows in his new house.

 

Herb

That too bad. All that work for naught.