Hello, 

 

I have been asked by my son to build some nested tables for him and his wife. I glued up some oak panels for a tops a few weeks ago and I see now that one has a slight bow in the center. The plans my son gave me has cross pieces that you use to attach the tops to the tables. I was only going to put glue only in the center of the cross piece, and hopefully screw the bow down at the front and the back. Then at the sides I was going to put a slight slot in the cross piece and put a screw in it so it can move around. 

 

Am I thinking correctly about getting rid of the bow and wood movement?

 

Best regards, 

 

Ron 

How large is the panel? You cannot stop wood movement and you must not restrict wood movement. Joints and construction have to take movement into consideration. The only way to remove a bow is to plane it out. The cross pieces will have to allow movement at the outer parts of the panel. To do this fix the center of the cross piece to the panel and toward the outer edges cut slight slots for the mounting screws so the panel can move.

The panel is 25 " x 25 ".