# Shuffleboard table bowing



## Nate8649 (Aug 15, 2016)

Hi, I'm new here and relatively new to woodworking so I'm sorry in advance if I use the incorrect terminology. I recently decided I wanted to make a shuffleboard table and have it mostly completed except for the playing surface which is where I've encountered a problem. The playing surface is to be roughly 12' long, 20" wide, and 2" thick. I bought a bunch of maple boards from my local hardwood store which were planed to 3/4" thick. They didn't have 12' lengths so I decided to stagger strips of varying length to create the playing surface. I ripped the boards to 2.25" wide and cut them into varying length. I came up with a pattern that seemed to work and I glued all the boards together face to face in my garage. I glued 1 row at a time until I had all 25 rows glued up. I finished gluing a couple days ago but now I've noticed that it is bowed along the length. (Not sure if bowed is the correct word for it but basically, if I stand the glued up board on its side, the two ends will be on the ground and the middle will be roughly 1/2" off the ground.) I now realize that I should have probably been keeping track and alternating grain direction in each row but I didn't realize that at the time. They are arranged randomly instead. It isn't finished as I still need to plane and finish it. My questions are:
1). Is there anything I can do get this bow out? I recently moved it from my garage to inside my house as its been around 100 degrees outside with 30% humidity in my city. Would this possibly help anything?
2). If I'm screwed and there isn't a good way to get the bow out, could I run it through a jointer to get the bend out? Do they make jointers that big?

Thank you for your help. If there is nothing I can do to fix it, I guess my shuffleboard table will just have a lot of character.


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## Mikenln (Apr 14, 2016)

The first thing to do is nothing. That is wait. The board may somewhat straighten out by itself.

They make jointers that might be big enough but I would use a circular saw. I can find a circular saw.

Make a straight edge using boards fastened to your shuffleboard table (I would use double sided tape). Check your straight edge carefully.

Consider making a first cut 1/8 inch away from the final position. Wait a few days before making your final cuts. The wood may move again after the first cut.

Your shuffleboard is now narrower than you wanted. You may want to add more wood to one side. If so make it at least a little oversize and wait be for trimming to final size.


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## jwmalone (Jun 23, 2016)

If I understand correctly and its bowed along the 12 foot length only a half inch in the center. That shouldn't be a problem when you put it all together you can push that out easy. But I'm not sure how you build a shuffle board table.


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## Nate8649 (Aug 15, 2016)

> The first thing to do is nothing. That is wait. The board may somewhat straighten out by itself.
> 
> They make jointers that might be big enough but I would use a circular saw. I can find a circular saw.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the input. I think I will wait it out a few days and see if it starts to straitened out at all from being inside instead of the garage. I figured a jointer that big would probably be hard to come by. I may go the circular saw route if it comes to that. Should I plane it before using the circular saw?



> If I understand correctly and its bowed along the 12 foot length only a half inch in the center. That shouldn t be a problem when you put it all together you can push that out easy. But I m not sure how you build a shuffle board table.
> 
> - jwmalone


I've never made a shuffleboard table before but it's my understanding that the board sits on the carpeted area of the table with just a couple screws to hold it in place so I can't push it out. It's also 2.25" thick and 20" wide so even if I could get screw it down a bunch, u wouldn't be able to budge the board to make it strait.

I'll try and post some pics when I get home this afternoon.


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## Nate8649 (Aug 15, 2016)

Here are some photos to better understand how it is bowing. It's not major but will be noticeable when it's sitting with rails close on either side. Thanks for the help!


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## jwmalone (Jun 23, 2016)

O.K. I understand now.


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## Tony1212 (Aug 26, 2013)

Your picture made everything much more understandable. I get it now.

What I would do if it does not fix itself as Mikenln suggests:
1. Buy more wood to match your tabletop
2. Bring the new wood into the same environment where the tabletop is currently
3. Let the new wood acclimate to the environment for a few days
4. Glue the new wood to the tabletop sides
5. Use a circular saw to cut the tabletop to final dimensions.

You should only need an extra row or two of wood to give yourself enough space to cut off any curves and still end up with a regulation size shuffle board. Just make sure both sides are parallel.


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## Nate8649 (Aug 15, 2016)

> Your picture made everything much more understandable. I get it now.
> 
> What I would do if it does not fix itself as Mikenln suggests:
> 1. Buy more wood to match your tabletop
> ...


Thanks for the input. I think this is probably what I'll end up doing. It's been inside for a couple days now and doesn't seem to be changing much if any. I think I can get by adding one more row and cutting it square.


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## 000 (Dec 9, 2015)

> Thanks for the input. I think this is probably what I ll end up doing. It s been inside for a couple days now and doesn t seem to be changing much if any. I think I can get by adding one more row and cutting it square.
> 
> - Nate8649


I think I would cut it square, then add the wood back on. That way you have a consistent looking outter edge thickness, which will be the most noticeable in my opinion.


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## Nate8649 (Aug 15, 2016)

> I think I would cut it square, then add the wood back on. That way you have a consistent looking outter edge thickness, which will be the most noticeable in my opinion.
> 
> - jbay


Good idea!


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## ScottM (Jul 10, 2012)

How do you plan on flattening it? From the pictures the surface looks pretty rough.


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## DirtyMike (Dec 6, 2015)

> How do you plan on flattening it? From the pictures the surface looks pretty rough.
> 
> - ScottM


you think a router and a planing jig?


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## Nate8649 (Aug 15, 2016)

> How do you plan on flattening it? From the pictures the surface looks pretty rough.
> 
> - ScottM


I had quite a bit of glue squeeze out while I was gluing it together and not all of the boards were perfectly strait. I used my electric hand planar to get the excess glue off so that's why it looks rough. I plan on taking it to a local hardwood store so they can plane it and/or sand it. Once it's uniform and looking good I am gonna use a 1/8" flood coat of epoxy which will self level and leave a smooth playing surface hopefully.


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## marshallmosby56 (Jul 16, 2016)

You could just buy extra layers of wood for your table. The layer above the swollen layer should be on the two unswollen parts until it is exactly the same height as the swell. Now fill in the center with some sort of wood glue and finally place the already acclimatised wooden layer on it.


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## MSD (Aug 16, 2010)

Hey Nate,
Just a few suggestions and comments. Shuffleboard tables were built using glue and nails to assemble. The also had climate adjusters on the bottom side to correct any bowing due to humidity. I think I would let it sit for at least a month before doing anything. You can level it using a router sled and a large bit (similar to the way many level a work bench). Having refinished many tops in the past (more than 40 years ago), I found using the finish that was used on bowling alleys worked best. Yours looks very good! They are a ton of work and heavy as can be (most of ours were 22') Biggest problem was that the tables were in bars and you can't believe how many expert are out there when it comes to leveling and adjusting the beds. Good luck to you.


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## Nate8649 (Aug 15, 2016)

> Hey Nate,
> Just a few suggestions and comments. Shuffleboard tables were built using glue and nails to assemble. The also had climate adjusters on the bottom side to correct any bowing due to humidity. I think I would let it sit for at least a month before doing anything. You can level it using a router sled and a large bit (similar to the way many level a work bench). Having refinished many tops in the past (more than 40 years ago), I found using the finish that was used on bowling alleys worked best. Yours looks very good! They are a ton of work and heavy as can be (most of ours were 22 ) Biggest problem was that the tables were in bars and you can t believe how many expert are out there when it comes to leveling and adjusting the beds. Good luck to you.
> 
> - MSD


Patience isn't my best trait but I'll see how long I can wait before making my next move. I imagine a 22' table is quite the project. I have my hands full with just this 12 footer. I plan on using 4 climate adjusters on the bottom. I already have the holes cut out for them. I also have 6 adjustable feet supporting the table so between those two things I'll hopefully be able to make it level. From my understanding the climate adjusters are used to make the board very slightly concave (which you want). I don't think they will help take out the bow that my board has but hopefully I'm wrong. I have a 100% solids bar top epoxy waiting to be used for the top. 1/8" flood coat will hopefully make for a decent playing surface. I don't have a router so that's not an option but I think I can get my local hardwood shop to run it through their planar which will hopefully give me a nice flat surface. I recently placed the board in place up in the table and the bow isn't too bad. I definitely notice it but I might just leave it as is and call it a "home table advantage".


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## GerryB11 (Jul 5, 2017)

Nate,
I'm in the same pickle as you. A similar result as your's drove me to research the Internet and I found LumberJocks. Pardon the grammar but "ain't the Internet amazing sometimes"? What did you end up doing to eliminate the longitudinal bow in your table. I'm building a 14 foot playing surface, also with laid up 3/4" material but 3.25 inches thick, hoping to surface back to 3" overall. Clamped all vertically with a very heavy length of 2" X 4" steel tubing at the bottom, thinking it would hold all layers above straight with no bow. I laid up another one or two layers as time allowed, sometimes one layer daily, other times two or three layers until I had 27 layers high. Stupid I know, but didn't straight line until I had 26 layers and then found a .75" bow with crown high in the middle.

A friend suggested to let it sit for a couple weeks and see if the glue and washing off of excess glue might have created too much moisture that resulted in the bow. If so has anyone ever seen that much of a change, .75" over 14 feet?

I am building this for my grandkids as a legacy project and don't want an obvious and apparent bow in the lengthwise glue lines. If it doesn't self straighten, what are the group suggestions. I'm thinking of bandsawing down the glue line on every three or four boards, running through the jointer and then regluing but reversing them alternatively. Possibly attaching to an "I" beam with no flex possibly. I used Titebond III glue but would liked to have used a glue that allowed more work time but ultimately was as strong as Titebond III.

All advice is appreciated. Gerry


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## Nate8649 (Aug 15, 2016)

I ended up leaving mine as it was with the bow. It doesn't affect the game and I was afraid I'd mess it up if I tried something else. I would probably snap a line and cut it strait with a circular saw lengthwise if I were to try anything. I have since made another shuffleboard table, this one was longer, 19' opposed to 13'. I switched up my glue up process. This time I laid out all of my saw horses like I did for the first one but I started gluing horizontally with the middle board and then alternated gluing rows to each side. The 19' board came out strait. The first time I did the glue up on the 13 footer I started from one end and glued them across so each board was glued to the board I had previously glued. I think I started out with a small bow and I didn't realize it and then it just gradually got worse until the bow was noticeable. I did both glue ups horizontally. I also used Titebond III. Your method of cutting them into sections along the glue lines and jointing them would probably work if you have the tools to do it. Hope this helps. Good luck!


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## GerryB11 (Jul 5, 2017)

Nate…thanks for your quick response. I'm not a perfectionist but just have a problem when looking down the length and not seeing the expected straight glue lines. Just can't abide that. I'll be away from the shop now for a couple weeks but I'm not hearing that giving it some time helped in your case. I was wondering about gluing them horizontally instead of vertically if I cut and surface them. Your suggestion of working from the middle out and checking each additional layer for straight seems logical. If I go this way and it seems like probably the best option so far, then I may glue up maybe six to eight new, straight, and unbowed sticks to start and then glue on those cut apart from the already done full board. lnstead of cutting each board off full length, I was hoping o cut a group of two or three which with clamping and reversing them might result in a straight board.

Incidentally, I bought a finger joint cutter for my router table to end glue the maple sticks. Bought ten foot long boards and end joined them with Gorilla Glue. Router table was a problem working with the long boards but a simple clamping jig and hand router worked great. I doubt the table, with 27 laminated boards is substantially stronger but the appearance is more professional.
Not looking forward to all the full length cutting and surfacing but expect that to be the outcome. All other suggestions are appreciated.


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