S.S.
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Santa Barbara
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If it's humid the wood may have swelled.
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I have a large oak dining room table that has two leaves. The table has had both leaves in it for several months. Tonight my husband and I were trying to take the leaves out (no problem there) but then could not close the table all the way again. We tried pulling it open again and it was stuck that way as well. We unjammed it by using a car jack to re-open the table. When we tried to push it back together again, it jammed in the same spot. It's about a foot open and just won't move either way. I am calling a repair service tomorrow, but does anybody have any ideas? I tried spraying the metal mechanism with WD40 that didn't seem to do anything. We tried switching side to side, lifting it, all kinds of stuff. Didn't turn it upside down, but it is so heavy that it will be difficult. Suggestions?
If it's humid the wood may have swelled.
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It's never a good idea to try to force things like wooden doors or table leaves open. There often is swelling or shrinking (depending on the environmental conditions) in hidden areas. The area where it is stuck might need to be sanded down a bit. I really don't think that running a dehumidifier will work unless you put the table in a small, closed room while it is running. WD40 just tends to create a gloppy mess that has to be removed later on. Hopefully the repair guys can sand the area. Otherwise, this is a tough problem to solve. If they can sand it down a bit make sure you keep the table in a stable environment (not near a fireplace, heat register, doorway etc.)
It definitely sounds like the mechanism has something going on--maybe on the metal runners there's some bent metal--did you get under there with a flashlight? Sometimes just viewing how it works will help figure out how to get it working again....also, could there be some kind of "button" you have to push to get it to shove together again? Just a thought--hope you get it closed!!
Try taking a candle and running it along the tracks, inside and out, until they are covered with wax. It may help it unjam.
Waxing with a candle the areas which rub against each other may help. It works for drawers.
We had that problem with an oak table from the day we bought it on clearance, go figure. =) Anyway, in the tracks there were round sprockets with teeth that each side of the table run along and turn the sprocket. We removed the sprockets and it helped tremendously. It still can be hard to open with one person sometimes but it is manageable now. Maybe that can help.
