We spent a week this summer at our favorite seaside cottage in Maine. The rustic nature of the cabin is its charm and a huge biggest selling point. We noticed something new on this visit - a simple end table next to the living room sofa. I have some personal experience with woodworking, both hands-on and watching plenty of episodes of "The New Yankee Workshop." Several artifacts of this table jumped out to me. First, the table top is two boards that have been planed and and joined, and (likely) glued and clamped. Over time, this seam has opened up, and I didn't see any evidence of dowel connectors. Each board is cupping upwards, as if reverting to its original form, possibly quarter sawn. I can't identify the wood species; I know it's not oak, pine or cherry. I'm guessing maple with a modest stain applied. The other notable element is the exquisite dovetail joinery on the drawer. There's an elegant simplicity to dovetails. Also, they're hard to make. I botched one of my four dovetail joints and used wood putty to fix it on a sofa table I made years ago.
I can't tell the provenance of this table. There are putty markings which likely cover nails or screws. As for the warping and separating, my theory is that in an uninsulated Maine cabin, it's subject to humidity and temperature changes and that's causing the tabletop to warp.
