How to fix deep cracks in a tabletop -

Today I wanted to share my solution for deep, decorative cracks in tabletops. It’s easy and inexpensive too! It’s clear caulk! Let’s get in to how to fix deep cracks in a tabletop:

Our kitchen table is beautiful, with rustic boards that all have varying depths of cracks. Due to some other cosmetic issues including the finish coming off and leaving sticky residues and an iron burn…yea…, I needed to refinish the table top.

I sanded the top and was lucky enough to be able to match the stain with a color I already had in my collection.

Once everything was stained, I applied clear, PAINTABLE caulk to all of the deeper cracks.

Being paintable was very important because I wanted to seal the tabletop after the caulk was applied.

I did get scared at first because the caulk came out white. It does, in fact, dry clear. I used a scraper to smooth the caulk into the cracks.

I was careful to got back and clean any caulk residue that was left behind (like you can see in the photo above on either side of the crack) with a baby wipe while it was still wet. Had I not done this, it would have left a rubbery feeling film that would need to be scraped off.

I did end up going back over the cracks with 3-4 layers in the deepest ones. I had to wait for each layer to dry in between. Dry time was supposed to be several hours, and cure time (before painting) was several days. This was something that caught me off guard. I use the white version of this caulk all the time, and it is paintable in 30 minutes.

In the end, the wait time was well worth it! Previously, the toothpick in the photo above would have easily gotten stuck in the cracks. Now, it glides across… so just imagine how much easier it is to clean in regard to crumbs! No more vacuuming/digging them out!