Three Piece Top. What do you do?

[printer2]

What do you do with the middle piece you have the two outside ones book matched?

[printer2]

Skip it. I kind of knew there was no right answer.

[John Arnold]

It''s all about selection of the wood for the center piece. Ideally, you want straight, even grain that matches with grain width on the joining edge of the two outer pieces.
Another factor is runout, which is the cause of different light reflection from adjacent pieces. To lessen the effect, the center piece should have zero runout.

[printer2]

Originally Posted by John Arnold

It''s all about selection of the wood for the center piece. Ideally, you want straight, even grain that matches with grain width on the joining edge of the two outer pieces.
Another factor is runout, which is the cause of different light reflection from adjacent pieces. To lessen the effect, the center piece should have zero runout.

Yeah it is the runout thing that I was wondering about. The pieces came from the same board and I am pretty sure it was not cut for appearance. I would stack them side by side but the two outer ones have a knot that I want to avoid so they are going to be bookmatched on the outside. I want to use the wood as the tree was at least a couple hundred years old going by the rings. The board was only 5 1/2" wide so need to do a three piece. Maybe I'll paint it if it looks bad.