Wood movement
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I’m working on this rather large piece, made from kiln dried oak, and I need some advice on wood movement.
The project has a dovetailed carcass, measuring in mm 1800*400*350. I’ve used 21*143mm stock to laminate these carcass panels. I couldn’t figure out how to rotate the grain direction in Sketchup, so the drawings show the grain going sideways in the side panels. In the actual project the grain runs continuously all the way around, as shown in my poor quality photo of the carcass. I’m hoping these panels will have a somewhat uniform expansion and shrinkage, so I won’t have any problems. Am I being naive, or am I ok here?
Also: I’m wondering how to attach the inner “walls”. They will sit in housings in the top and bottom carcass boards, but I’m at a loss as to whether they should be glued, screwed (with plugged holes) or left floating. These panels are also made from the same dimension materials as the carcass panels.
Any other comments. Nothings glued yet, so I can still maybe fix any mistakes you guys point out.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.Since the grain in the project (though not the sketch up drawing) runs in the same direction all around, it should all expand and contract together. I assume that the dividers will also have the grain running in the same direction as everything else. So wood movement should not be a problem. I have not made anything quite like this, but in other things I have just glued panels into well fit housing dados, again, assuming that the grain is going the right direction. I think they should be glued, and not left floating. I doubt anything more is needed since the whole thing is made rigid by the carcass itself and, perhaps, a back panel. I have also seen Paul use through mortise and tenons combined with housing dados. If I remember right, he did some of those on his tool cabinet and his bookshelf. I have mainly seen that for horizontal dividers, not vertical ones. But though I have never built anything with that joint, I have experimented with it and it is not hard to make. And it has the advantage (or disadvantage) of adding an extra design element (the through tenon) to the top.
Thank you, sanford – much obliged!
I considered sliding dovetails on the dividers, but decided against it. My accuracy cannot yet be trusted with such fine tolerances, with dimensions this big and the wood being hard kiln oak. Went with simple glued housings. Way more forgiving.
Glue-up tomorrow – not half as worried about the wood moving and cracking as I was – thanks again 🙂
with the dovetailed corners they should freely expand and contract together, although oak can move quite a bit it’s nothing to worry about, it’s nice to see proper joinery as well for the base, I think your design is well thought out, would really like to see the final piece.
Thank you, btyreman! I’m very glad you think so. In addition to this being my first attempt at such a large piece of fine(-ish) furniture, it’s also the first time I’ve actually spent some serious $ on materials. Messing this up would be a real bummer both motivation-wise, and financially as well. Thanks for reassuring me, here!
Since you mention the base – would attaching this with turnbuttons be overkill? Could I get away with simply screwing it to the carcass? I’ll use birch for the base.
if you are going to screw it make sure it’s only only through the long pieces at the front and back, turnbuttons are not overkill, it’s a good idea as it allows for proper movement, if you do go into that much effort though it’s well worth getting nice brass screws as well and lining the screw heads up.
I went the turnbuttons route. Afraid none of the screws line up though 🙂
Here are some pictures of the finished piece. Finished with waterborne floor varnish, as per one of Paul’s recent blog posts. Worked very well, and application was a breeze. I also tried Paul’s method for implementing variable shelf height, from the tool cabinet series. Overkill, but for me, this is all about learning new things. WWMC is great that way – almost every project series shows a technique I can use in my next project.
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