Comments on: What’s Wrong With This Picture?

By: FatherJohn

FatherJohn — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:00:55 +0000

I use glue only at the centers of a captured panel, so when grain’s running north and south I’ll glue a the center top and center bottom, then put little rubber balls in the grooves east and west.

I made a pair of clocks with wild-grained faces, who knows what direction that stuff will expand, so I ended up not gluing those anywhere, just rubber balls all the way around. Those are about five years old and both are still sound.

By: Drift Boat

Drift Boat — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:24:28 +0000

I may have imagined this but I think I have seen some rubber inserts that go in the dado allowing you to undersize the panel to allow for expansion. I always take the chicken’s way out and use plywood whenever possible.

By: cowboy

cowboy — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:54:15 +0000

Even when you understand wood movement you will sometimes dare to take it on. Banding around a solid wood panel is sure to fail. I recently built a top but worked in some ways to allow for the movement of the panel and forcing it to expand and contract towards one side which in this case is at the back of the cabinet. My intention is to have the mitres gap at the rear of the cabinet. With any luck it will move in and out with the seasons. If it worked out I will let you know and how I built it. If not my silence will be your answer as I head to my brother in law’s to install a plywood top.
Ken

By: Robert W. Lang

Robert W. Lang — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:48:33 +0000

We tend to look the other way when someone walks into our place with muddy shoes, but if you have a point to make why not join the discussion? And if you follow the link, have your credit card ready. That content, while good is not free.

By: wbloew

wbloew — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:09:44 +0000

It’s probably an unconscionable breach of etiquette to mention “the other magazine”, but there’s also discussion of this problem at:

http://www.finewoodworking.com/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=2867

and

http://www.finewoodworking.com/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=27129

By: finzona

finzona — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:39:30 +0000

Many years back I was called by a ceramic tile distributor to look at a failed ceramic tile installation. What I found was an installation of tile on a hall floor. The tile along each wall was loose, broken and a disaster. The installer had placed the tile tight against the framing for the walls and as the wood expanded the tile was “pushed” out of position or broken. Neither the expansion of the wood framing or expansion/contraction of the concrete had been taken into consideration. A costly mistake for the tile contractor because of a lack of knowledge by the installers.

By: Robert W. Lang

Robert W. Lang — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:59:47 +0000

There is a huge difference in the way a solid wood panel moves, and what happens to a man-made veneered panel. The way to achieve the framed look is not to use solid wood, but to use veneer over a stable substrate.

By: grbmds

grbmds — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:00:24 +0000

It would seem that surrounding a plywood panel with contrasting solid wood trim would work. Wouldn’t the swelling and contracting be minimal enough to avoid this problem?

By: ssayott

ssayott — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:53:15 +0000

I use caulking to me ‘ropes’ by squeezing it out on a flat surface like wax paper. I can control the diameter of this ‘rope’ based upon the size of opening I cut in the tube.
Then I use this material to lay in to the groove that is cut in the rails and stills for the center panel. That way when the panel expands or contracts the rope squeezes and does not make the corners blow out.
Is that not the correct thing to do?

By: henderd

henderd — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:21:30 +0000

I recently completed a bed with cherry frame and three veneered panels in the headboard. The construction consists of a 5/8 inch MDF base bordered by one inch wide roasted maple then overlayed with book matched quilted maple. The edges were then routed with a taper to expose the roasted maple (it is dark). The finish is polymerized tung oil. Have I done the right thing to avoid panels of doom? By the way I posted the project on LumberJocks.

DonH