Good Day to All,
Wood Movement;
When a dado is cut into a post to be used as a frame member (or a rabbit) and a another soild piece of wood is to be used as shelf etc, should I still allow for wood movement?
I’m connecting frame and panel ends & middle supports to frame and panel top, bottom & inside panels using dado’s in the middle section and rabbits at the top and bottom.
I’m worried about the cross grain movement along the top/bottom rabbit joints.
This is the first frame and panel sideboard I’m making and want to do it right so it stands the test of time!
I’m using Ronald Layport’s “Building an Open Hutch” as my guide line.
thank you for any help,
Vance
Replies
vance,
You always need to accomodate wood movement. The shelves will grow and shrink across their width. If they were dado'd/rebated to side pieces of solid wood, as in a bookcase, both shelf and support would move the same amount and there would not be a problem.
But in your frame and panel construction, the side pieces will not move as the width of the side is determined by the long dimension of the end frame piece. That piece is long grain and that dimension will not move a bit.
So you need to allow the shelves to move in their dados or rebates. I would glue them or otherwise fasten them at the front only and let them grow or shrink toward the back of the piece.
Rich
Rich thanks for the info, let me sound back so I get this straight in my head.
As the end side pieces are lets say 18" long with about 2.5" of grain running upwards at each end of the piece.(leaving 13" long grain)
The top frame rail with 13" of long grain will sit in this rabbit creating a cross grain situation along 70% of its run.
I then should only glue/brad at the front of this joint (maybe the 1st 40%) and a couple of brads at the back to allow for seasonal movement.
Vance
Vance,You should only secure the shelves to the side frame and panel pieces at the front of the shelves.
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