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Hello!
Question…I am making an oak mission-style entertainment center. The sides, shelves, and top and bottom are all frame-and-panel design, using solid oak for the frame and oak-faced ply for the panels. My original plan was to attach the intermediary shelves and dust panels by gluing the frames into a 3/8″ groove in the side frames. I planned it this way because I was thinking that the oak wouldn’t move that much once it was varnished. Now I’m not sure.
Question…Is this a modern concern with a fully finished piece? I bought the oak at Home Depot and I trust it was properly dried. Am I at risk for splitting the wood in areas that the grain runs in perpendicular directions?
Part B – What would be the best way to attach the frames then? The mission design I am using as a guide has countersunk screws driven at an angle from the bottom of each frame. This method seemed tricky and potentially damaging if not executed properly. (
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you don't need to glue plywood panels into their frames--the whole point behind frame and panel design is to allow the panels to float freely within the grooves cut into the frames--but you're probably going to get away with it. can you trust home depot to sell properly dried lumber?--only your meter knows for sure.
*The previous respondent obviously did not read your question! Of course you did not glue the panels into the frame! You want to know how to join the horzontal frame(shelf) to the vertical frame(sides). If you have a router you can cut sliding dove tails. Cut the tails on the shelves and slots on the sides. This is a strong joint. If you don't want to invest that much time, a shallow dado (5/16") glued and clamped is sufficient IF YOU HAVE A BACK ON THE CASE TO PROVIDE LATERAL RIGIDITY (EVEN A PARTIAL BACK). Movement due to change in moisture content is not a concern with sliding dovetail or dado joints. Take your time.
*Scott, I attended a woodworking show this weekend in Milwaukee and heard the best solution to this question! Bill Gudeman from the "Joint A-billi-T" booth (a great tool for making perfect butt joints, dadoes, rabbets, and tapers) was suggesting that when you don't have the diameter of bit to accomidate your stock thickness or if you are making a piece that needs to support alot a weight, you should drop down to the next standard size bit diameter and make your dadoed cut. Then make a small rabbet cut on the horizontal shelf. The 90 degree corner will stop the racking action that we sometimes get in those pieces. If you have questions on this, call him at 1-800-997-1918, I'm sure he could explain it better.Good Luck!Shelby
*Red Oak (and I am assuming this is what you used, since HD does not normally stock White Oak) is notorious for severe movement. Use it at your own risk. Large manufacturers use it, but they cut it into inch wide strips and glue it up.Whenever I build a project and it calls for Oak, I use quartersawn White Oak (especially for Mission pieces), period.Whatever construction technique you use, give it ROOM TO MOVE, and then some.
*When I am planning a complex piece of furniture, I always assume there will be substantial wood movement wherever solid wood (not plywood or MDF) is used... regardless of the type of wood. Frame and panel construction evolved because of this need, not as a design element. I live in a climate (Canada) where there are large extremes in humidity due to seasonal changes, and woods such as red oak or pine, which are used here extensively, certainly do move a lot. You never know where your furniture may end up.I am not a professional or even broadly experienced woodworker, but I was fortunate to have read a few books such as Collins Complete Woodworkers' Manual and Bruce Hoadley's "Understanding Wood" among others before starting major cabinetry. I have now built several larger-scale pieces with numerous joints (mortise and tenon, frame and panel, biscuit, dovetail, rabbet, etc) and have not yet had the agony of seeing a nicely joined panel tear itself in half 6 months later. I view this as one of the natural and challenging aspects of the charachter of wood, and enjoy the puzzle of accomodating it.Lots of good advice of a specific nature previously posted... I won't add to it. Good luck.
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