Replies

1. 
   ring | Nov 30, 2006 08:48am | #1

   Sean, I'm not 100% clear what the laminated maple slabs are. If this is a 3-ply industrial product, then you can go ahead and inlay without further concern. The maple will be quite stable for all intents and purposes. You say 3/16" deep inlay. If the top layer of laminate is 1/4" thick, this will be fine. Better not to dado all the way through it.

   DR

2. 
   RickL | Nov 30, 2006 06:29pm | #2

   I suspect there is confusion over the term laminated. Laminated to me implies layers glued up like plywood, formica over a substrate or bent laminations such as the technique used by Jere Osgood. Too often I see the term used for glued up panels which is edge or face glued depending the the grain orientation.

   I suspect you have a solid wood glued up panel and you would be correct to expect issues with seasonal wood movement with opposing grains. Also species expand and contract at different rates so even following the grain with different woods is going to have issues. Plywood is the safest bet for this.

1. 
   Sean2112 | Dec 01, 2006 06:39pm | #3

   Laminated probably wasn't a good word to use, perhaps too ambiguous.  the maple top is glued up strips, much like a bowling lane would be. Sorry for the confusion.

   Sean

1. 
   ring | Dec 01, 2006 07:19pm | #4

   Ah, ah, ah... this is something different! You will get very considerable expansion and contraction across 48" of maple, even if it is QS, which it probably isn't anyway. If you want your inlay to behave itself, you'd best do the cross-grain portions with cross-grain banding. DR

3. 
   SteveSchoene | Dec 02, 2006 05:11am | #5

   If you try to use 3/16" thick banding you will have a problem with cross grain construction.  I would consider banding of real veneer--less than 1/16" for sure to have much better prospects of survival.    Of course, matching the grain direction on the cross grain band will prevent the checks and open joints that you might expect.  Another possibility would be to band the table with the grain of the inlay always running at right angles to the edge of the table.  The long grain of the maple will move only little, and the veneer running across it will accomodate that movement while the cross grain of the maple will match the cross grain of the veneer and no problems will result.  This is the pattern of many traditional tables.