Replies

1. 
   user-211435 | Oct 29, 2006 01:46am | #1

   I think that you will actually end up with a more stable product if you use short pieces and offset the joints. 

   Hal

   http://www.rivercitywoodworks.com

    

2. 
   mufti | Oct 29, 2006 06:51pm | #2

              Well a great deal of commercial middle range factory production furniture uses this technique to make stable table tops etc these days, you can easily see the machine finger joints all over the surface. It makes sense and keeps costs down. 

1. 
   user-211435 | Oct 30, 2006 03:41am | #4

   On a commercial level, we are taught that all boards in a glued up panel should be less than 3 inches in width, and flipped end for end, alternately, to make a stable panel.

   It is an industry standard, professed at length by Jerry Metz, one of the foremost spokesmen of the mass production woodworking industry.  He inherited a large furniture production business, and took a close look at it from a practical standpoint, and let the rest of us know what works and what doesn't, based on making a product with a low rate of failure.

   Using shorter stock and either finger jointing it or butt jointing it is a good way to keep from wasting a lot of good material.  I don't compete with mass production manufacturers so I like seeing them utilize poorer quality boards and saving the good stuff for us.

   Hal

3. 
   hammer1 | Oct 30, 2006 03:08am | #3

   Somebody out there borrowed the community board stretcher and hasn't returned it! Until it shows up, an alternative is to make frame and panel sides. You can divide into a couple of sections to fit your lumber.

   Beat it to fit / Paint it to match

1. 
   adamws | Oct 31, 2006 03:30am | #5

   Good suggestion!  I looked into that before my post but it just wouldn't work for the design.  I do prefer that kind of construction, but it wouldn't fit into the piece.

   Thanks,

   Adam