Replies

1. 
   pins | Jan 15, 2007 12:12am | #1

   I'm not sure what you are trying to do but if you are trying to join two pieces of plywood at a 90deg angle you can add a piece of solid wood to 'make the corner.'

   How you would add the solid wood to each side would depend on how large the piece of hardwood is. You could use biscuits, splines or just glue and brads.

   pins

2. 
   Lataxe | Jan 15, 2007 01:34am | #2

   Mr D,

   Like you I have thought of using traditional jointing techniques, with manufactured boards, but come to the conclusion that it just won't work.  Even if your ply is super high quality, DTs or finger joints (for example) would show the ply on the "endgrain" sections of any joint.

   But most ply is unlikely to make a decent traditional joint for other reasons - it may have voids; and something like a tenon or mortise may end up presenting you with dried glue rather than a layer of ply on its surface.  DTs are likely to break off on the corners

   I have used a lot of cherry-veneered blockboard to make cabinets.  I use either biscuits or housing (dado) joints to stick shelves/dividers to sides; and deepish (1 inch) lipping to make face frames (and back frames).  With blockboard you can leave out the biscuits from the face fames (the core is wood so it acts like solid timber) but I think it would be wise to "reinforce" lipping stuck to ply edges, with biscuits, dowels or brads.  Mind you, that sticky-back edge veneer sold on rolls is just clagged on without such reinforcing....

   If you match the grain of the lipping and make good joins, the ply (or blockboard) can look indistinguishable from solid wood, at least to the untutored eye of non-furniture makers.  I like to use veneered boards that are flitch rather than rotary cut, as the veneer then looks like book-matched planks.  Rotary cut veneer looks "unnatural" - ie not like sawn timber - because of the strange grain patterns.

   Apologies for rambling and I hope this helps somehow .:-)

   Lataxe