Glue Ups - Hardwood - Good & Bad

blackte

I need some help with a question on glue ups. I have a cabinet to build and would like to do it out of solid instead of plywood. The top & bottom will about 8' in length and 22" - 24" in depth, and stand about 20" off the floor. So my question is, is it better to glue up a couple of 1 x 10's or many 1 x 4's to get my depth? What works the best or a better solution? This will be done using Plain Sliced Cherry materials.

Give me your thoughts, what you have tried and worked well and what has not worked. Thanks in advance for your input.

pinwheel

Flat sawn lumber is more prone to warpage that quarter sawn. Personlly, I'd rip the 1x10's at least in half & glue up 4-5 boards to get your width.

Jeremy E

I agree w/ what pinwheel said. Also, with flat sawn material, make sure to alternate the grain up and down (you should see alternating smiles and frowns when looking at the end grain...).

If I may be so bold, why the glue-up? God invented plywood for a reason.

griz

I agree with what pinwheel & jeremy e said about smaller pieces & grain orientation. Panels have always seemed more stable with the use of narrower pieces in glue up.

Jeremy e I will argue about plywood. It does serve a very good purpose & does have it's place but I prefer solid wood.
What do you do for wide raised panels?

Jeremy E

Raised panels, solid wood. Stain-grade tops, solid wood. I use glue-ups in lots of situations. But in this case, it sounds like the op needs wides flat panels for the cabinets sides. For me, this is a plywood application 99% of the time. That's just how I roll.

I asked about the solid side panels because I wondered if it might be one of the 1% jobs. The 1% jobs are often the most fun and interesting.

Leo G

You don't want to hear the answer I would give you.

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Custom Cabinets in Hartford County Connecticut

griz

Leo,
I would really like to hear your answer.
You make your living at it. Griz

pinwheel

I quit subscribing to the grain orientation years ago & have had no major warpage as a result. I arrange glue up boards for best appearance, rather than worrying about growth ring alignment.

I spoke earlier about ripping wide boards down. That's not a hard fast rule for me. If the boards I'm working with have acclimated to my shop & have remained flat & not cupped, I'm very likely to glue them up full width, rather than ripping them down. If they show signs of wanting to warp, they'll more than likely become face frame material or other narrow stock. I sometimes will just rip a board in half to release the internal stress & just glue it right back together in the same orientation for the best eye appeal.

Leo, I'd also like to hear what you have to say on the subject.

Fyrzowt

He makes his living on what? Giving answers?

Leo, I'm always interested in what you say, and often times learn something.
Don't hold back...

Fyrzowt

What kind of use sometimes dictates a change to solid from ply, although the OP seemed to want solid for the "interesting/fun" factor.
If it's gonna get kicked or abused, I prefer solid.

Leo G

If you are gong to make solid cabinets then glue is not the way to make them. You can glue the boards together as planks, that is no problem. Any yellow glue will suffice to hold the boards together for the life of the project. But the joinery between the boards in a cabinet cannot rely on just glue. You will have to have some sort of way to let the individual boards expand and contract during the seasons.

This means at worst, sliding dovetails. Glue it in the front where it is seen and the back of the cabinet will move.

You can use nails. I have made a lot of antique copies of cabinets using pine and decorative nails to hold things together, again glue at the front and the rest will move around. Eventually the nails will become loose and the cabinet won't be as sturdy.

Anytime you are dealing with solid wood you have to allow it to move, if you don't it will move anyway and something is going to give.


So gluing up boards - good

Gluing up whole cabinets - bad.

If you use dado construction with a faceframe cabinet then you can almost trap your shelved by gluing the FF to the front of the sides, deck and top and nailing the back. This way, as long as the wood stays stable, the shelves, deck and top will be trapped within the dadoes, allowed to move and be happy wood.

Did I just say happy wood?

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Sawdust Follows Me Everywhere

http://lrgwood.com
Custom Cabinets in Hartford County Connecticut

blackte

Based on the drawing/picture that the client gave me, this cabinet does not have a face frame. So, my original thought was to use solid, so that you would not see the raw edge of the plywood. I realize I could edge band the raw edges, but thought gluing up solid would look much nicer for this cabinet. Maybe there is a better or different way to build it? Don't get me wrong, if I could use 3/4 ply I would, but not sure if would look as good.