NOTE: As is my custom, my list of newbie questions are at the end of this post.
So a week or two ago I wrote about my plans for the box lid. In short, it was going to have mitered edges with a thin strip of the lighter-colored sapwood (would you call it an inlay?) in between the mitered edges and the center piece. Today I took advantage of the Saturday down time to try to make it happen.
A few days ago, I resawed a small block of wood 1/2″ thick and ripped it into four pieces each about 3/4″ wide. I was trying to rig it so that the sapwood inlay would be visible about 1/4″ in from the edge as you look at the underside of the lid. Then I ripped very thin strips of sapwood (I really love that ryoba), and here’s what I had (the bottom sapwood strip would be cut in half, for the shorter edges):
I glued them onto the heartwood pieces and was pretty pleased with the tight edges. A small amount of tinkering brought the mitered edges together (more or less). I did a combination of planing and sanding. It’s mostly there, but I’ll need to do a little more to have them be perfectly tight. You can also see a bit of unevenness in the height of the pieces; one of my weak points is getting a perfectly flat board. So once it’s all together, I’ll plane it even. But overall, I think it looks okay:
Then came the center piece. I chose to do this last because I recently heard Marc (aka The Wood Whisperer) say that in joinery, he always did the “female” part first, and then fit the “male” part to that. So for example, he’d do mortise and then tenon.
So I already had a piece that was the original top (before I went with a thicker one) that is about 1/4″ thick. My idea was to have that be the center piece, flush with the edges on the top and recessed on the underside. I’d bevel the insides of the mitered edges so that they met the center piece and give it a nice little look (I even thought of putting a mirror in there, but don’t feel like going to get one cut to size).
But then inexperience reared its ugly head and smashed my teetering confidence. I spent so much time trying to get two of the sides flush with the mitered edges, I ended up having a very slightly undersized piece. Here’s the pic (click to enlarge):
It’s grossly undersized lengthwise, and just a tad undersized in width. My first inclination was, “Fix it!” I thought maybe I’d cut that center piece in half and glue another thin strip of sapwood in between them. But maybe I’d be better off just resawing another center piece. So here are my questions:
- Most importantly: How would you advise me to fit the center piece to the mitered edges, using only hand tools? Maybe my method is okay, but just needs more practice. Would you do it differently? The mitered edges are still loose (unglued), by the way.
- I’m considering having the centerpiece be slightly thicker than the mitered edges, and having them stand a bit proud on both sides (and chamfered). What do you think? Might make glue-up a bit tricky.
- Is there a way to “cheat” to get the edges to mate well, or at least to disguise a less-than-perfect mating?
3 comments
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March 3, 2008 at 6:31 am
Pete
Hey Eric, nice design!
But there are two problems, I think. First, as you’ve discovered, sizing the panel to fit is tricky. Second, if you simply glue the panel in there you’re risking issues with wood movement: if your panel is as dry as it’s ever going to be, increased humidity will expand it and either bow the panel, or force your mitred corners apart. If it’s at greater moisture content than (say) the air-conditioned interior of your home, the panel may well shrink, splitting at the weakest point, or pulling away from the edges leaving unsightly gaps!
The age-old solution is the floating panel (as in cupboard doors). Cut a groove in the frame pieces, size the panel to fit; the groove gives a bit of ‘wriggle room’ if you get the sizing a little wrong.
But the way you designed the frame gives you another option. Split the sapwood pieces in two along their length. Fix the top-most pieces. Then fit the panel. Then fix the panel by using the bottom lengths of sapwood to trap the panel. I’d guess this is how you’d have to do it if you went with your mirror idea (or think of glass windows in a multi-panel door).
I’m not much further along the learning curve than you when it comes to handtools (or woodworking in general, actually). But I think these sorts of issues are what make handtool working trickier. The normites would just run the frames through their router tables for the groove; a few quick cuts on the table saw to size the panel, and voila!… a perfect fit.
Hope this rambling makes some kind of sense!
March 3, 2008 at 7:07 am
Eric
Hey Pete, thanks for your comment and advice. Yeah, I think I’m still stumbling through my noviceness as I work through these issues. Now I’ve already glued up the sapwood pieces to the outer edge pieces, so your second suggestion wouldn’t work. But here are a couple ideas, and tell me what you think:
1. Glue a piece of plywood in the middle (would that give me any problems?) and then on top of that (and on the underside), glue a very thin resawed piece of kempas. Maybe chamfer the edges down to meet the surface. I might have to glue another layer of wood inside the mitered edges first, so that my very thin inlay doesn’t get covered up.
2. If gluing plywood to the edges is still dangerous in terms of wood movement, I could try to route a groove in the inside edges (I do have a mini router plane) and have the aforementioned piece of plywood fit into there. I suppose if I do that, as you’ve suggested, there could potentially be a bit of looseness in cool/dry climates? (I’m in hot humid here.)
If gluing the plywood would work, I’d rather do that since routing a groove would be yet another step in this process. Although it’s all in the name of getting experience so I shouldn’t complain.
Let me know what you think!
Eric
March 4, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Pete
Hi Eric,
If you’re using plywood you have nothing to worry about – ply won’t move! So either of your solutions will work. Option 1 (the imposed/inset kempas) would be simplest.
The panel-in-groove solution is designed to get around wood movement issues because you don’t glue the panel – it floats in the grooves and can move as it likes. If you’re using solid wood (as opposed to plywood) the only tricky bit is sizing the panel – you want it of a size that if it shrinks or expands a little, the grooves can accomodate that.