How to glue wood @90 angles

[sazdaman]

I'm making a sofa table and for the bottom part it will have a shelf about 8" from the floor. I would like to glue up some wood so the patterns are perpendicular to themselves like a "W" pattern. Does anyone have any experience at this?

 

[Ray Martin]

Steve,

That might make for a beautiful pattern, but if you are using solid wood, you have to be careful of wood movement splitting the glue joints, or even the wood sections themselves. As moisture levels change (generally with the seasons) wood will swell or contract. Different species of wood move at different rates and wood moves across the grain much more than it moves with the grain.

 

[Travis Porter]

Ditto Ray's comments. You can do stuff like this, but you have to plan and allow the boards to move. Example a 6" wide board can shrink/expand an 1/8 inch. That is why breadboard edges are not glued or fastened tightly all the way across.

 

[Gofor]

You would probably be better off using cabinet grade plywood as a base, and gluing the pattern wood (1/16"+ thick) to the surface for your pattern. Edge banding to match the surface would be time consuming, but not impossible.

That said, I have seen many "designer" cutting boards made like that, but have never heard how well they hold up.

Go

 

[gator]

Think veneer. This is just the application for veneer use over a stable base such as birch ply as already mentioned.

George

 

[nelsone]

Steve, George has the right idea if I understand what you are thinking of. Veneer will be you're bets bet over a solid substrate. That can be either ply or hardwood. You could also accomplish the same thing if you slice your show wood at about a 1/4" and use that as a really thick veneer, just glue it to a substrate. Are you thinking of a herringbone type pattern?

 

[sazdaman]

Yes Ed, that is exactly what I'm thinking of. Thanks everyone for all your suggestions. I think I have a place to start.​

 

[Howard Acheson]

Two thoughts.

One, I would only consider doing what you suggest if I were going to have the same pattern on the top. That's just aesthetics but having it only on the bottom shelf may not look "right".

Second. The best way to do what you suggest is to use a veneer. As written already, creating a solid wood panel like you want presents a number of construction problems with cross grain situations. A veneer on plywood or MDF would be my choice.