shutton Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 While making a small (8"x12") jewelry box, I decided to resaw some cherry to make a nice bookmatched lid. The panel ended up being a bit over 1/4" thick. It's going into a frame, and I'd planned to float it, but wondered if I could get away with gluing it to a thin (1/8") plywood panel, both to beef up its thickness, and to stabilize the cross-grain movement to allow me to fully glue it and create a seamless lid. Anyone ever tried this? My climate (coastal California) doesn't vary wildly in humidity, but I'd like this piece to last. Given the size of the panel (which will only be about 5"x9"), I almost wonder if movement will even be a significant factor, but I definitely don't want to bust the miters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Bad idea to glue a panel into a frame ! If you look a any piece of plywood you will always find an odd number of layers, this is called balanced construction. So if you glue a 1/4 piece to one side you now have un balanced construction and the panel may cup. Glue 1/4" to both sides and its balanced again! Never glue a panel into a frame, it needs to float. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shutton Posted October 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Make sense! Hadn't considered cupping. I figured that was a bad idea. I just wanted to know why it was a bad idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefmagnus@grics.net Posted October 31, 2014 Report Share Posted October 31, 2014 Steve, you win the I learned something new today award. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 31, 2014 Report Share Posted October 31, 2014 Bad idea to glue a panel into a frame ! If you look a any piece of plywood you will always find an odd number of layers, this is called balanced construction. So if you glue a 1/4 piece to one side you now have un balanced construction and the panel may cup. Glue 1/4" to both sides and its balanced again! Never glue a panel into a frame, it needs to float. I knew that you should let the panels float but didn't know that about the layers of ply. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted October 31, 2014 Report Share Posted October 31, 2014 It's the same when you apply a thin veneer to a panel. You would normally glue your best veneer on the show face and another not so good veneer on the inside face. That applies to plywood and mdf. Otherwise when the veneer dries it will pull on the substrate and could bow or cup it. You always want to get odd numbers of layers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 31, 2014 Report Share Posted October 31, 2014 It's the same when you apply a thin veneer to a panel. You would normally glue your best veneer on the show face and another not so good veneer on the inside face. That applies to plywood and mdf. Otherwise when the veneer dries it will pull on the substrate and could bow or cup it. You always want to get odd numbers of layers. I have never done veneering but have looked at several projects where veneer was applied to both sides, even if one was never to be seen and did not know why. Makes sense now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted October 31, 2014 Report Share Posted October 31, 2014 There is "BUT" here this only applies to water based adhesives. If your doing a small layup and plan to use solvent contact then the backer is not needed. For OP the Solid wood being 1/4" is to thick so using contact to stick it to 1/4" ply and then thinning the solid to 3/32 or thinner will work just fine with no backer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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