Need advice on a project


byegge

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Hello all, I am relatively new to woodworking and am not sure on one aspect of my project. I'm building a card box for a friend's wedding and am going to make the sides raised panels. The rails and styles are going to be walnut and the panel will be plywood with a veneer on it. I was originally going to set the panel in a dado but was thinking about cutting a rabbit around the inner edge making the panel sit flush on the inside of the box. The inside will be covered with felt so appearance doesn't matter. Which would be better approach. With the dado, there would be no glue. The reason I was leaning towards the rabbit was that the thickness of the side is going to be about 3/4. There will be a plaque glued in the center of the panel. The rabbit would give me more thickness of the center peice. Sorry this is so wordy but I wanted to give as much info as I can. Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Brian.

Ps. I'm in hot humid Florida if that makes a difference.

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Plywood doesn't move the way hardwood does so you don't need to worry about that part.  You don't typically do raised panels with plywood since there's no need to account for movement, and because you can't cut into the face of plywood without exposing the plies.  Frame and panel construction was invented to solve the problem of wood movement when using a hardwood panel...with plywood it's moot.

 

If you're stuck on using plywood for the panels I'd probably use 1/4" ply and thin down the rails and stiles too.  People tend to use material that is too thick for small boxes which gives it an awkward, clunky, heavy look.  Material thickness should be appropriate for the size of the piece.

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Assuming this will be stained or clear coated, I would use a miniature raised panel bit set and 1/2 or 5/8 hardwood. If you don't own a router table you can raise a panel on a table saw. Check out some you tube videos on how to do it safely. If it's getting painted you could use MDF and raise your panel on a table saw as well.

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You might want to check out Doug Stowe's book "Basic Boxes." He shows a variety so small boxes so it's good for ideas and techniques. I did a quick search of wooden card boxes and I agree with Janello that 3/4" thick sides will probably not look that great. 1/2" or even less would keep it from looking "clunkey" when the top is up. I also think that if you are serious about raised panels than use solid wood and house the panel in a groove. As long as you build with movement in mind, the humidity should not be a problem.

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