Wood moulding movement


Nowicki20

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Hello, I plan on putting 2" tall cove moulding around the perimeter of a 4/4 solid wood top. I plan on using a miter joint to connect the sides to the front of the moulding and gluing the cove moulding to the side and end grains of the top. Standard "edge banding" only with cove moulding and solid wood as a substrate. If I glue the moulding flush with the top, will the wood move where it is not glued ( I would have about 1.25" inches "floating" below the solid wood top)? Or in other words move down? Or do I have to worry about the moulding moving above the flushed up top? Also, for the sides where the moulding is glued to the end grain, what do I have to take into account there? I'm sure the movement of the top is liable to break the glue bond or at least cause the miter joint to separate. Maybe I'm wrong?

I hope I created an accurate picture, thanks for the help

-Adam

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If I understand correctly, the wood is going to move across the grain and pop the corners on the moulding. Edge banding works on sheet goods because they are stable but you if you edge band 4 sides of a solid board then things are going to get out of whack quickly. Think about breadboard ends and how/why they are built. If this is case construction then you would attach the moulding to the case, never to the top.

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I saw a detail once where a guy made a sliding dovetail on the end grain of a top and only glued the miter and first inch at the front corner. Similar to a breadboard. Solid wood top is going to move, long grain molding will stay the same length. Not allowing for it to move is asking for trouble!

If you ran a strip of wood under the top and screwed it on through elongated slots you could nail and glue your 2" cove to that.

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