"Dave in Houston" wrote in message
...

"dpb" wrote in message ...
That would be my take as well, and/or depending on the age of the piece
there could be a judicious screw or two w/ an elongated hole. That would
make it pretty recent, however, but age of piece wasn't mentioned.

Anyway, as long as the divider long grain doesn't try to restrict the
joint the whole length, not likely a problem. (If there were going to
be, one would presume the original piece would be showing the effects...
).

I have ripped 3/4 plywood in 2.5" strips and mitered the corners for
the dust dividers in a couple of projects. But not because I knew it to
be a sure-fire method. It was along a theory (hope and a prayer) that
plywood's inherent stability would all but eliminate expansion and
contraction issues for those components. And, although the side pieces
were also plywood (biscuited and glued!) I would like to hear a consensus
as to whether the same construction method would accommodate solid wood
sides.
--
No. The plywood is stable and the wood sides are not.
The wood will want ot move and the plywood will not let it, so it is liable
to either split or break the joint; unless you use the partial glue method
above.

OTOH... Modern houses are dehumidified in the summer and humidified in the
winter. Wood doesn't move all that much.
A couple years ago I was making drawer fronts for a small table top unit.
To get the curl in the right orientation I had to have the grain running the
wrong way.
I decided to go with it, and make them fit snuggly; and see what happened.
If they either shrank up or got stuck it wouldn't be a big deal to replace
them properly.
That was 3 years ago. They fit well all year long.