"toller" wrote in message
...

I am familiar with alternating ring direction to avoid cupping.
Interestingly, a book I just read (returned it to the library today) says
that you should have all the rings oriented the same so that the grain
across the panel matchs better than it would if you alternated. He didn't
think alternating rings gained any stability.


You don't avoid cupping by alternating ring direction, what you supposedly
avoid is cumulative errors resulting in one big bow. Not so, of course.
Geometry doesn't work like that. Match heart to heart, sap to sapwood for
best display, and if you're just screwing the two sides of the top, which is
what the message implied, you have an unsecured middle which will choose its
own way.

Out of curiosity, have you studied any basic woodworking texts? Are you
working from any sort of plan?