I'm building a coffee table for my mom. The top is five pieces of maple
and two walnut edge glued together to a width of 25". The walnut pieces
are on the outside and I want to complete the border with two pieces of
walnut on the ends. I'm wondering if I can get away with gluing the end
pieces on, or if cross-grain expansion will cause eventual failure. The
pieces will have a tongue and groove joint. An alternative to gluing
would be to use brass pins to attach the end pieces. This would be more
decorative, but not as strong. Does anyone think I can get away with
gluing if I seal the wood really, really well?

"Hax Planks" wrote in message
.net...
I'm building a coffee table for my mom. The top is five pieces of maple
and two walnut edge glued together to a width of 25". The walnut pieces
are on the outside and I want to complete the border with two pieces of
walnut on the ends. I'm wondering if I can get away with gluing the end
pieces on, or if cross-grain expansion will cause eventual failure. The
pieces will have a tongue and groove joint. An alternative to gluing
would be to use brass pins to attach the end pieces. This would be more
decorative, but not as strong. Does anyone think I can get away with
gluing if I seal the wood really, really well?

Not I.

Breadboard, and remember, they'll match the width only when the top is at
the same MC as when it was built.

Fixed center, float both sides.

Twenty five inches is too much. I have a smaller table that is bread
boarded and the breadboard edges protrude in the summer and shrink
back in the winter. I glued only the middle 3 inches of the
breadboard edge.

On Fri, 4 Mar 2005 11:13:01 -0500, Hax Planks
wrote:

I'm building a coffee table for my mom. The top is five pieces of maple
and two walnut edge glued together to a width of 25". The walnut pieces
are on the outside and I want to complete the border with two pieces of
walnut on the ends. I'm wondering if I can get away with gluing the end
pieces on, or if cross-grain expansion will cause eventual failure. The
pieces will have a tongue and groove joint. An alternative to gluing
would be to use brass pins to attach the end pieces. This would be more
decorative, but not as strong. Does anyone think I can get away with
gluing if I seal the wood really, really well?

It was somewhere outside Barstow when Hax Planks
wrote:

I'm wondering if I can get away with gluing the end
pieces on, or if cross-grain expansion will cause eventual failure.

Waste of nice timber, by the sound of things.

Take some of your timbe rbudget and buy copies of Tage Frid and
Hoadley. Read the sections on wood movement, nd how to deal with it,
There are also some very good FWW back issues on how to do breadboard
ends.

You need to read up on this stuff before you go further. It's going to
breal otherwise.