Lower Shelf and Wood Movement

Wood movement is always a concern. If your climate is real humid like mine, I would let my material acclimate in my house rather than in the shop and keep the pieces inside when I am not working on them (for small projects and unless your shop is climate controlled). This will keep the moisture content as stable as possible so you don’t get the big shock factor when you bring the piece inside. Another thing would be grain and a quarter sawn grain will be much more stable than flat sawn. For me, as long as I take these two factors under consideration I wouldn’t shy away from the challenge.

The other possibilities would be design related. You could do a slat style shelf that would certainly decrease the risk of movement or use tenons to float the shelf so that some movement is allowed. I would look at as many examples as you could and find a solution that best fits your design concept. The Fine Woodworking site has tons of articles and you can even look through the user galleries there and on LJ for ideas.

You have the right idea. Notch the shelf and the leg. To cover the wood movement, “float” the shelf and leave it shy on width when you cut the notches in the shelf. this will let it expand/contract just fine

Schroeder

-- The Gnarly Wood Shoppe