Quartersawn legs & wood movement

JohnEinNJ · Nov 12, 2013

For legs built using the mitered-face over solid core method, is there any danger of cross-grain expansion causing a problem? Here are some pictures of the method:

(credit due to lucky9cat's Morris chair build at http://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23301)

Loren · Nov 12, 2013

Keep on eye on shop humidity when gluing this sort of thing. It's
preferable to have the humidity at the dry end of your local
range and if the piece is going in a house with central heating
(which can get very dry) then take extra care.

What can happen is, because there is more width to expand
at the outsides of the joints it can also shrink up a little more
on the outsides. If you cut and glue the joints when the
wood is at the driest it's likely to get, then it won't shrink
and when it expands, the gaps, if any, will be on the inside.

All that said, what you're doing isn't very high risk.

AandCstyle · Nov 12, 2013

I have oftentimes left the legs hollow or have glued in an undersized core thereby eliminating any chance of movement causing issues.

Quartersawn legs & wood movement

Attachments

Top Contributors this Month

Recommended Communities