How Thin Can You Make Glued Up Panel

[James White]

I need to make some panels 17"x20" from QSRO. How thin can I go? Can I resaw 13/16" material to yield 2 usable pieces? I think that might be too thin. So barring that what is a practical thickness to make the panels in order to keep the weight down. What thickness to you like to make your panels? There will be 4 panels in this chest of drawers.

PS: This is an Arts and Crafts chest of drawers and the panels will be flat.

James

[Philip Rodriquez]

I would not go any thinner than 1/4". However, my preferred method would be to undercut the panels and leave the panels as thick as aesthetically possible.

Thin panels can easily warp or break.

[David DeCristoforo]

There's no reason to make the panels any thicker than you need. I've often made 1/4" thick solid wood panels. And I've often done it by resawing 4/4 stock. There is always the possibility of the thin panels cupping when they are resawn. But if they are going to be captured in a frame, that's not really a big issue.

[John Harden]

James, if you resaw 13/16" your panels would be a bit under 3/8", which to me is just fine. QSRO is pretty hard stuff and glues up well, so I doubt you'll have a problem.

Your panel will be floating and as such will add no structural strength to the piece. What thickness you use is mainly dictated by the reveal/shadow line you want to see.

I'll be doing the same thing this weekend and next with QSWO for a hall bench the wife wants. My panels will be between 1/4 and 3/8" thick, which will be just fine. To retain a nice (but not too deep) shadow line, between the rail/stile and panel, I may situate the panel closer to the show side of the piece.

You can do the same if you see the need. Just play with the spacing until you get something that is pleasing to your eye. If I had to guess, for me that'd be more than 1/8" and less than 1/4".

Regards,

John

[Tom Veatch]

James, as others have indicated, I've successfully gone as thin as 1/4" with panel glueups. Panels that thin require support to prevent out-of-plane buckling from the clamping pressure, but that's fairly normal.

[James White]

Thank you, this is really good news. I was beginning to run short on back up QSRO and I didn't want to paint myself into a corner. I thought my stock was going to mill up closer to an inch thick and therefore have plenty thickness after resaw.

James

[James White]

I am building this chest loosely from this set of plans.

http://www.furnitureplans.com/pi_products/1115

These plans require plywood for all of the panels and draw construction with false faces. Since I am using real wood for the side panels. I have decided to divide the panel in half. So instead of being I think it is 41" tall it will be less than half that with a rail in the center. Do you think I should then divide those panels in half vertically. My concern is that at 17x20 they are close to being square but obviously not squares.

James

[John Harden]

I like your idea of using panels and dividing them into a top and bottom half. If it were me, I'd divide them right in the middle, so basically at the top of the third drawer from the bottom, and not worry about trying to divide them side to side. That would look odd.

You'll wind up with some nice side panels. Make sure your rails and stiles are nicely machined and glued up well as this is where all your structural strength for the sides of the dresser will come from.

I assume you'll connect the drawer support guides to the stiles only? If you connect them to the floating panel, make sure your connection to the panel also can float.

Regards,

John

[Michael Schwartz]

I don't think there really is a limit, I have glued up panels of veneer by taping the sections together lengthwise with green painters tape, folding the joint open and then adding glue, folding it back shut, and using more tape to add some tension to the joint. Blue painters tape tends to tear out the grain from veneers.

[John Harden]

Michael, while you're right about edge gluing up veneer sheets, for the OP's applicaton, there is most definitely a lower limit to how thin the panel can be.

I think we're all just agreeing that it is less than 3/8", particularly since he's using red oak.

James, one other thought. You might consider space balls, bits of foam rubber or one dap of glue in the middle of each panel to keep them from rattling around inside the frame in the winter.

Regards,

John

[James White]

John,

Thank you for your advise. It is hard to see but there are no stiles. The four post act as the stiles. The web frames get attached to the posts. I have thought about adding stiles. I am just not sure on how that will look with the post.



James, You might consider space balls

John

And may the Schwartz be with me!