Can I make book-matched pieces by face joining?

[Tom Marchner]

I need a pair of cabinet door rails and I want them to be book-matched pieces of red oak 3/4" thick, 4" wide, 20" long. I have plenty of quarter-sawn, 4/4 red oak stock. I plan to make the book-matched pieces in the following way:

1. I start with two pieces, A and B. Piece A has the nice figure I want to use for the book match.

2. I resaw A and B, producing four pieces, each a tad less than 1/2" thick. All 4 pieces will probably cup and or bow to some extent but I think I can correct that by wetting and clamping the warped pieces.

3. I then take a piece from A and face join it to a piece of B so that the face of each piece that was formerly on the inside of a board is now on the outside. The two faces that were formerly on the inside of piece A are now the book-matched faces of the final boards.

4. To plane and achieve final thickness, I remove the same amount of wood from each side.

Note that both pieces of stock joined together to make each final board are of the same thickness and treated about the same way. The procedure is symmetrical so it seems like it should work.

My question is: if I get the final pieces straight and flat enough to use, is there anything wrong with making the pieces this way? Will there be trouble in the long run?

[Peter Quinn]

I'm thinking about this Tom, and it seems like it could work, or it could go to pot at any one of the stages. Resawing, relaminating, etc. Not sure I see the visual benefit to all that labor, and you will suffer visible glue lines. Perhaps a veneer approach would be more stable, with a piece of 5/8" QS material as the core, your figured stock on the face (1/16" veneer) and a veneer of the same thickness on the back? This was often done for drawer fronts both to make them more stable and more attractive. Imagine trying to make an inset drawer front with dovetails from a solid walnut crotch, then imagine a crotch veneer glued to a stable QS substrate.The glue lines are better hidden with a thin veneer. No worries about planing each side equally to maintain balance.

I like rails to be similar, but subtile. They are generally separated by the length of the panel, and as they don't intersect, a pure book match is of little value to me. I'll often cut all the rails in a horizontal run from the same board, and I know guys that will make each door frame or pairs from a single board, but your idea is a new one on me.


I guess if it suits you try it and the most you have to loose is a bit of time and wood.

[Tom Marchner]

I'm thinking about this Tom, and it seems like it could work, or it could go to pot at any one of the stages. Resawing, relaminating, etc. Not sure I see the visual benefit to all that labor, and you will suffer visible glue lines. Perhaps a veneer approach would be more stable, with a piece of 5/8" QS material as the core, your figured stock on the face (1/16" veneer) and a veneer of the same thickness on the back? This was often done for drawer fronts both to make them more stable and more attractive. Imagine trying to make an inset drawer front with dovetails from a solid walnut crotch, then imagine a crotch veneer glued to a stable QS substrate.The glue lines are better hidden with a thin veneer. No worries about planing each side equally to maintain balance.

I like rails to be similar, but subtile. They are generally separated by the length of the panel, and as they don't intersect, a pure book match is of little value to me. I'll often cut all the rails in a horizontal run from the same board, and I know guys that will make each door frame or pairs from a single board, but your idea is a new one on me.


I guess if it suits you try it and the most you have to loose is a bit of time and wood.

Peter,

The cabinet I'm building will have two doors and I want the book-matched pieces to serve as the same part for each door. E.g. the top stile of the left door will be book-matched with the top stile of the right door.

There are two reasons I'm thinking of this plan rather than the traditional veneer process:
1) Veneering would require cutting three pieces (two veneers and one substrate) rather than just two with my method (unless I buy the veneer)
2) From what I've read it's more difficult to glue veneer because it requires more uniform clamping pressure than face joining requires. I've done lots of face joining and never had trouble with it.

Well, if this does not work then I guess I'll try veneering.

--Tom

[Joe Chritz]

It appears to be the same way that thick legs are built up. I would do less initial machining and laminate early.

Face joint one side, then plane the other. Resaw, flip and laminate to the others. You should now have two sticks that are book matched but not finished. Let the sticks acclimate a couple days if you can, machine each and then make the stiles like you would.

Two things I can add. First I tend to pick all my rail/stile stock from the edges of wide boards, this is more likely to be close to rift or QS and much more stable. Second any figure that I would worry about that much effort to book match is likely to be "funny" to work with and not the best for stile material.

Quarter or rift sawn stock laminated with two thin veneers is a much more stable system. Worst case scenario you have to remake a door. If you are using a raised panel (no glue) then it is just some time an a fairly small amount of wood.

Go for it and post pics.

Edit: As far as clamping veneer it is harder but on something like a stile you would just use a piece of plywood or similar as a caul and stack on the clamps. No big deal.

Joe

[Chip Lindley]

Tom, it should work either way. QS stock is the most stable of any. If your resaw technique is good, you will end up straight stock. Especially if you give it a pass over the jointer.

The issue for me is having a glue line through the center edge of the door rail. Personally, I would rather have to hunt for a veneer seam. No need to make your veneer 1/8" thick. 1/16"+ is plenty. Yellow glue both pieces together at same time, clamped with faces together. Put a piece of plastic wrap between the two faces. Let cure for a full 24hrs! Your results should be very good.

[Peter Quinn]

Peter,

The cabinet I'm building will have two doors and I want the book-matched pieces to serve as the same part for each door. E.g. the top stile of the left door will be book-matched with the top stile of the right door.


--Tom

I get that Tom, but door parts are always separated by distance, so the perfect book match tends in my mind to have little impact or make less difference anyway. With a book matched panel, one side is glued to the other, so that mirror image is striking. Its difficult IME for the eye to even tell that styles or rails are book matched given their separation physically, but I'd love to see a picture of this with some highly figured stock.

The reason I suggested the veneer was not that it was easier, but that it looks better from above when you open the door. The glue lines on a veneered piece of solid stock are very subtile and can be blended more easily. The glue line on a laminated stile screams "GLUE LINE" from certain perspectives. I suppose with QSRO you will not have a stability issue, but this idea can also work well with less stable but highly figured stock.