stretching a board to make it longer

[scott vroom]

I have a nice piece of mahogany that I want to use in building a medicine cabinet. The cabinet will be recessed into the wall, and will have a teak face frame and door. The problem is that the mahogany board is 33" long and the cabinet RO is 36" tall. This is for a customer and this particular board has sentimental value to her otherwise I'd buy 36"+ stock. The board is much wider than I need so I was thinking of making some rip cuts and then gluing up a "running bond" pattern to essentially lengthen the board to the required length. Attached is a rendering of my idea. I can't think of any reasons this won't work....can you? There is virtually zero load on the wood in the application....just a few glass shelves and some bathroom type stuff.

[Brian Kent]

Yes, that should work very well. Looks like you have some options to play with the grain pattern for best match, too.

[Van Huskey]

Depending on the style I usually add something in the middle or to the outside edges. The last time I ran into this was a coffee table for my wife. She found a perfect piece of curly maple for the sides but was a tad too short. In the end I put a keystone in the center.

What you suggest will be fine, depending on the style and flow of the piece you could breadboard it as well.

[Joe Chritz]

End to end dovetails. Pretty easy with a dovetail jig.

Instead of hiding it, accent it.

The sketch you have should work fine as is but there are lots of options to make this work.

Joe

[Brian Greb]

You said the board is wider then you need why not cut a scarf joint slide to proper length and glue the joint. (cut the board diagonally(usually the diagonal joint just vanishes)) Then true up the edges.

Or

Have you thought about slicing (re-saw) the board into veneer and veneer a substrate then you can book-match. Good way to stretch a board... especially if it's a special board.

[Louie Ballis]

End to end dovetails. Pretty easy with a dovetail jig.

Instead of hiding it, accent it.

Joe


I dont mean to hijack this thread, well maybe a little, anyway I am in a similar situation with a desk top that I am building.

I can edge joint and glue 3 boards of knotty alder or I was thinking of box joints or dovetails along the joint line . Kind of like a "liner" joint with out the contrasting wood.

Any reasons that I shouldnt do this? Will it look dumb?

It is for my wife, she would never say anything negative so your input would be apperciated.

Louie

[Bert Pacleb]

You said the board is wider then you need why not cut a scarf joint slide to proper length and glue the joint. (cut the board diagonally(usually the diagonal joint just vanishes)) Then true up the edges.

Or

Have you thought about slicing (re-saw) the board into veneer and veneer a substrate then you can book-match. Good way to stretch a board... especially if it's a special board.

+1 what Brian said on cutting diagonally...

[Bill Huber]

Just make one of these and it will fix it right up


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw3kpyd9sUw

[Jim Rimmer]

Just make one of these and it will fix it right up


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw3kpyd9sUw
Bill, that video nearly killed me.

[Bill Huber]

Bill, that video nearly killed me.


Me too..... he did a really great job of it...

[Gary Breckenridge]

Actually you can stretch a board. You need a benchtop planer. Take the knives out and on a 3/4" board and crank the rollers down to about 5/8" and roll it through twice. You may have to kind of force it through the rollers. Then crank the rollers down to 1/2" and run the board through three times. I know the first time through is kind of rough. It works every time for me. If you want total precision on your longer board do the math in terms of cubic inches. Whatever you squeeze in thickness of the board will show up as 7% increased width and 93% increased length. We used to do this all the time when I was working at the lumber mill. We had a monsterous, cast iron 8hp planer from 1913 and it worked wonders.:p

[Chip Lindley]

If it was April 1st, I would think he's kidding, but evidently this guy is Serious!! Hmmm...