Frame and panel construction question

[Ron Citerone]

Hey All,

I am building a frame and panel jelly cabinet. The sides are frame and panel with 1 1/2" stiles and rail (mortise and tenon) with floating 1/4" panels.

I glued up 3 shelves of solid wood, but if I dado them into the rails (as I originally planned) it means a cross grain glueing situation.

How do you guys deal with attaching solid shelves onto frame and panel sides?

Do I need put a breadboard end on the shelves to keep the grain aligned?

Thanks, ron

[Jim Dwight]

What about making them adjustable? If you need to glue some to keep it stable, you can. It's best to glue long grain to long grain, however. But for an inch and a half, I don't think there will be a lot of movement. It would be safer to just glue one end on each side. The shelf will expand more by the other side of the shelf potentially causing an issue.

[glenn bradley]

Like web frames, your shelves can set in the dado but, only be glued to the front 2 - 3 inches. If you want to learn a lot about cae construction in one place check out Christian Becksvoort (http://www.finewoodworking.com/2009/05/21/shaker-chest-of-drawers) at Fine Woodworking.

[Jim Morgan]

Unless you are running the grain on the shelves from front to back, which would be unusual, this is not a cross-grain situation. Of course, the frame and panel sides will have less front to back movement than will the solid shelves. The solution is to only glue the shelves to the front frame stiles & let the remainder of the shelves float in unglued dados.

[Jim Becker]

There are a number of ways to fasten the shelves and still account for seasonal wood movement when using solid stock and having a cross grain situation like that. In general, you are only "permanently" fastening either the front or the back, depending on the design, and providing a means for the opposite corner to be held in place while allowing for the expansion. A sliding dovetail is sometimes used for that, for example. Figure out what works best for your project along those lines.