Wood Movement

[Bharat Badrinath]

My first post here, Have been reading past threads for a while now and have learned a lot.

I am planning on build the David Marks' contemporary writing desk.David used plywood + Veneer for the top to take care of wood movement. I am planning to use Zebra wood for the top and gaboon ebony for the legs and aprons. I bought the wood about 3-4 months ago, before i learned of wood movement. I dont have a bandsaw to make veneers.

With that said, how can i use the Zebrawood i have bought with the gaboob ebony sides to take wood movement into account?

thanks for your responses.

[Don C Peterson]

Personally, I would not attempt to build that table using solid wood for the top. The way the top is completely contained and constrained by the sides is just begging for problems.

It would change the look of the table a bit, but you could place the top so that it sits on top of the legs and sides and is held on by cleats.

[glenn bradley]

Don's got my concern. If the top is to be solid, consider floating it above the aprons and perhaps some breadboard ends. The zebra will make quite a show of the ends so you could skip these. If you do I would hidden-spline your top boards length-wise to promote stability. JMHO.

[Frank Drew]

Bharat,

To add to what Don and Glenn said, that design isn't meant for solid wood. Going a bit further, I think the table would look better with a traditional overhanging top.

One very nice feature of the pictured table is the drawer front taken out of the hole it sits in; the grain matching makes a very resolved look.

[Jim Becker]

As already stated this particular design with a "captive" top is best suited to a veneered substrate, rather than solid stock.

[Jamie Buxton]

There's a way to make the top with solid wood, if you modify Marks' design a bit.

Consider how a frame&panel door is built. It captures a solid-wood panel inside a solid-wood frame. The panel is captured in a dado which run around the inside of the frame. Use that approach in your table. The face of the panel would be flush with the tops of the frame pieces. At the level of the panel surface, there would be a gap of perhaps a quarter inch all the way around between the panel and the frame. Down a half inch or so from there, there would be a dado on the frame, and there would be a mating tongue on the panel. It would be a slightly different look than Marks', but it would still look contemporary.

[John Schreiber]

. . . Consider how a frame&panel door is built. . . .
A good idea, but I suspect the table would need additional structural support. The plywood in the present design adds significant strength against twisting. Too much play in a panel might put strain on the apron/legs.

[Wayne Cannon]

Wouldn't the relatively narrow 1/4" gap between the frame and the panel highlight the cross-grain expansion/contraction visible on the sides compared with the minimal longitudinal change visible at the ends? Such changes are not so visible with the relatively wide profile of most raised-panel doors.

[Don C Peterson]

Also as a practical matter, having a gap on the top of a table is very different than having a gap around the frame and panel of a door. Being a horizontal surface the gap in a table top would tend to collect gunk. I know it has been done before, but personally, I wouldn't do it...