Mahogany console table

[Prashun Patel]

I'm making a table top out of sapele plywood. I'm edge-banding the front/back with African Mahogany, and breadboarding the sides with wider solid stock. Question is, do I need to let the breadboard ends loosely float in the panel, or since it's plywood, can I simply glue the panel to the ends?

Thanks

[Frank Drew]

Shawn,

I've applied wide-ish mitered solid edge banding to ply with no subsequent problems; I think you'd be safe with the breadboard ends.

[Prashun Patel]

My African mahogany is really pink and light. I'd like a darker color, but am fearful that it will darken by itself. Does anyone have pics of how dark Af Mahog can get just aging by itself with moderate sun?

[Frank Drew]

Shawn,

I have very little experience with African hardwoods, but with sun exposure it might get lighter rather than darker; different woods behave differently, in my experience. Cherry, for instance, often gets darker with UV light, while walnut gets lighter (more golden).

Refining my answer above, I've glued solid edging to ply without problems, and I think you can glue your breadboard to the sapele plywood.

[Chris Padilla]

Breadboarding is done, as you probably know, to allow wood movement in solid wood tops so in this case, I agree with Frank: glue 'er up!