Solid wood credenza carcass

I've built a few midcentury-style credenzas and the like, but all of them were primarily veneered plywood with portions of solid wood as needed. For my next project, I want to do a solid wood carcass with the joinery using dovetails. I'd love some feedback on my assumptions:

1. As long as all of the grain runs in complimentary directions, the carcass itself shouldn't be an issue - if all the wood is the same species and thickness, it's really no more than a big dovetailed box. Any special concerns here? Does the larger scale (28"w x 22"h) introduce additional issues?

2. Inset doors themselves shouldn't be much of an issue in relation to the carcass since all of the wood movement in the carcass will be perpendicular to the the door.

3. Inset slab doors of solid wood are likely a problem. Door dimensions would be ~13"w x ~20"h with the grain running vertically and two doors set to open outwards (like the pair of doors under a kitchen sink). I know the right answer is probably plywood with veneer and hardwood edges as needed (the solution I've used successfully in my other pieces), but I'm curious if there's a way to make solid slabs work at these dimensions.

All thoughts and advice welcome. Thanks as always!

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Originally Posted by Aaron Liebling

I've built a few midcentury-style credenzas and the like, but all of them were primarily veneered plywood with portions of solid wood as needed. For my next project, I want to do a solid wood carcass with the joinery using dovetails. I'd love some feedback on my assumptions:

1. As long as all of the grain runs in complimentary directions, the carcass itself shouldn't be an issue - if all the wood is the same species and thickness, it's really no more than a big dovetailed box. Any special concerns here? Does the larger scale (28"w x 22"h) introduce additional issues?

2. Inset doors themselves shouldn't be much of an issue in relation to the carcass since all of the wood movement in the carcass will be perpendicular to the the door.

3. Inset slab doors of solid wood are likely a problem. Door dimensions would be ~13"w x ~20"h with the grain running vertically and two doors set to open outwards (like the pair of doors under a kitchen sink). I know the right answer is probably plywood with veneer and hardwood edges as needed (the solution I've used successfully in my other pieces), but I'm curious if there's a way to make solid slabs work at these dimensions.

All thoughts and advice welcome. Thanks as always!

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Here are some inset slab doors I made for this hickory cabinet. They measure 14 wide x 36-1/2 tall. They are made of 3/4" thick hickory.
Attachment 444072
The doors each have two battens mounted on the back. They are attached with screws in slotted holes to aid in keeping the doors flat.
Attachment 444073

Those look great, Lee. The battens will keep them flat, but what about horizontal movement? Do you need to leave a significant gap between the doors for seasonal wood movement?

If your shop has the same humidity as your house you can leave the same gap that is required to keep the doors from rubbing if both are partially open. If your shop is not climate controlled the doors will already be the widest they will get. Remember that houses get drier in the winter due to the heat but unconditioned shops will still have some humidity unless you are far enough north.

Seems reasonable.

If anything, I'm worried about our shop being drier as we run a dehumidifier in it year round (it's a basement prone to moisture). I imagine it matches the house in winter, but the house in summer is likely more humid. This is for our house, so I guess I can just take the doors off and trim if they start binding mid-summer.

Aaron, I'm right across the Bay in San Carlos. Yeah, we have microclimates in the Bay Area, so maybe my experience won't apply, but here it is anyhow.

I have some solid-lumber slab doors in my house, in furniture I built. I expected to have to deal with the door widths changing over the annual cycle. However, there is no movement. The widest doors are 14" wide. I'm pretty sure I can observe .02" of width change, maybe even less. But the doors do not move. My theory is this.... In the Bay Area, our high-humidity season is the winter, when the rains come. The winter is also our heating season, which acts to reduce the humidity inside the house. I think the two effects cancel each other out.

I suggest you go ahead and build your slab doors. Maybe they won't move at all, like my doors. But if they do move, it is certainly going to be way less than they would in, say, Boston.

Does your dehumidifier have an adjustable setting on it?
I set mine to 52 percent.

I think you're right about Bay Area conditions. There's no question that winter is the only time we have any real humidity...and is the time we run the heater, so it may well cancel out. And if it doesn't I can always trim the doors a bit.

Thanks for all the input!

Bruce: Why the 52 in particular?

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Originally Posted by Aaron Liebling

Those look great, Lee. The battens will keep them flat, but what about horizontal movement? Do you need to leave a significant gap between the doors for seasonal wood movement?

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The wood was air dried for over 30 years and had been in my climate controlled shop for 3-4 months when I built the doors. I made the gap between doors about 1/8 inch. It get slightly wider by the end of winter. The gap doesn't close completely even in the summer. Note that the doors are finished on all sides and edges.

not sure what wood you are using, but you can calculate the max movement by assuming the max change in humidity and look up the coefficient of expansion. quartersawn will have less movement.

if doors bevel slightly and the case bevels at the opening , then the gap can be bigger and less easy to read. this strategy where the two doors meet is a design problem. you'd need either an astragal or have one door that always closes first.

early mid-century modern probably had solid wood cores with cross veneer under face veneer on all sides.

"early mid-century modern probably had solid wood cores with cross veneer under face veneer on all sides."

Yes - that's pretty typical. I 'll often do veneered plywood with hardwood edges if needed (for a sliding door, for example).

For this credenza, the doors are going to be zebrawood. There's reasonable zebrawood veneer and edge banding out there, so it's not out of the question. Sadly, I don't have a bandsaw to cut my own. Tempting to use this as an opportunity to learn to cut my own. And now this has me curious about toothing planes...ah the rabbit hole (or maybe just the rabbet) is neverending!