Hi friends, Question from a relative newbie handtool woodworker:
I am building a dutch tool chest I bought materials for, uhh, 2 years ago. At the time I bought a large 20" wide board for the lid, but I decided to save it for something I won't paint, so I jointed up a 1x9 wide pine board that has been sitting in my basement for years. There was a good amount of cupping in the board which I planed out, I also reduced the thickness from 1" to 3/4"
Typically in these chests, builders do either fancy breadboard ends, or install battens to the underside of the lid. I was going to forego the breadboard ends because I'm impatient, I could still do these. I worked up some oak battens, but I was debating on installing them or not, for a cleaner look.
Should I assume wood movement on a 16" wide board, even after the material has been sitting for a few years in the house? I'm thinking I could wait until I see cupping, then install the battens to try and pull it flat.
edit: Now that I think about this more, I guess this is why people have been doing frame and panel construction for hundreds of years, whereas I can count the number of weeks I've been woodworking on my fingers.