I'm making a couple of boxes to store some of my chisel sets in. I figure that this will give me some practice for making drawers latter on. I'm using left over off cuts from 2x4s, nothing fancy. I'm resawing the 2x4s to 1/2" thick, then gluing them together to make the top and bottom of the boxes.
So I can begin good habits, what do I need to pay attention to when gluing up panels? The one that I can think of, is to keep the grain all going in the same direction, so I won't have problems latter when planing. What else? Is there a general "maximum" width of each board (I'm thinking about expansion)? Along those lines, is there a suggested maximum width of a panel? Is there some kind of configuration of the boards to mitigate future cupping? What do you guys know about that I haven't even considered?
I'm not ready yet, but I do have future plans for making some kitchen cabinets.