Here’s a project I built a few years ago when I was still working as a professional photographer. I was asked to get a kitchen cart by my food stylist., so being a woodworker, of course I built one. It's made from walnut and maple. There are a couple of ways to make the edge grain top and shelves. My approach was to glue up the walnut center sections first, trim to size, and then add the 2 maple end strips. After they dried, they were trimmed off flush and the 2 maple side strips were added. Process repeated until the final length and width were reached.
The frame was much simpler, consisting of just 2 end sections consisting of 2 vertical legs and 3 cross braces each. I debated adding braces that ran the length of the cart, but given the thickness of the shelves, I thought they were not necessary. I was right, and the result is a bit more room to access the shelves.
I assembled the frame with my newest acquisition in tools, the Dowelmax. I am still sold on this method of joinery, as long as exposed joinery is not part of the design. The Dowelmax produces joints very quickly, that are very strong and precise. I have no affiliation with them, I just appreciate a very well made tool that delivers as promised.
When I closed my studio, I gave this cart to my DIL and her husband, and they really enjoy it.
Love the combination of walnut and maple. I would think it might have been the star in your photoshoots rather than anything placed on the cart.
Does the edge grain orientation alleviate any wood movement concerns? Had a recent project where that was a worrisome aspect for me so am continuing to try to educate myself.
Thanks for the nice comments. I left a slight gap for the two shelves to move a bit and used figure 8 fasteners for the top. It’s been 5 years, so far so good. Others here with more experience than me might like to comment about wood movement.
Fotodog - thanks for that added explanation. I've used the figure 8 fasteners in the past as well. Guessing your " slightly gap" took care of any potential issues with the shelves.
Any time edge grain is joined to end grain there will be stress with moisture changes. If the piece is in an environment where moisture is fairly consistent the wood will remain stable. When moisture varies, the end grain piece will expand/contract many times (up to 10x?) more than the edge grain piece. The wood can handle stresses up to a point. At some point the stress exceeds the strength of the wood. Below that stress level every thing will be fine.
When the stress exceeds the strength of the wood a couple things can happen. If the end grain tries to expand too much the wood fibers will crush. If the end grain is trying to shrink too much the wood will crack. Quite often both will happen. During an expansion phase the wood fibers get crushed, making them smaller. Then during a drying (shrinking) phase the wood contracts and cracks. The cracks may take several wet/dry cycles before they show up.
Finally this is all proportional to the size of the joint. A small joint will handle moisture changes with no risk while a large joint will definitely crack.
In this case, the combination of the wood strength, moisture range, and panel size all seem to add up to a situation where the panels remain in good shape.
I appreciate the added information. As you noted, controlling environmental conditions is part of this. I have some projects that likely did not address potential wood movement, but since they are in climate controlled conditions, they are fine (so far!). That makes me wonder about impact on large furniture when in a hot moving van/trailer, or outdoor furniture.
(Fotodog - sorry to go off topic from your project!)
Great looking item 'dog... though one question... did you forget to cut the corner off the tripod... or is it that the cutoffs wouldn't have a leg to stand on?
Oh, another one question... never good at maths... That white painted skirting board, verges on sacrilege, oh yeah, the question... Did you run out of walnut paint?
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
