Breadboards on a table top

[D. J. Dorn]

I'm building a Shaker Chest of Drawers and want to put breadboards on the ends of the top - and now that I accidently cut the non breadboard top a tad short, I'm not really left with a choice (I know, measure twice, cut once) I'm worried about wood movement over time but don't really want to do a tounge and groove operation if I can avoid it because they don't ever seem to line up perfectly (at least for me). Any suggestions or do I have to bite the bullet and do it like Normie does it?

Don

[mindesign]

there are a range of methods to achieve breadboard ends that are fully functional and none that will avoid shrinkage

if both sides are going to be visible it sounds like a dowelling job to me

One way to reduce the visual impact of shrinkage is to first of all make the piece so that the ends are "just a wee bit" shorter than the table's width ... I am talking 2 millimetres at each end at the most - then chamfering the corner where it meets the table .... but just a little and the table corner as well .... say a 3 mm chamfer on both ... it just "knocks the hard corner" off each and when the movement happens - and it probably will - you have a bit of leeway. Finally, I wrote out the exact brand, mixture etc of stains I used on the top and glued it to the underside for future reference so that when I need to, I am not hunting for the correct stuff to get an exact match.

Cheers

Steve - Melbourne Australia

[George]

Of course, with a chest, the answer is to pin in the front, where you can see or bump into it, and float behind, where you can't.

[Phisherman]

If you don't want to do a tongue-and-groove or a spline, then forget doing the breadboard edge. If you don't allow movement, the top may split. Be aware of cross-grain, else the wood will fail.

[Wayne Whitney]

The method my first woodworking instructor taught us was to use biscuits: Cut a series of mating biscuit slots in the top and the breadboard end. Glue the biscuits into the top, but on the breadboard only put glue in one biscuit slot. No glue on the edges, of course. Then the breadboard is fixed at one point, and the rest of it is free to expand or contract. The biscuits should keep the two pieces aligned vertically. Biscuit slots are designed to alow a bit of lateral movement, so you shouldn't even have to elongated the slots.

However, it's been a couple years and I ended up not doing breadboard ends, so I may have forgotten something. Perhaps someone else can let us know if they have done it this way or whether it will work.

Cheers, Wayne

[George]

[loutent]

Hi Don,

I think the easiest way is tongue & groove. I like Norm's method of centering the groove by running the edge through the dado twice to "guarantee that it is centered" but not to groove all the way to the end - that is, lower the wood onto the dado & then pick it up before it passes through the other end.

On the tongue side, clip the ends to fit the groove. Use elongated dowel holes in the tongue.

Of course, you probably know all this being a Normite already.

Lou

[D. J. Dorn]

Thanks for all the feedback. I essentially heard from about everyone what I already knew should be done - it had to be done so I did the tounge and groove method with the dowels and it worked fine. While it was a little more work than I wanted, I'm glad I didn't take a shortcut. Thanks again to all who replied.

Don