I goofed

[Bill Hodgson]

Ok, long story short. I'm building a router table top - two sheets of 3/4 ply, edge banded with ash and skinned with laminate. When I was cutting the second sheet to size, instead of ripping along the long side, I crosscut the piece.

Do you think that I can edge glue the two sections together and then laminate the two sheets as planned? I'm hoping that the edge-banding and laminate on both sides would prevent flex due to the seam across the table. Am I correct, or do I need to buy another sheet of ply?

Thanks for your help, Bill

[Charlie Self]

Bill Hodgson asks:

Set what you've cut aside and start with a fresh sheet.

It's part of the learning process: every woodworker goofs like this at one time or another. Some of us keep it up, too.

Charlie Self

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." Thomas J. Watson

[Bay Area Dave]

[George M. Kazaka]

[Andy Dingley]

Can you still cut the piece you wanted, just turned at 90° ? If so, then just proceed as planned - ply isn't fussy about grain orientation.

I wouldn't make an edge joint in ply like this. It won't be especially weak, but it is a slightly annoying goof and you may be able to avoid it by other means. If you're going to laminate two sheets of ply, if the joins don't overlap, and if you biscuit the joint, then you'll never notice a weakness.

Alternatively get some more ply and save the mis-cut piece for other purposes. 3/4" ply always finds a use.

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

[Bill Hodgson]

I didn't mean to imply anything about grain. I was just using ripping and crosscut for the visual of my screwup. I was cutting 2 pieces

36X24. I already had the piece cut to length, I just needed to trim it to width. That's when I put the wrong edge against the fence. I knew it as soon as I had cut it.

I don't have a biscuit jointer, thus the plan for a glued butt joint. There would only be one seam. The other piece was cut correctly, so these joined pieces would lay on top of the other cut sheet.

That's what I figured. Hope springs eternal when cash is involved. It's just another $40 chalked up to experience.

[Bill Hodgson]

None in particular. One, I felt ply was less prone to sag, although at 36" there wouldn't be much. Second, I had it left over from a bookcase project I just finished.

[Bill Hodgson]

I hope that you and Andy are telling me the same thing, although I'm not sure. My thought is that since the ply sandwich will be banded in hardwood and have the two outer sheets of laminate the fact that one sheet of the ply has a seam in it won't compromise the strength of the whole top. It sounds like you are agreeing with me. In a later message, Andy talks about the relative weakness of the edge joint but I think he was picturing a single layer of ply edge jointed versus the double layer that I'm building. Is that correct Andy? If the best thing is a new sheet, so be it. I'd just like to save a few bucks at this point.

[Bay Area Dave]

with ply you get a nice cutout for the router plate...it machines so nicely, compared with ply.

dave

Bay Area Dave wrote:

[Andy Dingley]

I resawed some 2" square oak into quartersawn strips the other day. I'd sawn about 1" on the first cut of 5 before I realised I wasn't sawing on the radial direction. Not enough spare length, so I just had to carry on....

It'll make absolutely no difference then. Just do it.

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

[Andy Dingley]

? What sort of loading ? MDF is a pain for long-term creep. Ply might deflect a little more (for the same thickness), but it doesn;t keep moving over time.

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

[Morgans]

Ply does not stay as flat as MDF.