I recently renovated our kitchen and it included the purchase of a laminated hardwood slab that I needed to make into an L shape with one side around 20" wide and the other section 14".
I kept thinking I would like to miter this and glue the joint together, perhaps with biscuits, some type of fastener across the bottom to keep the miter together.
My point is this, I am well aware of the effects of wood swelling and shrinking. What I do not understand is why do we go into some kind of denial thinking it won't happen to me, at least not this time.
Fortunately a friend of mine who is a trained cabinetmaker was over just before I was going to cut the miter. He said keep the grain running in the same direction and just do a butt joint. He then told me he did something similar when he renovated his own kitchen a few years ago and in denial decided to do a miter. Surprise surprise, it split open after less than a year.
Are we the only ones who go into this temporary denial, continue to try to beat mother nature only to find out the laws of physics remain constant???
Glen Duff