1st project for a total noob...

[peter.slamp]

Hi all. I'm trying to build a fairly basic tv stand for my first project. I plan on using 3/4 hardwood plywood for the 5 sides of the case. Approx. size of the box is 14"x18"x24". I planned on mitred joints for the top, bottom and sides to avoid the ply showing. Is this a good idea for plywood? Doesn't seem very sturdy. What other joints are appropriate for plywood case joinery that would be flush? Also, I assume I would cover the plys showing from the face of the box with regular hardwood. This would necessarily be 3/4" strips, is this correct? Whats the best way to join the hardwood to the exposed plys? Are these parts of plywood suitable for glueing or even some more advanced joint. Am I stupid for using plywood? It just seems difficult to find real wood in the larger width dimensions to make case sides. Most planks I've looked at are no more than 12" wide. Thanks for listening to these stupid questions. I'm trying to teach myself with only books, since I don't personally know any woodworkers. Thanks, Peter

[peter.slamp]

[Toller]

Find a high school with an evening WW course.

Good luck mitering your plywood. I have a large cabinet built like that, but it is not a beginner's project.

[peter.slamp]

[Toller]

Consider using a butt joint and putting veneer tape over the exposed end. Won't look great, but will be oh so much easier than a miter joint. A rabbet will make it stronger and better looking (since the taped area will be thinner), but also more difficult.

[peter.slamp]

[DonkeyHody]

You're on the right track using hardwood ply for this application. However, I think mitering all those corners is too ambitious for a first project. You really have to get all your ducks in a row to get such a long mitered joint to fit. Unless you have access to some pretty sophisticated equipment, you'll have a real hard time cutting your pieces at the precise angles required.

As an alternative, consider using 3/4 X 3/4 solid wood strips at each edge . You can even use contrasting wood and treat it as a design element. Glue the strip to the edge of one piece of plywood and after it has set, then glue the other piece of plywood at 90 degrees to the first. Edge-gluing plywood works, but doesn't make a really strong joint; so you don't want to count on that joint to hold your box together. Try to leave room to glue another 3/4 X 3/4 strip INSIDE the box along each edge so you'll can take advantage of the much stronger face-to-face bond. Everything will get nice and sturdy when you glue the back in place.

Good Luck, and Have Fun

DonkeyHody "Every man is my superior in that I can learn from him." - Thomas Carlyle

[DonkeyHody]

Peter, What tools and machinery do you have available? That will influence our advice.

DonkeyHody "If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail." - Abraham Maslow

[peter.slamp]

[peter.slamp]

I'm having a hard time visualizing this. I understand the strips on the front face because I assume the drawers will end up flush with the hardwood bands. Just having trouble seeing it at the corner joints. Are you saying there will be strips protruding from the square box and outside of it?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I built a TV stand with a combination of plywood and hardwood.

Forget mitered corners unless you can cut them perfectly. Do you have the tools to do this?

Buying wide hardwood is difficult, near impossible with some species, expensive with all. You can glue up two, three, four, or whatever number of pieces you need to get the width you want. My drawer fronts are glued from narrower boards. To do this properly, you must be able to cut a very good edge and have enough clamps to hold it all together.

Is the top of the box going to be overlapping the four sides? If so, you can cut the plywood, then edge it with real wood strips. They are easily attached with glue, biscuits help to align everything. Since most of the top is covered with the TV, it will look like solid wood, not ply doctored up.

If you make the front face frame out of real wood there will be no edge ply showing. You won't see the back either so that can be left with the ply showing or use edge banding. Joints can be overlapped, rabbeted, etc. The ends have some trim to give the appearance of a wood panel instead of just a slab.

I posted a couple of photos of what I built on alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking. That will give you some ideas.

[Toller]

I don't use ply for anything but backs and, ocassionally, panel inserts. It really doesn't much look like wood. Either you get a weird rotary grain or equally weird strips. Inexpensive commercial furniture is mostly ply with either solid wood or veneer over the ends.

Yes, real wood is glued up in panels. With care you can match the wood so it is nearly invisible. If you take a course they will show you how.

[Bill in Detroit]

Sounds like a pretty good start!

You could use the router to handle a rabbeted joint but might I suggest moving the horizontal joints inward an inch or so and router a dado (slot) to hold the horizontal pieces? Glued up, that's semi-strong but can be greatly improved upon by drilling holes in the faces of the side pieces to allow you to push a dowel through the side face and into the end of the horizontal shelf piece. This will add greatly to the strength of the joint, becoming, nearly, a mortise & tenon joint. If you choose a contrasting color dowel, it becomes 'a design element' ;-)

Then get some wood filler, a putty knife and some sand paper to get those edges smooth enough to apply a contrasting paint to the exposed plies (unless you actually prefer to look at them ... it's your dime).

Keep your eye open for a used table saw in good running shape. You should be able to score an older Craftsman IN GOOD CONDITION for $100-$150. DAGS for information on tuning one up to run properly, make the needed adjustments and a few test cuts then get yourself a good 40 tooth ATB blade for it.

Hopefully Helpful,

Bill

[peter.slamp]

[Edwin Pawlowski]

alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking is a newsgroup. Just =go to it like you did to get here.

Here's a link to

Plywood would work for some parts, but the front, IMO, is best done wiht real wood. Given the size, it can be done with normal widths.

[peter.slamp]

[DonkeyHody]

I'm saying the 3/4 square hardwood strips would BE the corner where the side meets the back. This is my first attempt at typwriter art, so be patient with me. It's supposed to represent two pieces of plywood that each attach to a square strip of hardwood, which is depicted by the X's. The spacing will probably all go crazy when I hit the send button.

If the square hardwood strip is the same thickness as your plywoood, it would sit flush with the plywood surface.

----------------------------- ----------- |XXXXXX| PLYWOOD |XXXXXX| |XXXXXX|

----------------------------- ----------- | | | P | | L | | Y | | W | | O | | O | | D |

[Patriarch]

" [e-mail]" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

The prototype entertainment center I built, to get ready to build the 'nice one', is still in use 6 or 7 years later, in the master bedroom. More important projects seem to have come up, and SWMBO is just fine with that.

Good luck on your starter project. There will be a lot to do after that. Enjoy the process!

Patriarch

[damian penney]

For the case forget mitres, cut the top and bottom and then apply edge banding which is a thin veneer that you just iron on to the edges to hide the plys. Attach the sides with dowels, screw/nail the back on and then make a face frame for the front out of real wood.

Be very careful that everything you cut is perfectly square, sounds obvious but you'd be surprised how quickly a smidge off here and then can add up.

[<regbert]