Regards a panel in a furniture piece, or as cabinet door, or whatever. If I have a hardwood panel in a frame, I do not glue in ther panel, so that expansion due to temperature or moisture will not crack the frame - right? Now suppose I use a (veneered) plywood panel instead of a hardwood panel - can I glue the panel in, or should I let it float? Thx, Gus
Glue or No Glue?
Feb 02, 2007
4 Replies
I usually just put a bit of glue in the to and bottom middles of the panels to keep them sort of centered. However, plywood is so stable that you probably don't need any glue at all.
Right ... no glue, except maybe a spot in the middle to keep it centered.
With veneer on the proper substrate, or with a framed plywood panel, you may do as above, or glue it in.
Your choice.
However, plywood isn't the only thing that expands/contracts. They should fit well and not be glued on more than one edge.
Let it float if you can, because the ply expands/shrinks at a different rate from the hardwood frame.
I did a framed cabinet door by gluing the ply into the rabbet inside the hardwood frame. The result is that the door warped badly in certain months every year (due to humidity/temperature changes) but was straight the rest of the year.
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