Solid wood, veneer over mdf or plywood

[Rich Zellmer]

I am looking to build this TV stand.

It is basically a open faced stereo cabinet with a left and right compartment that each hold 3 glass shelves.

Until now most of my projects have been of the bookshelf or shallow cabinet type built using pine or MDF so I need some pointers about wood selection..

My issue is what should I build it out of? Should I use solid wood, plywood or veneer over mdf?

Solid Wood. Previously I have always worked in solid wood. However the side pieces of this unit are around 28x24 which I would assume is outside of the size I can easily get in cherry or another hardwood. I am assuming I will have to join the wood with either with biscuits or some other method. Question - I don't have a joiner if I buy finished cherry in 8 inch widths to get the edges be straight enough to join?

Mdf over veneer I like Mdf and have used it to build speaker cabinets in the past however this items were always painted. I would like to stain this project. I have never used veneer before. I never would have considered veneer over mdf however I noticed this was the method that the manufacture of this stand used to make the cabinet they sell for $700. They veneered the sides and used a black end banding. I know very little about veneer so I ordered 2 veneer books today and will do a lot of reading tomorrow when the come. Question - For the sides I assume I want a continuous piece of veneer and do not want to seam two pieces together? I only checked a few sites but pieces that are over 25x25 seem to be very expensive. Rocker has 36x96 inch pieces for $60. This is basically as expensive as hardwood plywood. Am I missing something here? I assumed this method would be less expensive but if I need to use large sheets of veneer it appears this method is no cost saver.

Plywood I have seen plenty of projects use nice plywood but the edges of the plywood were always hidden by the projects design. This project has a lot of exposed edges. This seems like a ok method to me, at least better then veneer over mdf. This makes me wonder why the manufacture of the stand that is my inspiration used mdf and veneered the whole thing. Question - would the method be better then the veneer over mdf? If I buy the veneer to match the plywood will it real match and will I not see seams?

Pricing.. I have seen some pricing around the internet mentioning $4.00 per board foot for cherry or $96 for a 3/4 inch sheet. I have 3 23.5x28 sides(and middle), two 22 x23.5 inch bottom pieces, two 18x28 inch back pieces a 10x40 inch top. If my math is right I will need two sheets of plywood or 30 BF of lumber. The plywood I set up with cut list pro and there is 40% waste on the second sheet and 25% on the first. Total cost around $200. The 30 BF of wood only costs $135. It appears to come out way cheaper if I use real wood. Now of course this assumes that I every piece is the exact length and the correct width to glue up to the right width with zero waste. I know this will not be the case and there will be a bunch of waste but I appear to be way ahead of the plywood method by using real wood. Does that make sense? I know part of the reason for the price shift is to the fact that I am just tripping in to the second piece of plywood and there will be a lot of waste.

How should I be building this? My thought at this point is to use real wood. Because the project is small enough the cost of real wood seams reasonable assuming $4.00 per board foot(this may be a big assumption I don't know till I price) and I can find wood that is already milled to be joinable. I have never glued up panels so I don't know if I am expecting too much.

[Stephen M]

A couple thoughts:

In general, a phywood design does not always translate into a good solid wood design. Specifically, big open panels of plywood are generally implemented as a frame and panel when using solids.

Also, the design that is shown in the link has panels which are more than

3/4" thick. I think 3/4" plywood would not look right for that specific design. Unfortunately, the ventilation holes create some structural integrity problems for a solid-wood impledmentation.

Veneer over plywood seems like the worst of all words. Furniture grade plywood saves you all of the veneering fuss.

There are gobs of tradeoffs here. What I would do is go with a 5/4 or 6/4 solid wood F/P design and move the ventilation to the back. For cost containment I would probably spray paint a 1/2" luan back panel black (you would need some structure back there to compensate for the open front)

This is certainly not the only way to go... just my spin on it to get you thinking.

-Steve

[Paul Andersen]

I would not consider the MDF solution due to weight and durrability issues. I trust you do realize that one can purchase MDF that is already veneered? It is stable and works well. Its HEAVY and hell on tools. For large areas, I would use plywood. What you are calling waste may well be pieces that can be used in later projects. You will need lumber to do the framing and trim. You can get veneer (iron on if you want) to cover the edges but that's generally not as nice though it can be entirely appropriate in some cases. Using lumber for the entire thing works well if the design allows for the seasonal movement that will occur. If you have not glued up panels before, you need to make an investment in clamps. For the sizes you mention, you can get a GOOD sawblade and make edges clean enough to glue if your table saw is or reasonable quality. Don't got Menards/HD/Lowes for the lumber. Go to a real lumber yard or find the supplier to some local cabinet shops and get the wood there. Pay them to plane it all to 3/4 (or 13/16 if you prefer) and straightline one edge. Carefully match grain on the pieces you use for panels so that joints are hard to see. Don't over glue, don't put on so much clamp preassure that you squeeze out all the glue.

Frame and panel construction is the nicest, easiest, and most stable in my opinion. Panels can be solid (and raised) or plywood.

Woodchip

[Lowell Holmes]

I assume you have a table saw. Buy your solid wood S3S (smooth three sides). This will allow you to size the wood to width on the table saw. There are any number of blades that will allow glue joint precision.

A properly sharpened and tuned smoothing plane will help get you there.

There have been several projects in Woodsmith magazine using plywood with solid wood edging applied. They show the techniques. Power jointers are not required.

I personally don't use biscuits. I have a biscuit joiner and biscuits that are over 10 years old and seldom use them. Glue and clamps will join the solid wood to the plywood. A hand plane will help here also.