Raised panel question

[whittler1507]

Hi I am in the process of making a hallway bench/storage chair thingy for a friend. The Americans I believe call it a hall tree. I am basing the design on this.

I am using redwood pine but am concerned that the raised panels which measure 216 x 400mm long will cup.
The sides which measure 296 x 1800mm I plan to rip and alternate the grain.

Do you think I should do the same with the panels or will they be ok?

Many thanks

 

[Peter Sefton]

I would make the panels in three 75mm pieces with frown and smile end grain.

Cheers Peter

 

[whittler1507]

Thanks Peter

 

[RobinBHM]

Or buy some pine panels that arr madd with 45mm lams

 

[whittler1507]

But where would the fun be in that? [wink]

 

[mooed]

I would say always alternate the boards unless you want to matchbook them and you don't have a choice. If this is to go in the hallway I'd guess its going to get a bit more exposed to humidity changes than the living room.

> raised panels which measure 216 x 400mm long will cup.

Assuming 216 is the width I doubt you will have much problem but still alternate the edge grain. You will also need to consider how you will attach the sides to the back and base to handle the wood movement, that would be my

Will you be going for a wood finish or painting like the photo? If painting you could do the panels in MDF.

I made something similar a couple of years back, this has been in a conservatory so goes from very hot to very cold and the door is open a lot. Plus its next to a tumble drier that gets used frequently. I took the attached photo about a year later, if you zoom in you can see a slight cupping on the seat. However the panels are fine and slightly bigger than the ones you are going to use, in fact some of those panels are actually a year or two older left over from spares I made when making other things as I like to make a batch of things when I've got things set up.

Apart from a few panels the rest was all cut from the same 5m x 75x225mm length. I don't know if there is any truth in it but I've always thought straighter grain seems to cup less so cherry picked what looked like the best bits for the side and seat.

 

[RobinBHM]

The most stable option would be to cut from 63mm thick or 75mm boards and cut strips off to suit the panel thickness, make the laminations say 58mm wide or 68mm. That method will create effectively 1/4 sawn boards with much less cupping.