Solid Top w/ Mitered Frame?- Question of the Week

December 31, 2007 | Filed Under Blog, Question of the Week 

This week’s question comes from Brad. He writes:

Marc, I’m making a hall table out of lyptus and would like add a maple border to the book matched top. I think it’s called picture frame style or something like that…..with mitered corners…I have never done this before. Any advice? Do I need to do the ends (endgrain) like a breadboard end to allow for expantion? Any help would be appreciated.

And here was my reply:

“Hey Brad. If the panel is solid, there is no way you can surround it with a frame. Eventually something will have to give and typically it’s the frame itself. It will start with a little separation at the miter joint and progress to a complete joint failure (worst case). The only way to create frame in a panel like that is to let it float, kind of like a frame and panel door. But a frame and panel door is not exactly a good surface for a table top. I assume you want the frame to be flush with the panel. So you may want to consider resawing the lyptus boards and veneering them to a substrate. This way you can surround it with a frame and not have to worry much about movement.”

“You mentioned breadboard ends so I should explain why that wouldn’t work. With breadboard ends, the panel is allowed to expand and contract because nothing is restricting the cross-grain movement. The “frame” only exists on two sides. A full frame that surrounds the panel would limit the cross-grain movement and would negate any “breadboard-style” joinery you create.”

Comments

4 Responses to “Solid Top w/ Mitered Frame?- Question of the Week”

  1. LordLQQK on December 31st, 2007 9:46 pm

    Marc, it is New Year’s Eve and you are still working? Dedication to the wood or obsessive drive for the betterment of your loyal minions?

    I would like to share that earlier American and European tables used floating splines to help hold the boards of the table in alignment. The splines allow for expansion and contraction of the individual boards and the outside boards could be mitered or half-lapped in a frame like border with additional splines along the end grain.

    Happy New Year to you all. See you next year…..

    LQQK

  2. thewoodwhisperer on December 31st, 2007 10:43 pm

    Me? Work on New Years Eve? Never! Oh wait you are calling this work…. In that case, yes Im working on New Years Eve. :) Nicole is printing DVD’s and I am editing video. I guess that’s just our idea of fun. lol

  3. richard in Indy on January 1st, 2008 8:54 am

    Happy New Year!!! I’m sure this year will be even better than ‘07 for The Wood Whisperer!!
    About the table, It saw this once in a magazine. How about designing a narrow space in the middle of the table running with the grain and breadboard the ends of the miter frame. You’ll need to glue only the outermost ends of the table top and keep the middle section free to float for seasonal movement. The pics in the article showed how he turned this open space into a design feature by using curved lines or a stationary middle board, etc.. This way the ends are always consistent. I hope that made sense.

    Take care!

  4. Bill on January 1st, 2008 12:58 pm

    Mark,
    Your explanation about bread board ends (”With breadboard ends, the panel is allowed to expand and contract because nothing is restricting the cross-grain movement. The “frame” only exists on two sides.”) to Brad could be misunderstood. He needs to know that the bread board ends are not restricting the cross-grain movement because even though they are fastened across the grain, the joinery allows for the inevitable movement of solid wood that accompanies changes in humidity.
    Bill

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