# Machinists Chest



## cboyne (Jan 27, 2009)

Hi. I am new to wood working. I am an MFA student at Concordia University in Montreal. I usually work with Photography but this semester I am attempting to build a machinists chest to be used as part of an installation. 

I bought a set of Veritas plans from Lee Valley. I wanted to make several changes to the design to suit my needs and at the advice of one of the wood shop technicians at the school I have made a new set of plans from scratch using the Veritas ones as reference. 

In the Veritas plans the back panel of the carcass is frame and panel. For aesthetic purposes I would prefer if the back panel was solid wood. I will be using dovetails to join the top/bottom to the sides of the carcass. My plan would be to inset the solid wood back panel so it sits flush with the sides/top/bottom of the carcass. I would likely make the inset with a router and then glue the back panel in. 

My question is about using solid wood for the back panel. If the panel is solid wood and I glue it in will I have issues with wood expansion? Will I have to tack it as well?

I hope this is clear.

Thank-you,



Chris Boyne


----------



## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

*WELCOME TO THE FORUM*

If the glue up pieces aren't too wide (depending on the specie) or thick, you may not have a problem. There is an alternative to using solid wood. You could use the same specie of veneer faced plywood, and add a solid wood edge to it wide enough to "raise" or profile in some way. That panel can be glued in.


----------



## cboyne (Jan 27, 2009)

Cabinetman- thank-you for the welcome and the response.

When you say if the pieces aren't too wide or thick do you mean that the problem would be greater with smaller pieces?

The panel will be 15 x 16 x 3/8 (approximately).

I will be using 1/4 plywood for the drawer bottoms so I suppose I could use that for the back as well but I would really prefer to stay away from 'framing.' The reason I am interested in using solid wood is mostly to match another piece.


----------



## johnv51 (Oct 27, 2008)

Wood movement will only be an issue where you have glue joints that are cross grained. If the grain of the back and the grain of the sides are parallel you can glue them without worry. However, if the grain of the top or bottom goes across the grain of the back then movement can lead to cracks. With the corners being dovetail joints you won't have room for movement across the grain of the back of the chest. My recommendation is to use several tongue and grooved boards for the back and only glue the ones adjacent to the sides. The interior tongue and groove joints would be left unglued to allow movement across the grain. Otherwise stick to a plywood back as it won't expand or contract with humidity or age and can be glued to the top, bottom and sides without worry.


----------



## cboyne (Jan 27, 2009)

john thanks a lot for the advice. i like the idea of using tongue and groove board. that is the perfect solution. i would like to avoid plywood. 




THANKS AGAIN!





chris


----------

