# What is the best way to do this??



## Bozwell (Nov 25, 2012)

Planning on building a headboard my wife saw a picture of. The main panel will consist of vertical 3 1/2" wide slats tongue and groove jointed together.
The question is.......do I run a tongue all the way around the outside of the panel as well and glue it into a groove in the frame or is it best to just butt joint it to the frame and fasten it in with pocket hole screws at regular intervals from the backside?
Any and all opinions are appreciated! :yes:
Thanks!
Boz


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

alot of the time, the idea is to make them a wee bit loose and not glue them so that they can expand and contract with the seasons without bad things happening. even for inside pieces. i have a door in my basement that expands enough to be sticky in the summer anot at all sticky in the winter.


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## Crusader (Jan 14, 2013)

I agree with Chris in that you would want room for expansion. Not only that but I think it will look nicer not having screws. What I'm seeing in my mind is a groove in the top and bottom rails and the side rails, or legs would cap the ends with no groove. This would allow you to fit the pieces in with no glue and also give you the opportunity to pre-finish the pieces before final assembly.
Good luck! I hope this helps.


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## Bozwell (Nov 25, 2012)

Thanks folks - appreciate the input - makes perfect sense!
Boz


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## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

I just did a headboard with this very same design, if I'm reading this right. I was going to use 5 1/2" vertical slats all tongue in groove joined. I was spanning about 58" wide with one large panel. After I cut all the parts and had them fitted perfectly, I got hurt with a saw (my fault) and ended up waiting about 2 months before finishing it. I'm glad I did because the slats all shrank and I lost a total of 3/8" in width. I was warned it might happen anyway before I let the time pass in between cutting and finishing. If I had finished it, it might possibly have shrank and pulled itself apart. This was also after I had let the wood acclimate to my shop for about 2 weeks prior to cutting it anyway. 

I ended up making the main panel from MDF to aleiviate shrinking and expanding issues. I just routed the front side to look like vertical slats with a V-groove bit.

I will add that I did not have a moisture meter at the time and the wood I bought had been stored outdoors at a lumber yard under a shelter and tarp. It was dry to the touch when i bought it but it might have had more moisture content than I realized and 2 weeks shop time wasn't enough to get it all out. 2 months apparently was, explaining the shrinkage. These boards all cupped on me in the mean time as well. They were just standard 1x6 framing lumber, which I'm sure played a part in it as well (not a good grade of wood). 

Now I have a moisture meter and am able to figure out that wood in my shop will dry to below 6% MC so I'm fairly certain that future shrinkage issues can be avoided if I let it dry long enough and check it before using. Expansion once the new piece is moved to its new home, that's another story.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

It might depend on the look you want. If you create a "V" joint for each vertical slat for the T&G, to appear like paneling, you wouldn't necessarily have to glue them. I would also just set them all in a groove in the framework without glue.

If you want them to look like a solid panel, you could glue them up like a door panel, but let the whole shebang float in a groove in the outer frame.









 







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## Bozwell (Nov 25, 2012)

cabinetman said:


> It might depend on the look you want. If you create a "V" joint for each vertical slat for the T&G, to appear like paneling, you wouldn't necessarily have to glue them. I would also just set them all in a groove in the framework without glue.
> 
> If you want them to look like a solid panel, you could glue them up like a door panel, but let the whole shebang float in a groove in the outer frame.
> 
> ...


That's pretty much the game plan. I'll tongue & groove each piece and campher the joints so they show a groove at each joint. Have a tongue all around the outer edge that will float in a slot in the frame around the outside. The wood is poplar coming from my friends cabinet shop so it's dried and stable.
Thanks for all the help everyone!


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

I now know why the original arch was just screwed into the top separate from the stiles..To fit in the window grid which I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to do that. I'm thinking about a completely different frame to be tacked in after the arch is done OR chop out 6 mortises and build the arch around the grid as I laminate it together.. Basically just drop it into place and laminate around the holes "mortises" in the middle layer..


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