I need some guidance. I am building a arts & crafts style fireplace mantle and surround based on a Green & Green design. The plan calls for a 24 x 36 piece of 1/4 mahogany plywood to be used as the centerpiece over the actual mantle. I have a couple of pieces of nice curly cherry that I would like to edge join and use as a sort of medallion or raised panel to go on the surface of the plywood.
I am concerned about wood movement of the cherry on top of the stabilized plywood.
The cherry ‘medallion’ would be approx 16″ high by 32″ wide and be made from two edge-joined pieces of 1/2″ cherry boards. Can I just glue this medallion to the plywood, or do I need to be a bit more clever about appliqueing it to the plywood so that there is an ability for the cherry to expand/contract.
I’ve never done this type of work before and do not want to mess up a great project and/or ruin a couple of good peices of curly cherry.
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Replies
If the glued-on piece is more than 1/8" thick, you will likely have problems if you solid glue the cherry to the plywood.
wood,
Safest to not glue, or glue only along the center of the medallion, and attach with screws in oversize or slotted holes in the ply, so as to allow some movement.
Ray
I can think of a number of ways to attach the cherry, but gluing it to the plywood is not one of them. The simplest would be to mount it with screws from the back with the center fixed and the outboard edges slotted to allow movement.
Verne
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to cut it up and make something with it . . . what a waste!
Maybe you could create some kind of border or frame to surround the Cherry and mount the frame or border to the plywood so the Cherry can move within the frame but still not be noticed .
regards dusty
Never tried it for such a thin backer (1/4 INCH). However I think it could be useable.
My first thought was cut three slots in the backer ply. One centered at the top of your medallion and the others close to the bottom ends/edges of you medallion. As in a triangle. Cut the slots at the bottom to receiving a french cleat on the medallion that would drop in. Of course the slots need to be a 'bit' wider than the glued on or otherwise attached french cleats on the back of the medallion.
Doing so would also allow the medallion to be removed and use someplace else if that was ever wanted.
Just me though!
Edited 1/8/2009 12:44 pm by WillGeorge
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled