As you can see in the picture, I have a small table ( 15" x 15") top under construction. It is made of quarter inch Yellowhart/purplehart laminate glued to a five eighths plywood backing. All those stripes of wood are glued together on the plywood and came out pretty good. Now the question. How do I attach the borders? The sides that go with the grain can be glued down, or I think they can. How do I attach the other sides? I have done larger tables with slots and metal pieces, but there is NO room for any of that type of attachment. The edge pieces have about an eight inch recess in them, so the top goes under slightly.

 

Any and all advise is appreciated.

 

Thanks, Ron

Ron, I am of the belief that a table top this size, will have little if any movement, I say glue it all down, and glue the hockey sticks out of it to make it as rigid and restrictive as possible to all movement. You are right, the long grain side is fine. I am going to say that because of the strips, the end grain sides will move very little if any, and I know where you live and it is dry most the time, I don't think we need to over think this one, just my penny's worth.

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Wounded Warrior Project and Homes For Our Troops

I agree with John. If the strips we are seeing are edge grain, then the majority of the movement (if there is any) will be vertical and therefore should not effect the perimeter trim.

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

The across grain shrinkage/expansion of both woods is 6.0%.

If my math is close, each piece will expand/collapse at most a 1/64".

Your total wood movement wood less than 1/2" if you lived in the desert and moved to Seattle.

Even then, with it being glued to the plywood you would get a slight cupping across the grain.

You should be fine with gluing it up.

Thanks everyone, I suspected that it wouldn't move much. However I have a lot of work in it and didn't want to rush into a big mistake. I have a bit of sanding and some slight adjusting to do yet before I glue, but I want it right the first time, because there is NO second time.

They are GLUED ON TO PLYWOOD.

Movement will be minimal AT BEST.

They are GLUED ON TO PLYWOOD.

That's what I was thinking.