I'm making a blanket/hope chest for my daughter in which the sides are flared out 10deg from vertical. I want to include a divider but I'm uncertain on the best way to attach it due to the different directions of the wood movement (both the sides and divider are solid wood (Lauan, aka poor man's mahogany, to be more specific). My not to scale sketch shows what I am trying to explain.
Wood Movement.png
I guess I could just intentionally make it loose (knowing my skills the joint would be a perfect glue joint while all of the others a sloppy!). But that doesn't really appeal to me. I also thought about just gluing the top inch or so of the divider and letting the rest "float", but I'm not sure if as the sides expand and essentially pull further apart the glue would fail eventually anyway. Would a dovetail provide enough glue and mechanical strength to overcome the wood movement? Any other thoughts (I'll even accept "you're overthinking this")?