How thin can I go with wood?

[John Kendall]

I want to line the inside of an inset wall cabinet with tiger wood, but I'm not sure of my limits with the thickness or width of pieces I can use.

Here's my (tentative) plan

I wanted to resaw some Goncolo Alves into thin slices and glue or attach the pieces to the existing interior walls of the cabinet.

I didn't know if it would be safe to resaw & finish the pieces down to 1/8" thick by 3" wide by approx. 40" long. Then either butt them or make a lap joint for movement from expansion or contraction. I am worried that they might cup or warp.

Can you tell me the best dimensions & method to use to prevent problems?

[David Rose]

John,

I've not done exactly what you are thinking, but similar. So better advice can probably come from others. Here is what I would do.

Either resaw a bit thicker, then plane to the minimum for my planer of 3/16. Much thinner and the lap will be hard to keep together when milling it anyway. I would make the panels however wide my boards were up to the width of the planer, unless you want uniformity of width, then you would have to figure out what would work with what you have. The lap I would do on a router table. With 3" pieces, I would cut about a 3/8" rabbit and overlap them about 3/16". 1/4 and 1/8 would probably work as well.

I would mill the thickness right before installing them. In other words, I would only do as many as I could install immediately. My experience says they will cup fairly quickly.

Since wood cups away from the center of the tree, I would turn the crown of each piece toward the substrate and run a line of glue down the middle of each. Though with wider pieces, this might cause it to crack in the middle. This might be a good argument for staying around 3" wide.

Remember that I have not done exactly what you are doing. I defer to the experience of others. Chime in, "others".

David

I want to line the inside of an inset wall cabinet with tiger wood, but I'm not sure of my limits with the thickness or width of pieces I can use.

Here's my (tentative) plan

I wanted to resaw some Goncolo Alves into thin slices and glue or attach the pieces to the existing interior walls of the cabinet.

I didn't know if it would be safe to resaw & finish the pieces down to 1/8" thick by 3" wide by approx. 40" long. Then either butt them or make a lap joint for movement from expansion or contraction. I am worried that they might cup or warp.

Can you tell me the best dimensions & method to use to prevent problems?

[John Kempkes]

The easy way is to buy the stock thin. You can find lots of 1/8" thick stock on Ebay, it's used for intarsia and inlays.

Or... Resaw to about 3/16". Use double sided tape to attach to the top of a piece of MDF to allow you to run it through the planer and get the final thickness to 1/8" or so. Take LIGHT passes.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

How thin do you want to go?
What is your final dimensioning method? Drum sander planer? Scraper? What?

Consider what glue you'll use as part of the decision tree.
Lay some up with the glue of your choice and see if it bleeds through adheres well etc.
I'd use hide glue.
Butt joints are fine

[John Kempkes]

Of course, you could just buy veneer and glue it to 1/8" hardboard and be done with it. You might find some better quality wood that way.

[John Kendall]

I've decided to resaw the wood down to 1/4" and then plane the saw marks out if needed then finish sand them. I've pretty much found out that I can get 3 good healthy slices out of a 4/4 board and have some room to get a better finish.

I plan on gluing them down the center, but with the type of wood I've chosen, I can't seem to find anyone who has glued it to anything. What glue would be best? Any special treatments or chemicals to prepare the wood before gluing?

Thanks for all your suggestions! They have been great!