Mixing softwood and hardwood??

[Jerry Olexa]

I'm building a shop tool cabinet that will house chisels, sandpaper, etc It'll have seven small drawers in various sizes. To clean up the shop and use up old material, I used pine/fir to build the interior web frames. I plan to use cherry or walnut for all exterior surfaces. Will these softwood frames move or adjust differently against the hardwood sides, etc.? I plan to dado, rabbet grooves for them and probably do raised panels for the sides. Will wood movement be an issue?? ThaNKS

[Keith Webster]

I have cabinets in my shop that are built from all differant types of woods....soft and hard. Now with that said....it is a shop....so they work great for a shop...but would not do the same thing with custom made cabinets.

[Roy Harding]

As a general rule - softwood will move more than hardwood, and so would not normally be mixed (there are exceptions - pine drawers come to mind).

However - if all your lumber starts off at the same, stable moisture content, and your shop is not subject to WILD humidity changes - it shouldn't matter.

As Keith said above - we're talking a shop cabinet here, not fine furniture. Keep in mind, however, that if you are in business for yourself, your shop cabinets become a sort of "advertisement" for your work when customers come to the shop. For that reason, I treat all my shop cabinets (even the paint grade stuff) as fine furniture - that may not be applicable to you.

Unless you have overriding ethsetic concerns (such as those I outlined above) - I'd go for it - it's a good way to use up that "stuff" you've got laying around the shop.

[Keith Hooks]

Movement along the direction of the grain is going to be very small, even in softwoods. So the "length" of any boards won't change much, assuming the grain's running parallel to the length, which is usually the case. So, your softwood frames won't move a lot, not enough to be a problem. Even so, if you don't glue the plywood to the frame, and allow for "some" movement, it's even less of a concern.

[Jerry Olexa]

I plan to place the frames in "grooves" on the cabinet sides and glue only the one end to allow for movement. I also plan to allow an extra 1/4" at the back end to allow for possible expansion. All the material will be covered with cherry or walnut. Being a shop cabinet, it should be OK. Normally, I do drawers with poplar or maple and have it contrast w front panel to show off the dovetails. All this to dispose of some old pine 1X material..Thanks. Good info and advice.

[Jim Becker]

Jerry, for the frames, I don't think you'll get in trouble given you're already planning for wood movement and the pieces are narrow...the latter meaning little expansion/contraction just due to proportion.