Cabinet back ideas

[Pirate]

I need to replace a back on a cabinet I just picked up, and am looking for opinions on type to make.
The back is 36” wide and 68” tall. The orig is 2 rail and stile panels side by side, ship lapped where they meet.
The inside of the back will be painted.
Wondering which would look best, and also keep the cabinet square.
Options I see are:
1.      Same as orig.
2.      Plywood
3.      Plywood with Faux rail and stiles
4.      Plywood with v grooves to simulate t&g
5.      Horizontal ship lap
6.      Vertical ship lap
Also if ship lapped, what is the best attachment method. 1 screw or nail in the center of each board?
Here is a picture of the cabinet.
 

[Gary G™]

I'm favorable to a vertical shiplapped back one center screw every so often.

[Pirate]

I'm favorable to a vertical shiplapped back one center screw every so often.

every so often?
Wouldn't every board require a screw in the center?
Also, I'm dot that sure it would be enough to keep it from racking. With the old back out, it racks a lot.

[Hank Knight]

Pirate,

If you are looking for help from the back to keep the cabinet square, a large sheet of plywood would work, but it would not suit the cabinet's style, IMHO. Consider building a frame and panel assembly for the back. It would provide the rigidity and squareness you're looking for and it would look better than a plain piece of plywood. If you wanted to spice it up a
little, you could use something like bead board or similar for the panels. Here's one I built for a large chest of drawers I'm building. It is made of 3/4 poplar with 1/4" maple ply panels. Not very fancy, but it is very light and rigid and it does the job.



Hank

[Gary G™]

every so often?
Wouldn't every board require a screw in the center?
Also, I'm dot that sure it would be enough to keep it from racking. With the old back out, it racks a lot.

If it racks, I'd consider a different method OR encapsulate the shiplapped back in frame and panel.
Ignore my every so often.
I sometimes create a rabetted rail top and bottom which I use to hold the shiplapped back (or side) in.
In the last picture for this project:
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/58215
you can see a shiplapped side; it's held in by rabetted rails top and bottom inside the cabinet.
It looks good, goes quickly and permits easy repair if necessary.

[Pirate]

That's basically what was there before. Might just make new ones. It would look a lot nicer than replacing the delaminated panels, givin all the paint on them. 

Here's a pic of the old panels. Wonder why they used 2 side by side panels?
I think it was for movement in the stiles. Each panel is only secured by 2 screws, in top and bottom of the stiles. The stiles are shiplapped on each side for movement, as well as on the outsides.
No attachment on the sides.
Where did you screw/nail the back to the case? Any concern about movement?

One of the old panels has a hole chopped in it! They are 58" tall, not 68 as typed before.

[Steve N]

With the old back out, it racks a lot.

Is it standing upright? Likely your floor is uneven. Lie it face down on a blanket. If it still racks you have other fish to fry.

[Hank Knight]

Pirate asked: "Where did you screw/nail the back to the case? Any concern about movement?"

Pirate, I attached the back with pocket hole screws into the sides. Not "period correct" for your piece, but it worked well for me. I didn't worry about wood movement because my panels are 1/4" plywood. If you're using solid wood for the panels, you could shiplap individual boards and either nail or screw them to the frame in the traditional manner, or capture stub tenons on the ends in a groove in the rails of the frame. The strengh of the frame and panel comes from the long shoulders of the mortise and tenon joints that hold the frame together, not so much from the panels, so it really doesn't matter too much how you attach the panels to the frame. They don't add a whole lot to prevent racking. I could have used one large plywood panel, but I divided the back in two with a wide center style, primarily to add more rigidity and anti-racking strength to the frame.
HTH.

Hank

[Pirate]

If the stiles are screwed to the sides, wouldn't there be a problem when the stiles expand due to humidity change?
I think that's why my rail and stile back was only fastened to the top, and bottom with only 1 screw in each stile.

[Hank Knight]

Pirate,

My experience with this frame and panel construction has been that there is negligable movement of the assembly across its width (or its length, for that matter). The only members that would contribute to expansion and contraction across the width of my assembly are the two end styles. They are about 4" wide each and my case is flexible enough to accommodate whatever minimal expansion and contraction the styles might undergo. My plywood panels won't expand or contract. Nevertheless, I didn't glue them in, so they float in the frame. If you use solid wood panels and consrtuct the assembly so the panels float in the frame, either with ship laps or stub tenons in grooves like a traditional frame and panel construction, the expansion/contraction of the panel won't be a problem.

Hank