Am I over thinking this

[CEPenworks]

I am building a hall bench 5' wide and 8' tall. I am backing it with 1/2" plywood. Since the plywood is only 4' wide I need to splice in another piece. I can hide the seam behind some dividers that are 3/4" thick. I was thinking to make 3/4" wide 1/4" deep dados on both pieces so I could overlap them at the joint. Am I over thinking this and would it be fine to just butt them together behind the 3/4" dividers?

[DaveR1]

I am building a hall bench 5' wide and 8' tall. I am backing it with 1/2" plywood. Since the plywood is only 4' wide I need to splice in another piece. I can hide the seam behind some dividers that are 3/4" thick. I was thinking to make 3/4" wide 1/4" deep dados on both pieces so I could overlap them at the joint. Am I over thinking this and would it be fine to just butt them together behind the 3/4" dividers?

I'm not following your design idea completely I think. I would consider a frame and panel arrangement with a center stile. Something like this: https://flic.kr/p/2iCCPhJ

[jteneyck]

Just butting them together would give more meat in the dividers for screws to grip into.  

John

[Gary G™]

How utilitarian is this piece? Or, is it more furniture?
If the latter, Frame and Panel with evenly sized sections.

[CEPenworks]

So this is for the back panel. It is open on the front. A picture is below but mine is another cabbie wide and two more high. The open center will have a separate veneered piece. So I can hide the seam of the centered veneer piece and the extra cubbies along one edge behind the dividers. I can either have each board be 3/8" in each direction larger than the opening she the two pieces that meet will butt each other behind a 3/4" board. Or I can cut each back panel 3/4" in all directions larger than the opening and half lap the joints. The half laps would give me 3/4" of glue and nail room vs 3/8" for each panel as the joints.

   

[Arlin Eastman]

If it is for the back why not just get 2 pieces of 4x8 ply and cut both at the 5' mark and stack one on top of another.

You can just bevel the seam at a shallow 45* and then fill it with bondo to hid the seam.  Then paint it and no one will be wiser.

[fredhargis]

You're overthinking it, just butt them together.

[Ridgeway]

You're overthinking it, just butt them together.

Also, aren't you going to have a vertical piece you could use to cover the seam?

[CEPenworks]

Thanks for the replies. I will just butt the joints. There are no other verticals other than the one with the door. The panel behind the coat hangers is going to be a separate veneered panel with a book and butt design.

[AHill]

Butt them together, but make the seam where the door side divides the seat side. That way, you don't see the seam from the front. Don't try to veneer over a joint or seam.