Help with Stickley buffet. How to build questions.

[Malix]

Been working on how to build a stickley buffet. Its out of the Stickley Catalog.  And I have changed it to dimensions for a low wall in our home. It will be used as a display case/bookcase. ( I have tried asking in another forum but got little to no feedback. Hoping someone here might have some suggestions. 


Dims are 
72" Long for the top. case is 6 inches less so 66" long.
17" deep
32" high

side panel rail and stiles are 7/8th thick material 
long rail front and back are 1" thick material 
doors 3/4" thick. 



I am hoping for a solid wood construction but some issues have arisen due to the design that I am not sure how to tackle.
planning on shiplapped back into rabbeted rear. 

Here is a sketch up model I have so far.








The problem I am having is how to construct and attach  a solid wood case  bottom and secure the two vertical dividers.



Since one of the  vertical dividers support door hinges ( and shelves) i need to make sure they're well joined to the rest of the structure. But with the  solid wood bottom expanding( like it will) and no real  long upper rail in the front to speak of I am a bit stump.

Perhaps a QSWO ply bottom is in order..?

So to clarify hoping for suggestion on 

1. how to construct and attach a solid wood bottom ( or to just use veneer ply?)

2. How to construct and attach the 2 vertical dividers that will support one door and the shelves.

Thank you.

[FrankAtl]

I don't see any advantage of using hardwood for the bottom and the dividers. If it was me I'd use plywood for those parts with dados in the bottom for the dividers. You could use stopped dados in the top for the dividers and trim the front of the dividers with hardwood to hide the ply's. The long front and back rail on the bottom will cover the edges of the plywood bottom. I'd also make the shelves out of plywood and trim the front edges with hardwood. This approach eliminates the wood movement concerns since plywood is considered stable.

[jteneyck]

If you detailed it I missed it, but it sounds like your dividers are plywood.  Yes?  If so, and your bottom is solid wood, then use a sliding dovetail joint and only glue it at the front.  And make the dividers as wide as the bottom will be at max. seasonal RH, and then set the back of them into a dado in the back boards.  Same for the bottom, except that you make whatever width it should now be so that at max. seasonal RH it will be the same width as the dividers.  

Of course, you could just make life easy on yourself and use plywood for the bottom, as you said.  Personally, I see no benefit of using a solid bottom if the dividers are going to be plywood.  I also wouldn't waste QS wood on internal components that can't be seen, but that's just me.  

You didn't ask, but I'll offer this about the ship lapped back boards.  You will find tongue and groove or spline and groove construction to have much better resistance to racking than ship lap.  I used spline and groove on a tall Stickley style cabinet I built several years ago for that very reason.  

John

[Malix]

Well since the glass panels allow the inside to be seen I (especially the dividers)  i was  thinking solid wood for all. But I would say the bottom is less seen than the dividers. So if need be I would go ply for the bottom..

but in truth. I had originally hoped to make it out of solid wood as  sort of showpiece for the house. . But this design may simply not allow that in any reasonable way. r make it complicated enough for no reason?

So far I have two votes for ply inside the case...

[jteneyck]

Well since the glass panels allow the inside to be seen I (especially the dividers)  i was  thinking solid wood for all. But I would say the bottom is less seen than the dividers. So if need be I would go ply for the bottom..

but in truth. I had originally hoped to make it out of solid wood as  sort of showpiece for the house. . But this design may simply not allow that in any reasonable way. r make it complicated enough for no reason?

So far I have two votes for ply inside the case...

You can use solid wood for all of it if you want, just allow for the dividers and bottom to expand/contract in a dado in the back rails and back boards, if required.  You don't need sliding dovetails to connect the dividers to the bottom either.  You could, but dados would be fine, too, with screws up from the bottom.  As along as the grain of all the parts is going in the same direction there will be no problems.  

Or you could make the bottom and the dividers as frame and panel units themselves.  That would allow you to join all the frame and panel units solidly, without concern for seasonal movement since all the movement will happen in the panels suspended in the frames.  

Everything was built with solid wood at one time, so if that's what you want go to it.  

John

[FrankAtl]

If it's really important to you to use solid wood for the entire construction then John's suggestion makes the most sense to me. Sliding dovetails for the dividers and shelves should work. If your main concern about the plywood is matching it to the solid wood you could always make your own plywood with shop sawn veneers form the same wood. Probably be best to use a vacuum press for that though.

I've never used solid wood for the entire construction on something like this so I'd heed advice from someone who has done it instead of paying attention to anything I say.


Frank

[jasfrank]

Solid wood would be fine for both the dividers and bottom -if- you made them as panels the same way you are doing the ends. The floating part could be the same thickness as the stiles and rails so you had more beef for the bottom, but they would need to be able to float. Or alternatively, ship lap boards on the bottom should be fine too, as long as you left enough gap on each for the movement that will happen.

[Malix]

Thanks everyone for their input. it has helped me to make some decisions on this. There is a post missing  from this thread (maybe the poster removed it) But they drew up a few sketches which convinced me to use ply bottom and dividers. The added work of making solid wood  frame and panels for his build seem to complicate the build a bit more than necessary and add to time and materials. .   And as many of you initially said the benefit might not be there. I'd likely be the only person on earth who cared about the  QSWO veneer ply bottom and dividers. 

I was gonna thank the poster for their sketches but had to leave and by the time I got back the post was missing. Any way. Thank you!! ZI  loved the way you proposed the build (and a picture is worth a thousand words).  iIwill modify my sketch model to reflect those suggestions and will post back if any more q's come up. 

Thanks to everyone for their time and suggestions so far!

[rwe2156]

Good decision.

I was going to suggest veneer over plywood.  I still think it would be worth the effort.

[Hank Knight]

FWIW, If you're still thinking about solid wood construction, Garrett hack published an article in FWW several years ago about building a solid wood hunt board, and his plans are available. The bottom and vertical dividers are solid wood. The dividers are secured to the bottom with tapered sliding dovetails and secured in the top in shallow dados. The grain of the bottom and the vertical dividers runs in the same direction, so there is no cross-grain issue with expansion/contraction. It is a very solid construction. I built the piece and was concerned about the tapered sliding dovetails, but it turned out to be pretty easy. I built a simple jig that made the process almost a piece of cake. The dovetails fit snugly and lock the piece together. If you're still interested in using solid wood construction, PM me and I'll explain how the jig works. If I still have it, I'll send photos, but I think I recall dismantling it.

Hank