Just Double Checking

[cputnam]

Like many of us, I'm getting older faster these days, so I'd like to double check my assumptions here. Going to be building somewhere between 9 and 18 linear feet of book shelves and cabinets from curly soft maple.

If I can rabbets in the backs and fill with 1/4" nominal ply, I will not run afoul of wood movement since the grain is oriented vertically and movement will occur across the 12" or so of width. Similarly I should be able to hard glue a shelf in the middle because the movement direction is across the grain. Right? Right?

I can see the potential for issues with a face frame but I am assuming they do not cause problems because there is not enough width to move all that much. Right? Right?

I know this is newb stuff but sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my head around all this stuff.

TIA

[EdL]

Right, right & right, right.

Ed

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Going to be doing something very similar this summer myself and i see no problem with it. But what I am going to do is only glue a portion of the center of the shelf for support.
It will be supported on the ends in the daddos. I am thinking of doing sliding daddos . Still tossing that around. Good luck.

[Guest]

If. i visualize what you're planning correctly, you should have no problem. All the wood movement, except the face frame, will be in the in the same direction - front to back. The face frame shouldn't be a problem either because, as you say, they will be too narrow to move much. If you are worried about the face frame (I wouldn'), attach them only to the sides of the cabinet and not to the shelves, so whatever small movement they have will be unrestricted. The book cases in my house are built this way, and my house was built in 1934. No problems.

[cputnam]

Thank you gentlemen!

[Paul K. Murphy]

All those methods are well advised. Nothing wrong whatsoever with anything (I read) that your planning to do.