Destructive testing.....
Well, after 15 years, my old TV finally needed replacing (still works, just takes 5 minutes for the picture to stabilize when turned on..) so I picked up a nice new one. Of course, it doesn't fit in the cabinet I built almost 10 years ago. Since I built the entertainment center in 3 pieces, I was able to re-use most of it, with a little modification.
This piece was one of my first "big" pieces, so I thought I'd also take a gander at how well it held up over time. It was probably "overbuilt" in some degree, but I was worried about the TV shelf sagging, or the unit racking, neither of which happened. The only problem with it (other than it doesn't fit today's TV's) is the distressing that 2 little girls and their toys can do to pine.
Being "frugal", and because I wanted the wood to match, I recycled the center section that housed the TV. In the process, I learned a lot about the strength of glue, biscuits, and dovetails.
What amazed me most is how strong face grain to face grain glue joints are. The piece had several Pine 1x3 pieces glued face to face. Only one was able to split right down the joint. Most split just to one side or the other of the glue line. Quite impressive.
On the Face glued pine to Birch plywood veneer, the glue held and the veneer failed. Still impressive.
The pine edge banded on the plywood, broke off clean with a BIG whack with the mallet, but still reasonably impressive.
The biscuits were both impressive and upsetting. This project was my first using biscuits, and I'm not sure I used enough glue in the biscuit slots. Some held incredibly, others looked like they never saw glue. I attribute these failures primarily to my inexperience with biscuits. However, I must say that they did keep everything lined up perfectly for all the edge banding I did on the plywood. However, the drawer support frames came apart fairly easy with a mallet.
Half blind dovetails. Wow. Out of 3 drawers, no failures. lots of glue surface, great joint.
It was probably more effort spent than saving the $40 for another sheet of plywood, but the color matches perfectly. Also, seeing how well (in most cases) my work held up for almost 10 years was a plus!
Still, sad to have to destroy something I enjoyed building......
This piece was one of my first "big" pieces, so I thought I'd also take a gander at how well it held up over time. It was probably "overbuilt" in some degree, but I was worried about the TV shelf sagging, or the unit racking, neither of which happened. The only problem with it (other than it doesn't fit today's TV's) is the distressing that 2 little girls and their toys can do to pine.
Being "frugal", and because I wanted the wood to match, I recycled the center section that housed the TV. In the process, I learned a lot about the strength of glue, biscuits, and dovetails.
What amazed me most is how strong face grain to face grain glue joints are. The piece had several Pine 1x3 pieces glued face to face. Only one was able to split right down the joint. Most split just to one side or the other of the glue line. Quite impressive.
On the Face glued pine to Birch plywood veneer, the glue held and the veneer failed. Still impressive.
The pine edge banded on the plywood, broke off clean with a BIG whack with the mallet, but still reasonably impressive.
The biscuits were both impressive and upsetting. This project was my first using biscuits, and I'm not sure I used enough glue in the biscuit slots. Some held incredibly, others looked like they never saw glue. I attribute these failures primarily to my inexperience with biscuits. However, I must say that they did keep everything lined up perfectly for all the edge banding I did on the plywood. However, the drawer support frames came apart fairly easy with a mallet.
Half blind dovetails. Wow. Out of 3 drawers, no failures. lots of glue surface, great joint.
It was probably more effort spent than saving the $40 for another sheet of plywood, but the color matches perfectly. Also, seeing how well (in most cases) my work held up for almost 10 years was a plus!
Still, sad to have to destroy something I enjoyed building......
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