I'm in the process of building a farm table and a cabinet with a bar, using white oak for the materials. I plan to create a tabletop and a cabinet top that are both 1 1/2" thick by gluing two 3/4" boards together. My main question is whether the width of the top boards needs to match the width of the bottom boards for proper alignment when they're glued together, or can I just edge glue random width boards for each piece and then surface glue them together?
2 Answers
No, your boards don't have to match in width for the tops to fit together nicely. You can definitely use a mix of widths for the boards that you edge glue, and then just trim the edges after sticking them together to make everything even. That way, you have some flexibility with your design!
I see where you’re coming from! Basically, if you're gluing together a 4-inch board, a couple of 6-inch boards, and a 10-inch board in the first slab, the second one doesn’t have to follow the exact same widths. Just keep in mind that as long as the final thickness is consistent, you’ll be fine when you surface glue them. Don’t stress too much about matching widths across slabs!
Yeah, exactly! Just focus on making sure the final surfaces are level and even after your glue-up. The aesthetics will come together once it's all sanded down.