Working with Timber

Designing for Wood Movement

A tabletop splits. A panel door cracks. A drawer front rattles in winter and binds in summer. These are not random problems. They are design problems.

Allowing Expansion in Joinery

This guide turns the movement principle into joinery rules: where to lock, where to allow sliding, and how to build strength without trapping cross-grain expansion.

Movement in Table Tops

It is only a flat surface. But if it is made from solid wood, that surface is moving all the time.

Frame and Panel Construction

If you try to build a wide solid-wood door, cabinet side, or chest front as one rigid slab, the seasons start negotiating immediately.

Why Panels Float in Furniture

If a wide solid-wood panel is locked rigidly inside a furniture frame, the seasons will eventually expose the mistake.

Fasteners and Wood Movement

A screw, bolt, clip, or bracket can make a project feel solid on the bench and still be the exact reason it splits six months later.

Glue and Wood Behaviour

A glued joint can be beautifully made, extremely strong, and still be completely wrong for solid timber.

Outdoor Timber Considerations

Outdoors, wood faces bigger moisture swings, repeated wetting and drying, UV exposure, biological decay risk, corrosion issues, and detailing mistakes that get punished much faster.

Timber for Furniture vs Construction

A species that makes a superb dining table may be a poor roof timber.

Common Woodworking Failures Explained

A split tabletop, a sticking door, a panel that cracked in its frame, a joint that forced itself apart, a post that rotted at its base — these problems all feel different on the surface.