[Woodcarver] relief panel carving

[Joe Dillett]

> I attach basswood relief carvings to hardwood plywood panels with no

> difficulty.  The only difference is that I secure the carvings with epoxy

> and small screws and you won't be able to use the screws.  I would think

> that if you use one of the longer set epoxies and get good adhesion, you

> should be in good shape.

> Barney Elking

> Fortuna, CA

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Hi Barney,

I've been wrong many times before but I'm guessing this is what would happen 
eventually by using epoxy to hold the basswood panel to plywood. Plywood is 
much better than a normal hardwood panel door.

Plywood doesn't expand and contract because the grain is running in both 
directions equally. However the basswood still wants to expand and contract. 
Here in the Midwest basswood wants to change between .19 to .28 inches per 
foot. If your panel is 18-inches wide it will want to change 1.5 time that 
(.285 to .42 inches). My guess is that if the 18 inch wide panel is epoxied 
now in late summer that in the winter when it wants to be about 3/8 inch 
smaller that 3/8 inch would be distributed throughout the 18 inch width 
resulting in a series of very small surface cracks allowing the weather to 
distroy the work much sooner than if it was allowed to move. Also epoxy 
would never allow for removal and maintenance.

When I attach a carving I never want to burn my bridges so I prefer a 
mounting system that allows the carving to be removed for maintenance.

Joe Dillett
The Carving Shop
645 E. LaSalle St. Suite 3
Somonauk, IL. 60552
(815) 498-9290 phone
(815) 498-9249 fax
http://www.thecarvingshop.com
jdillett at thecarvingshop.com
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