Plywood shrinkage??? Laminated soundboards???

[Richard Brekne]

Sarah Fox wrote:

> Hi all,
>  
> My friend and I were examining some antique furniture, figuring out 
> how we are going to restore it.  I noticed that many drawer bottoms in 
> several pieces were made of thin plywood and, further, that the 
> plywood panels were almost universally shrunken by perhaps 1% of their 
> original size (e.g. 1/4" over a 25" span).  Moreover, the greater 
> shrinkage seemed to be in width, rather than in length, with regard to 
> the direction of the grain of the outer veneer.  The drawers weren't 
> made this way, as the side pieces of the drawers still fit properly, 
> and the bottoms have shrunken out of their channels.  Either that, or 
> the original measurements were pretty sloppy, which I doubt.
>  
> How does this happen?
>  

I dont know... but just THINK if they had been soundboard panels. One 
day the owner would come into play and find the Soundboard on the floor 
! I guess we'd better give up on the old plywood panel idea.

RicB