construction of top for William and Mary dressing table

[Kirk Rush]

I am planning to make a copy of a William and Mary dressing table(lowboy) that has four pieces of bookmatched veneer on the top with crossbanding surrounding  it.  From the few photos I could find, it appears that the molded edge has separate pieces of wood with edge grain applied to the ends as well as the front and back(mitered at the corners, of course).  I am trying to decide what the best way would be to construct the top to keep it from self-destructing down the line.  Would it be best to use quarter sawn white pine for the core of the top?  Should the molded edges on the ends be attached with mortise and tennons or tongue and groove?  Any help will be appreciated.

                                                             Kirk

[John McAlister]

Kirk, I'm a bit late replying to your post but just saw it. I have made a top like the one you are thinking about. I used 3/4" marine plywood as the core; glued 3/4" x 1 1/4" strips around the edges;( mitering the corners); veneered out over the edge strips and then molded the edges. So the edges all have the grain running longways. Not exactly 18th century method but the plywood surely is the most stable core you could use. Email me outside the forum and I'll email some pictures.

[HSteier]

I've done the same thing using MDF core. It works very nicely.

Howard Steier