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I made the platform/bed area last year out of cherry and now I'm making the head board section.

I am a little perplexed on the correct methods to use. I know when I did the platform end that the joinery wasn't the best for wood movement.

I am using Cherry

The shelving will be attached with dados or possibly sliding dovetails if needed.

The front is basically 2-12" wide curly cherry that will be edge joined. I added the pic of the main front wood.

Wood orientation

Arrows show wood expansion directions

enter image description here

Better grain depiction.

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  • Welcome to the site! Please edit your question with answers to the following questions: which joints are you specifically worried about? Please indicate on the drawings. What kind of joinery did you use on the platform end, and how do you know it wasn't the best for wood movement? Which direction is the grain running in the suspect joints?
    – MattDMo
    Commented May 20, 2023 at 21:49
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    Hi, welcome to Woodworking. You need to clarify if the red arrows show the movement axis. The default grain depiction in Sketchup (?) has tripped us up a couple of times previously and here it appears in the render that the vertical panel has vertical grain, yet from the red arrow it looks like you've oriented its grain horizontally (which is fine, but counter to convention). the shelves and top expanding side to side makes sense, since these would presumably be boards with the grain running along their length.
    – Graphus
    Commented May 21, 2023 at 2:08
  • If I have interpreted the grain orientation correctly, note that the term dado would be incorrect because that dados are cross-grain channels while here it would be in the direction of the grain (a groove). And also a sliding dovetail (AKA dovetail housing joint) is again typically a cross-grain joint; I don't want to say it would never be used this way, because I'm sure there have been examples where it was, but you wouldn't normally (especially on a large, structural component) because there would be a tendency for it to split the panel along the grain.
    – Graphus
    Commented May 21, 2023 at 2:16
  • Is the back panel also going to be 24" of cherry?? I know you'll see a lot of the front boards but with the back presumably permanently hidden from view it seems a bit of a waste of nice cherry (and I'd have structural concerns if you went with anything else, since you want as close to a direct match to the front panel given the total seasonal movement expected for two feet of flat-sawn wood). Although it's not a perfect solution by any means I feel plywood is a much better match to the design constraints.
    – Graphus
    Commented May 22, 2023 at 4:17
  • I hate plywood. :) The rear will be cherry, in smaller edge joined strips. I think I have some better ideas how I'm going to do this now. I guess time will tell. The built in shelves are really the part that makes it a whole lot harder than a normal headboard.
    – Dwight T
    Commented May 22, 2023 at 16:10

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You have two sketches suggesting different wood grain directions on the panels. The photo you show orients the grain horizontally. Since wood expands and contracts across its width and depth, but not its length it is important that you orient all grain in the same direction so that they move together at the same rates. As for joining the pieces, you can simply finish the edges and glue them together and they will hold very well. (The glue joint actually may be stronger than the wood itself.) You may want to consider a lap joint when joining pieces at 90 degrees such as the sides to the top. This will increase their strength slightly and make any differences in the wood grain or colors less noticeable.

I would also suggest viewing a few woodworking instructional videos before trying to glue up these large boards. You will need to properly prepare the edges square to the face and true across the length for good contact. You will also need a good, flat table to support the assembly and plenty of clamps to press the boards together and hold them securely to the table during the glue setup.

You should also consider that the 12" wide boards shown in the photo, while lovely may have a tendency to warp. You can address this by securely fastening them every few inches vertically to an internal frame.

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