Oak doors for a kitchen.

[michael foster]

After some advice from the forum I figure the best way to build the oak kitchen cabinet doors I have on order is to use 1/2 inch ply covered with strips of 1/8 - 3/16 oak. The fronts are to be completely flush and show vertical boards only . I have to build 18 doors and i would like your advice as to how to keep a reasonal time line on the job and produce a finely finished , durable and stable door.

Michael from Barbados

[Jamie Buxton]

Be sure to veneer both the inside and outside faces. A balanced panel is essential in controlling cupping.

I use a bandsaw to slice the veneer. I edgejoint the stock before I slice the veneer. I rejoint the edge of the veneer on the exit side of the bandsaw blade; it sometimes chips out. I have a bandsaw which produces a gluable face, so I don't do anything to the faces of the veneer at this stage. I tape the veneer together with veneer tape. Then I glue it to the substrate in a vacuum press. I'd use urea-formaldehyde glue.

If you have a planer that is wider than your doors, you can remove the veneer tape and surface the door in one operation. Otherwise you're in for a long job of sanding all the faces.

This is all a long job. You could be much much much faster if you'd use standard hardwood-veneer plywood (or MDF). You could edgeband the long edges with 2 mm hardwood, glued on.

[Frank Drew]

Michael,

1/8-3/16" seems a bit thick to me, and might be the cause of some unhappiness down the line (unwanted wood movement, warping, etc.).

In any case, as Jamie says, you have to treat both sides of your plywood core the same.

[Chip Lindley]

IF you are Determined to veneer over a substrate, use MDF or PB rather than ply! Plywood is not noted for its flatness after being sawed from a full sheet. IF your doors are not perfectly flat, they will never meet your client's expectations, and there are no *fixes*!

Your client gives you slim options for *barn-style* doors "with no lines," as you originally posted. *Barn doors* have lots of lines! (individual rough-sawn boards with *Z* bracing, comes to my mind) But, what counts is in the mind your client.

Unless client insists on seeing same-width *boards* on door fronts, save yourself time, and establish a viable timeline (which you cannot guarantee, while learning veneering) by using some nice architectual sheet stock, with sliced RO veneer over a stable MDF or PB core. Edges will have to be banded, of course. It's expensive, but so is your TIME all summer long!

Veneered-core sheet stock requires edge-banding, but minimum sanding before ready for finishing. But, your own bandsawn, applied-veneer door slabs will require MUCH sanding! If you do not have access to a wide belt/drum sander, get ready for more ROS sanding than you ever imagined.

IF you have never veneered before, this is NOT the project to learn on! Learn on a smaller project for yourself, instead of a paying customer. You will have NO timeline during experimentation.

Finishing is another whole issue. IMO, spraying is only good if you are set up to spray dustlessly! Otherwise, brushing or rolling on polyurethane varnish to rows of doors set up on boards across sawhorses would be best IMO. Do one side, and when completely dry, coat the other sides. several coats, with light scraping or sanding if needed, between coats, will yield very smooth, good-looking *barn* doors!