Pine raised panel door & drum sander questions

[Michael Donahue]

Hey folks. I'm getting ready to build a pine vanity and medicine cabinet and hoped I could get some advice. First off, the pine boards I'm using have been in my shop (i.e. basement :D) for over a month and they were kiln dried to begin with. I've flattened out the pieces for my rails and stiles, keeping them a little oversized. Would you let these sit for a while before getting them to final thickness? How long would you say?

Also, I plan to use my drum sander to clean up the doors after the glue-ups. My planer left some minor but noticeable tearout on many of the boards, especially around the knots. Would you drum sand these before assembly and shaping to clean them up, only to have to drum sand them again after the panels are together? The other thing I was thinking was leaving the stock about 1/16" thicker than I want in the end hoping that the drum sander will get rid of minor tearout as it's cleaning up the panels. I know that a drum sander is not meant for thicknessing, but taking the panels down 1/16 shouldn't take too long I suppose.

Thanks for the help!

[Todd Burch]

One reason to let them sit is if you just brought them in from the Kiln. They will reach EMC fairly quickly. The only other reason I can think of to let them sit would be just because this is pine. Pine does have a tendency to move some, and if you have any knots or cut near any knots, the wood is liable to twist some. The consequence of the pine twisting after a door is made is the frame twisting a bit and having one corner of the door stick in or out further than the other. (Other woods can do this too, obviously).

My M.O. is to make it easy on myself. Therefore, sand when sanding is easier, aka, before you assemble. If you determine that you cannot sand out a tearout after you have assembled a door, you've either wasted your time, or downgraded the quality of your woodwork.

Todd

[Frank Drew]

Todd summed up my thoughts on sanding; it's ever so much easier before assembly and glue up, and you don't end up with cross-grain sanding marks on the rails.