Phil Thien
04-25-2013, 11:17 AM
My benchtops are typically exterior grade slab doors (solid core). They're pretty inexpensive, stable, flat, smooth. They can sag, but I brace them in the middle so they're fine.
I was ready to replace my current top because I was reconfiguring my shop a bit, the old one was in rough shape, etc. So I went to Home Depot to get a new door.
I pulled a 30x80 off the shelf, looked at both faces ("looks good") and then put it on the lumber cart. That is when I noticed both ends of the door, the top and bottom, were MDF instead of finger-jointed lumber.
I KNOW the inside of the door is crappy particle board. But I had never seen a solid-core door before where any of the edges were anything but real wood!
These doors are exterior-rated. I can't imagine how a door with an MDF edge at the bottom could be used as an exterior door. One bit of water and it would be shot!
That was a Jeld Wen door.
So I went to Menards and found a door with a solid lumber perimeter, and bought that.
But I will also say that the Menards door has a substrate under the veneer that looks to be MDF. In the past I've mostly seen stuff that looked like it had a water-proof glue, it was kinda rough at the edge. This stuff looks just like an MDF edge.
And the veneers are getting so thin, it has got to be the eighth wonder of the world how they slice such thin veneer!
I guess people don't normally use these doors on exteriors any more? So maybe the producers think they can get away with shortcuts.
I'm kinda wondering what I'll find in ten years when I'm ready for another door, LOL.
I was ready to replace my current top because I was reconfiguring my shop a bit, the old one was in rough shape, etc. So I went to Home Depot to get a new door.
I pulled a 30x80 off the shelf, looked at both faces ("looks good") and then put it on the lumber cart. That is when I noticed both ends of the door, the top and bottom, were MDF instead of finger-jointed lumber.
I KNOW the inside of the door is crappy particle board. But I had never seen a solid-core door before where any of the edges were anything but real wood!
These doors are exterior-rated. I can't imagine how a door with an MDF edge at the bottom could be used as an exterior door. One bit of water and it would be shot!
That was a Jeld Wen door.
So I went to Menards and found a door with a solid lumber perimeter, and bought that.
But I will also say that the Menards door has a substrate under the veneer that looks to be MDF. In the past I've mostly seen stuff that looked like it had a water-proof glue, it was kinda rough at the edge. This stuff looks just like an MDF edge.
And the veneers are getting so thin, it has got to be the eighth wonder of the world how they slice such thin veneer!
I guess people don't normally use these doors on exteriors any more? So maybe the producers think they can get away with shortcuts.
I'm kinda wondering what I'll find in ten years when I'm ready for another door, LOL.