Cabinet Door Rail/Stile Thickness?

[Derek Arita]

Well, I'm nearing the end of a book case build. All I have left are some doors on the bottom section of the cases. I have some 3/4" HD birch stock that is slightly twisted/warped. I'm thinking I should be using the flattest stock possible so that the paneled doors stay flat. They are inset doors, so even more important.
Now, if I joint and plane the 3/4" stock, it will come out thinner than 3/4". I'll be using Blum type hinges. How thin can I go on the stock, so get it flat? How flat must it be for the doors to work? Should I go overlay doors for the forgiveness?

[Mike Wilkins]

From personal experience, that twisted stock will fight you all the way. Jointing and planning will give you thinner stock, and may still be unruly to work. To find out how thin you can go with the stock and still use cup hinges, measure the height below the flat plate of the hinge to give you an idea of how deep you can drill for the cup.
Good luck and try not to use too much colorful language in the process.

[Wayne Lomman]

16mm is usually the limit but as Mike said, the timber will probably give you grief. It will be a question of how much they twist. It only takes a fraction of twist in a component to throw it all out. If you really can't justify purchasing anything straight, cut your components, lay them out dry on a flat surface and hand fit each joint. Cheers

[Cary Falk]

Get it flat and then glue 2 pieces together. The laminated board will stay flatter then a solid piece. Since they are inset, you won't see the joint.

[lowell holmes]

If you can obtain another board, I would do so.

[Mike Cutler]

Derek

Brutal honesty?
You're too far into the project to hurry to the finish line with crappy wood.
Unless you really have to use that specific birch for coloring, buy some new material for the doors.

[Doug Dawson]

Derek

Brutal honesty?
You're too far into the project to hurry to the finish line with crappy wood.
Unless you really have to use that specific birch for coloring, buy some new material for the doors.

Amen. Good advice.

[Derek Arita]

Derek

Brutal honesty?
You're too far into the project to hurry to the finish line with crappy wood.
Unless you really have to use that specific birch for coloring, buy some new material for the doors.

Not brutal at all. I know you're right, but I hate to waste what I've already purchased. When wood was cheaper, I used to buy 1 or 2 inch planks and dimension everything down to size, flat and straight. In my retirement, I cheap out at HD and try to buy just what I need to get by. Sometimes the boards twist while they sit in my garage. Other times, it's slim pickens at HD and I try to make do with the pretzels they have. I know...baby violins...

[Mike Cutler]

I know...baby violins...

Not at all my friend. We've all been there., and will be there again, and again.
For me to source quality materials, it's a 140 mile round trip, through Hartford CT.
I run into this same dilemma on every project, trying to use what I already have, just to avoid that drive. ( Hartford traffic is the pits!!)

[Dan Hahr]

Buying wood at HD is definitely not the cheap way. Horribly over priced. Find a cabinetmaker and figure out wher they are buying their wood.

Dan

[John TenEyck]

+1. The BF price at HD is likely at least 3X what you would pay for rough lumber. I buy most of my hardwood from a local millwork shop, with no minimum and I can sort through the stack. It took awhile to cultivate the relationship, and I don't abuse the privilege. If you don't have a local hardwood outfit, look at millwork and cabinet shops and see if you can buy from one of them. This is a little different from what Dan advised. In my area there are several distributors that only sell to incorporated businesses, which leaves me out. So I had to go downstream and buy from one of their customers. Of course I pay more for wood than they do, but it's still very reasonably priced.

Another point. Most of the hardwood lumber I see at my local HD is very good as far as being flat goes. And it's dry. If it's turning into banana chips in your shop then I would look at the conditions in your shop, and how you are storing and letting it acclimate.

John

[Lee Schierer]

Unless you have a specific reason to use 3/4" material for your panels, I would recommend using 1/4" material. Birch plywood should be relatively easy to locate or you could resaw what you have and plane it down to 1/4". You may be able to eliminate the twist/warp during your glue up and the thicker rails and stiles should hold the 1/4" material in place.

[Mike Tagge]

Yeah, you are better served buying straight wood to begin with. Warped wood will fight you all the way. For big doors on paint grade, I usually only fake it because of warping issues ( or charge excessively to get thick stock and custom mill it to the flatness I need). Fake it how, you might ask? I start with 1/2 MDF which is dead flat and paints super nice. I hate the stuff but it has it's uses. I laminate a faux 1/4" rail and stile with the profile. Then I edgeband. Flat door on the cheap.

If it's stain, if you can get only 3/4 warped, then you will have to do a glueup. Mill your 3/4 to flat, glue it up, then plane it to 3/4. Just make sure the seam is hidden somewhere behind where the panel starts.

[Derek Arita]

Never thought about doing it with a lamination. Great idea and yes, that's on the cheap, but at least it won't show and will still get me to 3/4" flat. Thanks so much.

[Dan Hahr]

It will show on the edge. Some wood was not destined to become furniture. It seems to me that you are talking about less than 10 dollars worth of wood.

Dan

[Derek Arita]

Well, ended up going to a lumber supplier I read about online. It had good reviews for quality and price. I got a nice piece of rough birch at $3.95/BF. How does that price compare?
Got all my rails and stiles out of that one board, with very little to spare. I guess for the extra $20, the doors will be straight and save me a lot of heartache.

[Matthew Hills]

And you also have a new wood source now, as well. Sounds like a good choice to me.

(My first frame and panel door doesn’t sit quite flat because I was trying to work around some twist in HD poplar.)

Matt

[Robert Engel]

Twisted? Don't use it!

Try to find rift or quarter sawn stock for stiles.