Rip 1x4s or use 1x2s?

[Rob Blaustein]

I need to make some aprons for a set of upper kitchen cabinets and was planning to make them 1 1/2 inches wide (3/4" stock). The cabinets are painted white and we bought some matching paint for the aprons (and some end panels that I'll make later). Two questions:

1. Would you prime and paint a 1x4 and rip it into 1.5" strips or buy 1x2s (eg 3/4 by 1 1/2), prime and paint those, and not have to worry about sawing. My thought was that it would be easier to paint (and sand) one 1x4 than two 1.5" strips.

2. I finally took the plunge and bought a sprayer (Earlex 5000) since I will need to paint several more panels and I've gotten tired of trying to roll or brush a big panel. I have no experience with sprayers so don't have a feel for how much of a pain the setup and cleaning will be. If you had a sprayer would you use it for this purpose or just brush? The cabinet doors and drawers have a very nice smooth finish, probably sprayed at the factory.

--Rob

[Gary Herrmann]

With Borg 1x or 2x material, I'd buy wider and rip. You should be able to be selective to avoid most of the twist etc if you're cutting for kitchen cabinet size.

[Pete Stack]

With Borg 1x or 2x material, I'd buy wider and rip. You should be able to be selective to avoid most of the twist etc if you're cutting for kitchen cabinet size.

Agreed. Rip and plane so you know you've got straight, square stock to work with. The time you take to square everything up will be time saved trying to make stock that isn't true look good.

You'll probably save on aspirin, too, since working with wood from a borg without squaring it up will only get you headaches.

[Howard Acheson]

My recommendation is to purchase Andy Charron's Spray Painting. Amazon will have it. It will tell you how to set up your spray equipment, when and how to thin the material and then how to spray effectively.

You don't just fill up the can and pull the trigger. There are some things to learn and know. Then you should practice on cardboard cartons until you become familiar with your equipment and learn the process and steps to spraying.

[Charlie Plesums]

Since I presume you want hardwood, why are you looking for dimensional lumber? I buy hardwood in random widths and lengths (at a FAR lower cost than dimensional lumber), and rip/joint/plane as required.

It also sounds like you want to paint a wider board, and then cut it in half, leaving one side of the board unfinished. Why? Isn't that asking for warp and similar troubles?

[Joe Jensen]

DO NOT TRY THIS WITH BORG "WHITE WOOD". We had a quick and dirty project to build a few years ago, 10 booths constructed to look like they were kids's lemonaid stands built by kids. We priced the 1*6 and 1*3 and the BORG and it was cheaper to rip the 1*6 stock down. We had maybe 100 boards so we ripped them down and left them on the driveway and went into the house for a quick lunch. Wen we went back outside 30 minutes later, they were so incredibly warped that fully 50% were unusable. As they ripped they moved a ton, and just drying in the sun for 30 minutes warped them an unimaginable amount. There was some 6 foot long boards that when one end was clamped to a bench, the other end was 2 feet above the bench and 10" shifted to the side.

I can't speak for hardwoods from the BORG, but the whitewood could just as well be called wet wood...joe

[Rob Blaustein]

I was planning on using poplar from either HD, Lowes, or local lumber yard (they all look the same to me). So are folks saying that using a piece of 3/4 by 1 1/2 would prevent some warping/twist that would occur if I ripped the wider piece down? I guess another option would be ply but then I'd have to deal with the edge somehow. I figured the poplar would be ok, especially since the longest piece would be maybe 3 1/2 feet.

Sounds like this may not be the project to break out the sprayer...

[Rob Blaustein]

It also sounds like you want to paint a wider board, and then cut it in half, leaving one side of the board unfinished. Why? Isn't that asking for warp and similar troubles?

Charlie--I was planning to paint the entire 1x4 before ripping so the only unfinished part would be the ripped edges. I figured that I didn't need to worry about them since they butt up against the cabinet.

[Gary Herrmann]

Rob, Joe may be referring to poplar in his post.

[Peter Quinn]

If your going to use poplar (or any wood) from the big box be selective and use plenty of screws, because that stuff is going to move. Its rarely ripped to consistent width, its rarely planned to consistent thickness, and it usually has no paint grade 'A' face. Typically they leave wicked scalloped planner marks (which happens when they run the molder too fast to keep the cost down) that are a pain to remove w/o a drum sander or wide belt. And planning may not be an option because often they are a bit light of .750" to begin width. I did a job for a contractor using Borg wood he provided last summer and am all too familiar with it.

I used to work a 7 head molder for a good millwork shop and we made S4S for people. Believe me, the borg sells crap in every way and they are charging a premium for it. If at all possible start with rough or skim planned 4/4 from a good hardwood supplier, or purchase quality s4s from a good lumber yard or hardware store. Even a 1X3 from a good source is preferable.

If using dimensioned lumber I would neither start with 1X2 nor split 1X4 to get to 1 1/2", I'd start with 1X3 , joint an edge, sand while wide enough to support your ROS, then rip parallel, then lightly joint that edge if necessary to remove saw marks or just go to sanding the visible edge with a sanding block. Ripping any piece of KD poplar in half is likely to result in movement that will prove problematic for cabinet grade work. Poplar is $2/bf, too cheap to play games. Buy it 1/2" to 1" wide and use the rips to start a nice camp fire. Painting comes LAST, after all millwork operations and final sanding is done. That's a pretty conspicuous height and placement to wind up with scratches in your finished goods.

[Peter Quinn]

Another thought:

I'm using soft maple for most paint grade work now. If you can source it its far more durable for contact surfaces like doors, face frames and aprons than poplar and a bit more stable too. It takes a beautiful painted finish, a bit more closed grain and smooth than poplar. Its about $3.20/BF here but worth the expense for work you have to live with.