5/4 stock planing

[Greg McCallister]

I am starting to plane some maple for my kitchen cabinets and I made the mistake of getting 5/4 thickness for my rough stock - at least I think I did.
I have only run a few boards but getting 5/4 down to 3/4" is a chore much less the abuse my planner knives get plus having to empty my dust collection barrel (30 gal) like every other board.
Do any of you use 1" stock for face frames and stiles and rails or a combination of 1" face frames and 3/4 for the stiles and rails or ???
Or should I just grin and learn my mistake and carry on, or in other words, this is this pretty much normal stock prep?

[John Lucas]

I think keep planing to 3/4. It may cost you another set of knives and a lot of time but nothing in comparisonto having 1" or a mix for all the rest of the tasks.

[Cary Falk]

Greg,
I worked for a place that made rails and stiles from 1" stock. It made for a more solid door. I guess it would depend on the type of door also. Most of what we did were the 3/8" inset doors. I don't think 1" face frames would make much of a difference unless the 1/4" of cabinet space will kill you. You wouldn't see it once the doors were on. You can also rough cut to size and then resaw on the table/band saw to get close so it is only 1 trip through the planer. That's just my opinion.

[steve reeves]

I had a similar issue a few years ago where a customer provided lumber he'd been "given" by a relative.

I planed and jointed one side to get a flat surface, ran the other side through the band saw to 7/8" and planed it to size.

Obviously I charged the fellow for the extra time to make the lumber useable.

[harry strasil]

3/4 is a modern material thickness, go down to 4/4 and use it, why waste good material and time.

[Steve Nouis]

I'd leave it a 1" or 7/8. I start with 1" and leave it as thick as I can usually a little over 13/16. With 3/4 the back lip and the front profile get thin. Steve

[Jeff Duncan]

I can't imagine why you would want to plane down to 3/4"? I buy all my stock rough and do the milling myself just so I can keep it thicker than 3/4". My doors and FF stock usually finish out at 7/8" and that's as thin as I'd ever want a door to be.
I wouldn't even consider doing what your trying to do, but to each their own I guess? I wouldn't plane it all down though, I would re-saw it close to thickness first and then finish it off with a couple light passes through the planer.
good luck,
JeffD

[john bateman]

I've used 7/8" for face frames and doors. Be sure your rail and stile cutters can accommodate whatever thickness you end up using.

[glenn bradley]

I'll vote bandsaw it to 7/8" and use the spoil for small projects or veneer. Shredding all that lumber is a waste of material and cutters.

[Brad Shipton]

Greg:
If you know you have enough material I would leave them 1" thick, but if you think you might run out and want to change over to 4/4 then I might be tempted to go down to 3/4". If your BS setup is pretty good, you could make some veneer pieces for future use if you do go to 3/4" instead of wasting that amount.

1" thick stock will be easier to get the doors nice and straight since the pieces are stiffer, but be sure to double check you are not creating yourself any hardware problems.

I wouldnt be too concerned about the ordering hickup. It happens to us all I think. I ordered some 6/4 stock once thinking I could make passage door rails/stiles only to learn that most pieces would not quite make 1 3/8" thick.

Brad

Brad

[Steve Clardy]

3/4 is standard for kitchen cab work.

Nothing wrong with going thicker on the faces and doors.

Normal cabinet box depth is 24", so if you went with 1" frames and doors, that would add a 1/2" to your cabinet box depth. 24 1/2"
Counter tops are 25" deep. [standard]

So you would need to do either of 2 things so your counter top would extend over the normal 1/4" on your doors and drawer fronts.

24" box + 3/4" overlay of drawer and doors, = 24 3/4". [standard]

Your boxes with 1" frames and doors would be 25 1/4".

Either extend your counter tops to 25 1/2" depth, or cut your cabinet box sides down a 1/2" in width.

Counter top laminate comes in specific sizes so it will work for 25" counter tops.


I would suggest cutting your cabinet sides down that 1/2" in width.

That shouldn't affect anything depth wise, as drawer slides normally used are 22" long slides.

[Greg McCallister]

Thanks everyone for the replies.
Resawing is not an option as I do not have a bandsaw and I would hate trying to resaw on the table saw.
I think I will try the 1" stock and modify the cabinet panels as suggested.
Live and learn I guess - live and learn...

[Jeff Duncan]

You'll be fine with 1" for your parts, and the only time c-top dimensions come into play is if your trying to use off-the-shelf postform laminate counters. Everything else available is cut/fabricated to size.
good luck,
JeffD

[Warren Clemans]

I would definitely go 1" or 7/8. I've seen a handful of original kitchens in 100 year old houses, and they have thick doors/frames and look much more solid than modern stuff. Why spend a lot of time and effort milling your stock down to 3/4 only to have it look like factory-made stuff?

[Richard M. Wolfe]

I'd go with whatever you can plane to for everything - 7/8" or 1". Just make sure, if you are building as you go, that you have enough 5/4" stock (or can get more).

[Peter Quinn]

I'm building a kitchen at work right now with 1" FF and doors. In my area we use 1" material for custom high end work all the time. The door hardware we use is butt hinges, make sure to get the hardware right if you use euro hardware, you may have to go 7/8" with that, don't know if they have euro hinges for 1" doors? We take the 1/4" off the box depth to keep the counters standard as we don't make those, though you could probably get deeper counters in stone or wood as needed. Make sure your cutters can produce 1" doors. Shapers are not usually a problem, some router sets are. I know Amana makes a set to do up to 1 1/8" doors. Most can do at least 7/8".

All our work is inset, not sure I'd like to see 1" thick overlay doors. On overlay I think 7/8" with the appropriate door edge profile could work but 1" is pushing it for my eye. You might want to set up a sample if your doors are overlay to see how it looks to you.

An added bonus is the visual. Somehow that extra 1/4" makes the work more impressive and 3/4" material starts to seem flimsy! The doors close with a resounding dull thud that says luxary, more like furniture. I'd stop at 1" or 7/8" by all means, or get lots of trash bags for all those fluffy chips.