Hello and HELP!

[Richard Clafton]

I am new to this forum, and new to woodworking in general.

Having spent over 25 years in IT (which was my hobby when I started) I decided it was time for a change, so I have kitted myself out with a workshop and the necessary tools to start a new hobby. Woodworking. This is going totally new to me, but I have decided to throw myself in the deep end and make a hash of it from the start - and learn by my mistakes.

My first project is to re-model our kitchen, and some of that requires me making some kitchen cabinet doors and drawer fronts. I have the router table, the bits I need and the tools to do it, but I lack the knowledge of what type of wood I need and how to buy it. The problem is, I cannot seem to find any wood that comes in widths over 12". And the doors I am trying to copy look to me like 18" and 24" white oak in 3/4" and 1/2" thickness. I can find 12", but nothing wider. So am I interpreting this cabinet door construction wrong? Is this not the wood I think it is? It does not look like Hardwood Plywood, and it has a prominent grain. I cannot see any joins in ANY of the panels on any of the doors, so it looks like a single sheet of wood has been used on the panels. Am I getting this SO wrong?

Can anybody point me the right direction with the photos below?

Best Regards

Richard
Seabrook, Texas

http://www.pughearts.com/forums/sawmillcreek/kitchen008.jpg

http://www.pughearts.com/forums/sawmillcreek/kitchen006.jpg

http://www.pughearts.com/forums/sawmillcreek/kitchen005.jpg

http://www.pughearts.com/forums/sawmillcreek/kitchen004.jpg

http://www.pughearts.com/forums/sawmillcreek/kitchen003.jpg

http://www.pughearts.com/forums/sawmillcreek/kitchen002.jpg

[David DeCristoforo]

Saturday night... everyone must have gone out for beer. But since I am still around, I would like to suggest that you at least do some reading first. You have to glue your panels to width. The fact that you lack even this most basic knowledge would suggest that some learning is in order before attempting what is actually a fairly advanced project. A book on basic woodworking as well as one on cabinetmaking with at least one chapter dedicated to making doors would be a good start. Please don't take this the wrong way. Everyone has to start somewhere!

[Dave Malen]

Richard,
The door's panel may be made of solid wood (many pieces glued together) or MDF. Then a piece of veneer is used to cover the front and back hiding any joints. The rails and stiles are probably solid wood. You will have a difficult time finding wood that is as wide as the door. And if you did it would probably not be flat.
To reproduce the door you will have to buy smaller widths and glue them up to make the panel. Without a jointer and planer this might be impossible.

Maybe somebody else knows a way to do this with limited tooling (I'm assuming you don't have a jointer or planer)

Best,
Dave

[Frederick Rowe]

Richard - Welcome aboard. Re-model your kitchen, eh? Not impossible for a first project, but as basic as kitchen cabinets may be, they require a skill set beyond basic. I'm not sure if you are just talking about making new doors, or complete cabinets. But the pictures you posted look like frame and panel doors.

The frames are made from four pieces - two stiles (the vertical) and two rails. The panel floats in a groove cut in the rail and stiles. For a variety of reasons, even if you had lumber that wide, the panels are glued up from narrower pieces of wood. Perhaps only two, more likely.

Check out the many on-line videos on building panel in frame doors; finewoodworking.com, thewoodwhisperer.com, or tchisel.com.

I've seen some impressive first time efforts, but the kitchen is the heart of the house, and it helps to have something you can walk away from as you run into the inevitable stovepipe jams. It's a hobby, take your time, learn the basics. Your kitchen will be there.

Enjoy the journey.

[Don Morris]

Richard,

First, welcome to one of the finest and most helpful forums I have ever joined. Lots of people here more experienced than me, and they've always been more than willing to give helpful advice. I've made a number of kitchen cabinet doors (raised panel doors) and I learned how to make them from woodworking shows and readings, such as Marc Sommerfeld's catalog and his DVD tittled "Making Raised Panel Doors". I also took a 2 hr course at a Woodcraft facility, but the Sommerfeld DVD would have substituted for that just as well. The Sommerfeld catalog actually goes into adequate detail but the DVD is a thorough visual help for people like me who want the complete nitty gritty. Here is the URL to Marc's site:
http://www.sommerfeldtools.com/.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

I have decided to throw myself in the deep end and make a hash of it from the start - and learn by my mistakes.
Been there - done that - have the bills & quite a bit of the "wrong" equipment" to show for it :D.

Best advice I can give (from my ~ 2 years into it)?

Learn from other people's mistakes!
It's cheaper & a lot easier on the blood pressure ;)

BTW - welcome.
I've learned a ton here in the last two years.

[Rick Fisher]

Cabinet doors may not be the place to start. Every kitchen needs a cutting board. Perhaps build that first?

The main panel will need to be glued up. If you found wood that wide, it would be unlikely to stay flat, or not crack when it dried.

Plan on gluing up 1x4 boards, clamp them, plane, sand, cut..

Good luck. This is about the best place you can come for help. Lots of great people here.

[Richard Clafton]

Thank you one and all for the responses. Amazing. I have been lurking on here for some time, but only joined very recently. I am glad I made the jump.

Reading up on the basics is indeed my next step then. Is there a book that could be recommended? Perhaps some sort of modern woodworkers bible?

Remodelling of the kitchen basically involves tiling and electrics - something I have done quite a lot of - but we want to change some of the single doors to double doors - which is why I picked the making of the new doors and perhaps some new drawer fronts as my first project. I am sure I will become frustrated and have a nice pile of junk wood by the end of it - but I am determined to at least try.

I'll be back to ask more questions.


Regards

Richard

[Richard Clafton]

Please don't take this the wrong way. Everyone has to start somewhere!

Not at all! Totally appreciate your comment and advice taken on board. I have some reading to do.

[Dewey Torres]

See if someone on here can send you that free video by the Woodworkers Guild of America. It goes start to finish, the making of a small cabinet but more importantly, the doors as well.

I am guessing when you say, I have the “right bits”, that you have a cabinet door making set for your router and a flush trim bit at a bare minimum.

Even if you can't get you hands on that video, search the net. There is tons of stuff out there for cabinet doors. The creek will help you with the rest. Just don't rush into it. Take the time to learn how to do it right or get your wallet ready.... actually... get you wallet ready period. Very little in woodworking is cheap. Make sure you let your wife know that as well.

[chris fox]

One good book to buy that has some really nice illustrations is called the
Complete Maunal to Woodworking(albert Jackson).
I have had this for a while and I think it was my first book I bought when I started. It has good description to wood species, how wood is harvested, to tools and most importantly design/construction. Good reference book too. Its an older book(maybe mid 80s) so some of the tool descriptions/pictures are old but it all pertains to modern WWing.
Taunton has good books too most "big box" book stores have them.

Chris

[Richard Clafton]

I am guessing when you say, I have the “right bits”, that you have a cabinet door making set for your router and a flush trim bit at a bare minimum..

I have a router table with a Dewalt 618 Router and a large selection of bits, including the Infintity Cabinet Maker Set http://www.infinitytools.com/prodinfo.asp?number=00%2D102

I will see if I can find the video online, I have already ordered a copy of the one listed further up this thread.... nothing better to do that sit and watch a few videos on a Sunday afternoon!

[Dewey Torres]

http://www.newwoodworker.com/bldraspnldors.html

http://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-plans/home/raised-panel-doors/

http://www.woodcraft.com/videos.aspx (http://www.woodcraft.com/videos.aspx)

http://www.thediysource.com/articles/projectarticles/raised_panel_doors.html

http://web.hypersurf.com/~charlie2/Joinery/RailStile/RailAndStileTOC.html

[Pat O'malley]

Richard, this is a link to FineWoodWorking's video on building cabinets (http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/wall-cabinet/index.asp) including building the doors, the whole series is very easy to understand. Hope it helps good luck. Pat

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

I have a router table with a Dewalt 618 Router and a large selection of bits, including the Infintity Cabinet Maker Set
As a followup to my advice up above - learning from other's mistakes -
have a look at Pat Warner's website.
Not that Pat makes mistakes - the man is a router god!
If there's anyone on the planet that knows more about routers than Pat - they sure do hide it well.

The 618 is on the light side for swinging a large bit (3+") like the Infinity kit has.
You really want something 3hp or more for that.

Yes - you can use the 618,but,,
There's a lot of posts, both here at at routerforums(dot)com by people that have burned out >3hp routers in short order doing so.

[Craig T. Smith]

Richard, Welcome to the Creek and welcome to Woodworking. While a cabinet remodel is an ambitious first project it is possible. Along with all the other good advice I would reccomend that you read up on Safety all you can. Be safe, enjoy And learn. Happy woodworking, Craig

[Jim O'Dell]

Welcome to the Creek, Richard!! I know the feeling of the kitchen remodel. I completely tore the kitchen down to the studs on our first house, thinking it would be a 3 to 4 week job (working evenings and Sundays!!), I started July 4, 1982. We got the counter top on the day before Thanksgiving!! With company coming!!!! Still no doors.
I built some very basic flat panel doors, and hated what they looked like. Part was the tools I had, but mostly it was lack of skill. We went for about 4 or 5 years without cabinet doors. I guess it was that country look some people pay for. :D I finally found a door style we liked, that I felt I had the skills to build. I still messed up in the execution. Something that information from this forum would have prevented for me had it been available. But the doors looked good, and LOML was happy with them.
My suggestion: since you probably need some shop cabinets, use them to learn what you need to learn, and to develop the skills you need. Drawer fronts are pretty easy, especially if you build slab front drawer faces. You can probably use the drawer boxes that are there now and just replace the fronts. Doors are tricky, and require the right clamps, a good flat surface for assembly, and the skill that only comes with making lots of fire wood, you know, the kind that is jointed and sanded. :D But the journey of building things is what is fun and challenging to me. Somehow, I think it will be for you as well! Good luck, and keep us informed on your progress. Jim.

[Richard Clafton]

Hello,
The 618 is on the light side for swinging a large bit (3+") like the Infinity kit has.
You really want something 3hp or more for that.


Yes, I had a conversation with one of the people at Infinity along the same lines. They recommended multiple passes with the 618, which seems to be the common advice. But I think I will be taking the 618 out and replacing it with the Dewalt 625 - or similar Porter Cable unit.

This morning I have been sitting watching online videos, reading many a web page and feeling overwhelmed with the amount of information I am trying to take it. The last time I felt like this was when I started in IT! What fun! Just like being 16 again (except I did not have grey hair back then).

[Jason White]

One of my first books was "The Complete Table Saw Book."

It is published by Landauer Corp. and has many great beginner/intermediate woodworking projects with terrific photo illustrations.

Jason


Thank you one and all for the responses. Amazing. I have been lurking on here for some time, but only joined very recently. I am glad I made the jump.

Reading up on the basics is indeed my next step then. Is there a book that could be recommended? Perhaps some sort of modern woodworkers bible?

Remodelling of the kitchen basically involves tiling and electrics - something I have done quite a lot of - but we want to change some of the single doors to double doors - which is why I picked the making of the new doors and perhaps some new drawer fronts as my first project. I am sure I will become frustrated and have a nice pile of junk wood by the end of it - but I am determined to at least try.

I'll be back to ask more questions.


Regards

Richard