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Thread: 2nd attempt at cope and stick

  1. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Rozmiarek View Post
    My opinion of raw MDF raised panels is pretty poor. By the time you mill, then fix the cuts so they won't react horribly to paint, you could have easily just used a piece of solid poplar and been done with it. Every now and then I test that theory and try some painted MDF again, and always come back to the poplar. Plus poplar is lighter, stronger and pretty easy to find in normal cabinet panel widths so you don't have to glue up to make wider stock.
    I can see the appeal of using poplar. I have a good source of that nearby so I'll give it a shot. I am sensitive to dust so I wasn't looking forward to MDF in that regard. So do folks just use spaceballs to manage panel movement? never done it before.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Vancouver Canada
    Posts
    716
    Derek, I have experience in not only Canada (Vancouver, lower humidity but LOTS of moisture from annual rainfall), but also in a very high humidity environment in Israel.
    Renovations (remodelling for American speakers) in bathrooms in Vancouver were almost always spec'd for solid or finger joint material, baseboards especially. Yes, the commercial cabinets are made from faced particleboard, even worse than MDF, but I always asked about the proposed life span of the renovation and/or ownership of the house. If short term, I went the cheaper way (excepting baseboards, that was non-negotiable) with wood substitute. Longer term, wood.
    Most people upgrading their home have a plan for a sauna or steam shower, or, they have children (not baby goats) who splash in younger years and take loooong hot showers as teens. That calls for wood, because one imperfection in the finish including the Eurio hinges are a moisture ingress.
    In Israel, the kitchen and bathroom areas are not subject to localized moisture (it IS desert country where I was) except in the kitchens, but in the Sharon valley it had high natural humidity and the winters were wet and dreary. After 20+ years the original cabinets were more puffy than my face after a 3 hour night sleep, so I insisted on faced plywood. Now, with universal A/C in place, that environmental humidity may be altered enough to keep the cabinet sides and doors good for another 20 years, but, for resale value anywhere unless flipping, why take the chance for what essentially is a few dollars.
    Young enough to remember doing it;
    Old enough to wish I could do it again.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    9,469
    Thanks so much Aaron. Perth is similar, I suspect, to other desert conditions, where the air is dry in summer, and the summers are long. However, this likely makes the moist conditions of a bathroom more of a threat.

    Allowing for movement of the panels in their frames is going to be critical. I got it right with 95% of the doors in the hard maple kitchen, but a couple became gappy, and I had to pull them apart to deepen the groove for the panels. This was possible as I made the solid panels 1/4” throughout, and they simply slid into 20mm thick frames. I guess that I am answering my own question now - just make the grooves deeper.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Western Nebraska
    Posts
    4,680
    Quote Originally Posted by stephen wood View Post
    I can see the appeal of using poplar. I have a good source of that nearby so I'll give it a shot. I am sensitive to dust so I wasn't looking forward to MDF in that regard. So do folks just use spaceballs to manage panel movement? never done it before.
    Spaceballs work fine, other more creative materials also work. Used some pool floater foam one time because I was in a pinch, it's still working fine. Recommend finishing the panels before assembly if possible, then you don't have to worry about a paint line showing if something shrinks.

  5. #20
    space balls made no sense to me, I used 1/4" naughyde car roof padding from upholstery shops. Slices with a knife simple and easy whatever width you want. Your panel should be pinned in the center anyway. I cut the width I want as im doing it, it has way more compression there is always a bit of pressure on the panel edges.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Lake Gaston, Henrico, NC
    Posts
    8,973
    I took apart an original entry door on an 1850 house, because the 15" wide single board panel was showing a crack on one side, and it had so much paint on the outside that it needed to come apart anyway to clean it up. That panel had Beaver fur packed all around the panel. Someone in the 20th Century had pinned it, but the pin was on one side, and that caused the crack problem. I'm not sure if the Beaver fur was originally felted, or poorly felted, but it was all in there with the hairs all perfectly aligned in the same direction.

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