China hutch door warped. Help

[Thom Porterfield]

Hey fellas.
I just finished installing a built-in china hutch and in attaching the doors, I discovered one of them is NOT flat. Because the doors will have glass panels, this is going to be a major issue. Here is an image of the SketchUp model, that shows the size of the doors.
Dining Hutch_SketchUp Model.jpg

Here is a photo of the offending door (the one on the left) which is out of flat by 3/8" to 7/16".
20210323_132008.jpg
The material is QS White oak, 2 1/4" x 3/4". Joinery is bridal joints. Dowel pegged for appearance). Glued with epoxy. I intend to use a bullet catch at the bottom edge of the door. MAYBE the catch will hold the door sort of flat—it doesn't require much force to make the warp go away, but that doesn't remove the possibility of cracking the glass, if even I could get a sheet of glass that large to lay flat in the rabbet. The door frame is finished.

Short of rebuilding the door, is there some way of flattening the frame to remove the warpage?

Thanks in advance.
Thom

[Andrew Hughes]

Is it the door or the hinge. The top hinge is not showing the same as the middle and bottom.
I guess if you have taken the door off and layed it flat on your flat bench. There’s no disputing and I cannot think of a fix.

[Thom Porterfield]

Hey AJ.
Not the hinges. They are really nice Horton Brass, with 3/32 leafs. At the moment, I have just one screw in each, because I will have to demount them to install the glass.

I am surprised I didn't notice it when I was finishing them. Or when cutting the hinge mortises. But I have a leg vise on my bench and it doesn't necessarily clamp things as flimsy as the door flat to the bench front.

I suppose rebuilding the door is in my future. But maybe first, I'll sand off the finish and try using steam, heat, and a bunch of big weights. lol

[Gregory King]

Thom

Have to ask. Is the frame perfectly plumb top to bottom on both sides?. Can you shim the back at the top of one side and the bottom of the other to make up the difference? Should help reduce it quite a bit.

[Thom Porterfield]

Hey Greg.
Yeah, the frame is perfectly plumb (within the limits of a 24" level) and the opening is square. The door is square. It just isn't flat.
And no, I can't shim anything...it fits in the cavity without room for a sheet of gold leaf between the rough frame and the sheetrock.

Besides, if I was able to shim the carcase, the OTHER door wouldn't fit flush like it does now.

[John TenEyck]

If you have the depth for 1/4" glass I think that would pull the door back flat. Steaming, etc. is unlikely to be a permanent fix.

John

[Warren Lake]

was it clamped out of whind or did the style warp. Not fan of 3/4" material on larger or really any doors. Opened high end kitchen doors held by magnets that bend in my hand and are already getting trained to be out of shape. Bullet catches work nice and give a quality sound when they shut. One top and bottom would be nice and hold it in place but wont help you you depending on handle placement and how tight the ball catches are friction wise. If the style had warped you could run a dadoe top to bottom pull it to shape or past and glue a new strip of the same wood in and flush it all up and likely barely show. Are all the hinges in to the same depth as that has an affect as well, one in further will pop the opposite diagonal corner out

[Brice Rogers]

I'm guessing that rebuilding the door my be the only sure way to handle this.

But if the amount of force required to pull it into alignment is low, perhaps a magnetic catch may pull it flat.

[Mel Fulks]

You don’t say if it’s for you or a customer. If I made something like that for myself ,I would probably just leave it. No matter how good the
material is or how good you are at dressing wood it’s best to get the rails out as long as the stiles ,(or a little longer if two rails are shorter than a
stile. Then you dress them all at the same time and use the straightest pieces for the stiles. Some of us who take great pride in accurately
dressing material would have to be more humble without that option.

[Ron Citerone]

You don’t say if it’s for you or a customer. If I made something like that for myself ,I would probably just leave it. No matter how good the
material is or how good you are at dressing wood it’s best to get the rails out as long as the stiles ,(or a little longer if two rails are shorter than a
stile. Then you dress them all at the same time and use the straightest pieces for the stiles. Some of us who take great pride in accurately
dressing material would have to be more humble without that option.

I just learned something that Will come in handy. Thanks Mel.

[Mel Fulks]

Ron, I’m glad I could help. One thing that helps in getting out straight material is before each planer trip , sight down the length for straightness.
Then plane the side that is convex. If the stuff is straight after a pass then you should plane the other side.

[Bruce King]

Whatever you decide don’t forget that it must be tempered glass. Leave space for the wood to move without breaking the glass.

[William Hodge]

If this is for your house, you could try laminating it.

Hollow out the stile, insert a 3/16" piece of wood in it with Titebond 3, and clamp it flat. Titebond 3 sets up a little slower than Titebond 2. It's like making a bent lamination, but the wood is being bent to flat.
Use a flat surface as a base. Pad the top a lot to spread the force of the clamps. I use hardwood the full length, several layers, and a pipe clamp every 6".

If it's for a customer, it's a re-make.

[John TenEyck]

Whatever you decide don’t forget that it must be tempered glass. Leave space for the wood to move without breaking the glass.

Safety (tempered or laminated) glass is only required in passage doors. It's certainly a good idea for large cabinet doors, but not a legal requirement.

John

[Brice Rogers]

I'm wondering if all of the four pieces of wood are each very flat and not curved. If each board is flat, that would suggest that the problem is at the joints. I see dowels at the joints. If they were pinned and not glued, that would make it much easier to correct. But if they are glued, perhaps you just saw out the two shorter pieces (the top and bottom) and re-do them. Just a thought....