Jun. 12, 09 - 12:58PM
I am trying to make cabinet door frames (will have glass inserts) that end up being flat. These doors will inset into the cabinet frame so any twist to the door frame looks awful. I am using mortise/tenon joints. Poplar wood.
I make sure when gluing up the frame is square and flat to the clamps.
I am wondering if the poplar wood is not stable enough and should use Maple or Oak.
I need 4 good doors, I have 1 good one and 10 bad ones. Help
Submitted: Jnovak
Jun. 12, 09 - 09:43PM
Glad to hear you're making sure that the doors are square and flat as part of the gluing process. Sounds like you know it already, but I'll say it anyway. If the doors are not flat when glued, there's no fixing it.
Poplar should be fine for your doors as long as, like any other solid wood, it's properly dried. I'd expect kiln dried wood I'm using for doors to be about 6-8% moisture content. I've used poplar numerous times for projects, including for glass panel doors. You can check mc with a moisture meter.
From a handling perspective, if you're planing the door material, make sure that you remove equal amounts from both faces and work toward the middle. This helps with stability.
I'd like to know if the door is coming out of the clamps flat, and then "corkscrewing" gradually. If so, I'd point to unstable material. Not from the perspective of material selection, but from a moisture content perspective.
If the doors are already corkscrewed coming out of the clamps, your set up must not be as flat as you think.
Jun. 19, 09 - 02:09PM
I finally decided to make these same doors out of oak to see if there would be a difference. Using oak the doors were perfectly flat. I believe type of wood does make a difference.
Submitted: Jnovak
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