Making mission doors

[Brian Penning]

Trying to make up my mind which is the better method to go with for making the rails and styles for 8 mission style doors...
They'll all be in qtrsawn oak.

1. Laminate 2 pieces of 3/4" stock. Heck of a lot of dressing lumber involved & then the gluing and then the dressing all over again.
It'd be more expensive than method 2. Also, I'm not sure if it would matter from an aesthetics point of view.
I'm assuming I'll get somewhat more stability with this method.

2. Simply use 2" thk stock.

Thoughts?
TIA for any and all replies.

[Richard Shaefer]

Trying to make up my mind which is the better method to go with for making the rails and styles for 8 mission style doors...
They'll all be in qtrsawn oak.

1. Laminate 2 pieces of 3/4" stock. Heck of a lot of dressing lumber involved & then the gluing and then the dressing all over again.
It'd be more expensive than method 2. Also, I'm not sure if it would matter from an aesthetics point of view.
I'm assuming I'll get somewhat more stability with this method.

2. Simply use 2" thk stock.

Thoughts?
TIA for any and all replies.

method 1 is the way to go, it's more stable and it's actually the cheaper way over method 2 (true 2x furniture grade lumber is $$$). I built 11 doors this way, and to be honest, all the milling and gluing kinda sucks, but at least you can gang clamp the stiles and rails during glue-up and get all the final milling out of the way, first.

[Gary Kman]

Jewelry box doors or aircraft hanger doors?

[Chad Bender]

method 1 is the way to go, it's more stable and it's actually the cheaper way over method 2 (true 2x furniture grade lumber is $$$).

That depends on where you are located and what your local supplier is charging. The premium I pay for 8/4 stock is only slightly above the 4/4 & 5/4 price. The extra waste from planing 2x 4/4 would likely make it a wash.

[Richard Shaefer]

That depends on where you are located and what your local supplier is charging. The premium I pay for 8/4 stock is only slightly above the 4/4 & 5/4 price. The extra waste from planing 2x 4/4 would likely make it a wash.

Even if it's the same price, you're likely going to have more waste cutting out blemishes in the solid wood where you can choose clearer sticks from the 4/4 stock and hide flaws in the glue-up face.

The laminated glue-up is more dimensionally stable, too.

[Chris Hedges]

Im curious as to what makes this more dimensionally stable. Can you explain this please?

Chris

method 1 is the way to go, it's more stable and it's actually the cheaper way over method 2 (true 2x furniture grade lumber is $$$). I built 11 doors this way, and to be honest, all the milling and gluing kinda sucks, but at least you can gang clamp the stiles and rails during glue-up and get all the final milling out of the way, first.

[Chad Bender]

Im curious as to what makes this more dimensionally stable. Can you explain this please?

Chris

Me too.

Although, i guess the 'doors' under discussion need a bit more description. As Gary asked, cabinet doors, house doors, Starship Enterprise Cargo Bay doors?

I have no trouble finding 8-12' lengths of 8/4 stock 8-10" wide that are clear on both sides. But I also live in domestic hardwood nirvana.

[Sam Murdoch]

Jewelry box doors or aircraft hanger doors?

One shouldn't assume right?

[Sam Murdoch]

I'm with Chris and Chad as to asking why the laminated is more stable. If you properly prep the stock to be flat and straight there should be no advantage using 2 thicknesses of thinner stock. The laminated stock will allow you (possibly) to make the best selection out pile of lumber, but price and quality being nearly equal thick to thin - I'd go thick.

[Brian Penning]

Hmmmm....I thought stating the lumber was 2" thick would more or less indicate the type of door but...anyway, yes, this is for interior doors.

Further research by me seems to show that if you laminate the 2 pieces it yields a stronger, more stable door frame, which has less tendency to warp or distort over time -you can have the 2 pieces with the growth rings opposing each other.
1 other point is how much of a factor using qtrsawn lumber will help with the stability.

[Chris Hedges]

Laminating 2 pieces of wood together simply makes it act like one piece of wood. Particularly since you arent cross laminating. Furthermore, you have no growth rings to oppose each other since it is quartersawn lumber. Where have you read that it will give you a stronger frame?

Chris

[Chad Bender]

I agree with Chris, for quartered oak I don't see any stability improvements from a laminated board over a solid board. Quartered oak is very stable, which is one of the prime reasons it was used in mission furniture. The only reason I see for making a laminate in this case is if the price dictates it.

My local guy charges a $0.50 premium for 8/4 over 4/4. Groff and Groff wants a $1.50 premium, although they also sell 6/4, which might be sufficient for your door. Hearn wants a $2.25 premium, which is likely more than I'd pay.

Glue and time are not free. Consider how much additional work prepping, gluing, clamping, waiting etc you'll need on the laminated stock.

[Richard Shaefer]

Quartersawn is good, but it's still not as truly dimensionally stable as something like rift sawn (unless you pick the wood very, very carefully) or a lamination. All solid wood moves and twists over time, and if you laminate two sticks together, then you get a bonded break between the grain and the pieces will fight each other to stay stable. This is most useful where the conditions will be different on either side of the door, and the two pieces will equalize each other, like if you have a kid who likes to sleep with the window open, or if you have a basement door, or a door into a bathroom. Pretty much every door in my house, now that I think of it.

[John TenEyck]

The most stable construction is this way, also the cheapest if your time is free.

[joe milana]

According to the "pro's", this is:
Photo_InteriorDoor_StaveCore.gif

After reading several threads on woodweb, and several emails, the consensus seems to be that most custom door makers won't make a "solid wood" door due to the unpredictability in large quantities. Even the guy's making "one -off" doors (at least the ones I consulted) won't do it, even if requested. The minimal they will do is make the core out of the same wood (ie. walnut) as the veneer. Then they can say it's a "solid walnut" door.