Exterior Storm Door

[Larry Reimer]

I got a reasonable deal on some 8/4 cherry and will use it for a new storm door. It's dry and straight. Is it worth my while to resaw it in half length wise, flip one half, and re-glue the halves together to help with wood movement, twisting or warping? I've got plenty of thickness to work with since the finish product will be 1 1/2" thick. What do you think? Thank you.

[Peter Quinn]

What do I think? I think thats not going to go well. Splitting 8/4 into two pieces over length rarely yields straight boards, that whole splitting/flipping/regluing thing sounds like a lot of work, lots of risk and not much potential for gain. I'd skip the whole thing. If you are really worried about dead straight pieces and have lots of inexpensive wood, make staves, at least for the stiles. But on a storm door...I'd skip that too. Just flatten your boards well and give the finished product a good finish. Most of the movement will be across the grain, gap the storm properly, it shouldn't move enough to cause issues. Cherry is reasonably stable and supposedly reasonably durable exterior though it rarely gets used for exterior. I made some doors and windows from it at the last job, seemed to hold up decent, stayed stable enough as I recall when visiting the residence for other work some months later.

[Matt Day]

I think you're overthinking it.

[Larry Reimer]

Thanks for the feedback, it's certainly appreciated. On to getting the boards surfaced and then start on the joinery.