Shaker Doors

[donwon]

I am having to make some basic shaker style doors to add to my kitchen.  They will not match the current cabinets as they are from 1985 and this will be a test to see if I like them.  If I do, I will replace all of the others.

So, my question is I was thinking about making the stile sand rails out of baltic birch plywood.  I was going to increase the width to 2 1/4" and use the Freud adjustable stile router bits.

Any reason why the plywood would not be strong enough?  It is really close to solid wood   Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[erock]

Are you planning on edge banding the doors?

Or use a hardwood to hide the exposed layers of the ply?

The plywood is strong enough to be used as a door, that's no problem. 

Have you searched the Freud catalog for a matching rail and style bit set?  You might be able to match what you have.

Shaker style doors are fairly common.

Eric

 

[donwon]

I was going to paint the doors anyways so the edges should be ok or am I missing something about the plywood.  Being Baltic birch, there should not be any voids either.  The doors I do have are just flat with the oak handle built into a strip along the top or bottom. 

Thanks for the input!

 

[nclemmons]

The variations of grain in the ply will show through most paint finishes.  Plus, the edges will splinter in time.

I would suggest if you are going to the trouble of building new doors to consider either solid wood, or edging the ply with hardwood.  Should you go down this path, you won't need to go with baltic birch and could save some money.

Do you have a drawing?  Is this a solid door that is an overlay, a frame and panel with an inset?  A drawing could help us better advise you on options.

neil

 

[sheeschen]

Having tried something similar with some Appleply (similar in style to Baltic birch), I agree with Neil - the ply will show through on the edges.  I hadn't considered the edges splintering, but just trying to paint the edges in a small test convinced me to try something else.  I was in a hurry, so I edge-banded, then painted.  Holding up ok, but it's only been a few months.

There may be some magic finishing trick they use for the pre-finished birch drawer sides with a small radius - they seem paintable, but I have no idea how they do it.  It's not flat, though, like you'd want for the Shaker doors.

  Scott

 

[kfitzsimons]

I would avoid plywood rails and styles. Solid wood will mill much better when you make the grooves and tongues for assembly. Plus, as mentioned before, you'll have nice smooth edges to paint. You can use ply for the panel though.

 

[Notorious T.O.D.]

I would say go with solid wood door parts using poplar for the styles and rails. Plywood is fine for the panel if it s just a plain flat panel. The poplar will take paint very well.  Basswood would be another relatively inexpensive wood to use in place of poplar, and it takes paint well too.  A bit softer than poplar though.

I would be concerned about the joints of the sties and rails if using plywood assuming you are going to use stub groove and tenon joints without any reinforcement such as Dominos.

Best,
Todd Ferguson
Harrisburg, NC

 

[Nick C]

I would never use plywood for rails and stiles. After you cut them, if they are not flat--and they won't be--there's nothing you can do about it. Solid wood can be planed flat. If you are not raising panels, you can use plywood panels, but finishing is a challenge.

 

[sancho57]

Ive seen ply used for slab kitchen cabinet doors but not used as rail/stiles.

I dont know if the joint would be able to handle the constant banging /slamming abuse a cabinet door gets.

You could reinforce the joints with dowls or a domino.

But personally would use poplar with a ply center panel.

 

[tiralie]

I think it would be an interesting look. Never seen it before.
I would miter the corners and use Dominoes rather than using a cope and stick.
Tim

 

[Brice Burrell]

This isn't going to be helpful to the op but I think some people might be interested.  Here's a video of a guy that uses plywood for stile and rails.  I can't using this method myself but maybe someone out will feel differently.

 

[butzla]

When I make paint grade doors, I use poplar for the rails and styles and MDF for the panel. Both are stable and take paint great.  Poplar machines like buttah.

 

[fshanno]

This isn't going to be helpful to the op but I think some people might be interested.  Here's a video of a guy that uses plywood for stile and rails.  I can't using this method myself but maybe someone out will feel differently.

On the contrary.  It is very helpful.  Maybe not to the OP but to me it is.  Cheap doors have their place. 

The question is, where is this magical flat plywood coming from? 

Also, that was one of those cheap self centering doweling jigs.  Less than $30. I guess they work pretty well. 

 

[ccarrolladams]

When I make paint grade doors, I use poplar for the rails and styles and MDF for the panel. Both are stable and take paint great.  Poplar machines like buttah.

Jim, I hear you about poplar. For years although my specialty is frameless European-style cabinets typically stained, I did very well also making paint-grade framed and frameless cabinets. Often I would make shaker door panels and even raised panels from MDF when the job would be painted, with poplar for the frames.

When I hired a really experience and talented staff of master cabinet makers for my then new shop in 2010, I asked the guy who is our specialist in frames, doors and drawer fronts how much poplar we should inventory. Before the new shop was built we had all decided to primarily purchase hrdwood in rough thick pieces and mill it ourselves to finished size. While working in other shops my Frame Guy had done the same thing.

He suggested that we get quotes on soft maple in rough pieces as opposed to poplar which we could not find at decent prices in rough pieces. It turned out for us the soft maple was quite affordable and competitive with finished poplar. I know the rough material will stay useable for a long time and I cannot be sure how much of what finished material I will need a year from now.

The sort maple can be stained if needed and it takes paint as well as poplar. Our collective experience is for cope and stiles there is far less tear-out and so on with maple compared to poplar. That is also a problem when raising a door made from glued-up commercially milled poplar compared to freshly milled soft maple. Just the reduction in waste and duplicate inventory means these days we use hardly any poplar.

I still love working with poplar, but I also love working with maple. If I can make more money using maple, then my love become fickle.