I’m going to build some interior doors with red oak, using mortise and tenon joinery. Does 6/4 or 7/4 straight-grained red oak have the dimensional stability not to twist or warp, or should I consider laminating two 4/4 boards?
Also, does 6/4 generally clean up (plane) to a thickness that I can build the frame and panel doors, then have them finish sanded to 1 3/8″?
Kreuzie
Replies
Lamination is good
I agree with Dusty in your wood selection. I would, however, laminated the stiles ( two boards glued together flat with crowns opposing). This would make a good door even better.
I've built quite a few doors over the years. Keeping all the parts flat and square is the key to a flat door.
Have fun,
Bret
Kreuzie,
My experience is that using rough 6/4 stock if selected carefully would be your best bet for getting straight boards for your doors. Straight grain stock is not only stability better but, in my opinion looks better for your doors. Laminating two boards seems like a lot of work, if you are worried about the cleanup dimension buy 8/4 stock it will save you a lot of time and work over laminating 4/4 stock. I always buy rough stock and with carefull selection, it yields a thicker dimension than mill finished wood. When working with rough lumber I always go slow and mill to clean up, then sticker the wood for a week or two to do it's natural movement. Then milling to final dimension normally yields a stable board.
Another argument for laminating the stiles
All,
You can get 1-3/8" thick door stile from 4/4 stock that has already been thickness planed. Even if you use boards that have more bow than you can get out with the joiner. By gluing them up with somewhat equal opposing bows the glue ups will come out fairly flat and should clean up nice and flat by jointing and planing. It doesn't take much time. You can glue up a stack of stiles in the afternoon and they will be ready for milling in the morning.
The cost of the 4/4 stock is usually lower then the thicker material. Also by gluing up the stiles one can use the boards that have been passed over by the board snobs who only use "perfect" material and you can use boards that have some character. While I would not recommend using material with any visible checking, if a surface check should develop in a laminated stile you are insured that it will not split all the way through.
I don't feel it is nearly as important to laminate the rails as they are much shorter, but you can if you want. I've also built doors that required different wood species on the two sides.
Finally, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You can only see one side of a door at a time without a mirror. I always look at the edge of a door to see if the maker took the extra effort to laminate the stiles.
The photo is of a pair of doors I built using laminated stiles. They were 14 feet tall and 1-3/4" thick and were very flat.
Bret
bret,
those 14 footers must have been pure anxiety to hang. closest i ever got was a pair of 8' solid oak slab doors. took two of us two days.
yours is the first time i have heard the idea of laminating 4/4 stock for stiles. makes great sense and i may try it next time it comes up.
eef
one big unit
Eef,
I also built the surrounding window re-light unit, so it went in as one big pre-hung fairly rigid unit (minus the glass). It took a few guys to get it in the opening but once the weight was off it was just a matter of tweaking it until the reveals all lined up right. That one went easy. It doesn't always work out that way.
Bret
No expert.. But I have made many doors. I would choose white oak that was quarter sawn.. Period! Other woods will work BUT QS is what you really need. My opinion only. And then again you could always use old Mahogany.
You are an expert.
Willgeorge,
If you have built many doors then why wouldn't you consider yourself an expert? Although a very good choice, I was just curious why you would limit your wood choice to just quarter sawn white oak?
I've built many doors from verticle grain fir. Also I've used a variety of different woods laminated to a v.g. fir core.
Bret
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