laminating maple for door frames

bgren | Posted in General Discussion on November 7, 2022 04:05pm

Was given a load of 1/2 x 4 “hard maple that was used for trim. Besides the extra work involved, do you think laminating it and milling it down to 3/4” thickness to be used as cabinet door frames would cause any problems ?

Replies

gulfstar | Nov 07, 2022 04:35pm | #1
It would actually make it more stable .
_mj_ | Nov 07, 2022 05:34pm | #2
Pay attention to the rings and mill it evenly on both faces and it should be just fine. Let the glue dry for a long time before you start.
john_c2 | Nov 08, 2022 04:44am | #3
What those guys said.

But, if it were me, I'd see if I have another use for 1/2" maple, and buy some new stock for the door frames. Laminating is a bunch of time, work and mess.
bgren | Nov 09, 2022 05:43pm | #4
appreciate it guys !
pantalones868 | Nov 09, 2022 08:07pm | #5
You've already acknowledged that there is work involved ,you have it why not use it? I do alot of laminating in my work- the "mess" isn't really a mess once you figure out what's involved and how to handle it. It's just part of the process. The time involved really depends on your set up. If your doing a lot of stock you can only do as much as can be done with your clamping arrangement. The old saying that you can never have enough clamps is especially true when your laminating. I have easily a couple of hundred clamps and there are times that I wish I had one more! So there is the wait time between glue ups. I'll build a press for bend lamination- say for table legs. I don't build four and since there can be a great deal of tension Ill leave it in the press for 24 hours. So one a day for four days.
I have my preferred glues of plastic resin, hot hide or unibond but straight stock with no tension something like titebond and preferably titebond three should do fine. Laminate wider than your finished piece in the event that you get some side creep, make up a sled to rip one edge straight so that you can get a clean edge and you don't have to bother with scraping blobs of dried glue on the edges ,let the tablesaw do it.
Lumber is money,time is money you just have to do your own accounting to figure out which works best for you. If the wood was free nothing beats free for cheap!
johngi | Nov 10, 2022 07:27am | #6
2 ply laminations have a tendency to twist. They do stabilize, but it takes longer than you would think. It isn't just the glue curing, the introduced moisture has to even out. If the pieces have to be flat, they may need to be face jointed. I saw this in the door industry with 4/4 plants laying up 8/4 rails.