I thought I’d try using MDF panels instead of plywood in a flat-panel, Craftsman-type door, but the 1/2″ thick MDF isn’t fitting well in the grooves in the door stiles and rails. A piece of 1/2″ plywood slides in nicely, but the MDF takes some coaxing. I wonder if the MDF, which was being stored till today in an unheated but covered lumber yard, is a bit swollen from humidity (I’m on the west coast of Canada).
Has anyone any experience with MDF in this kind of application?
Replies
I'm guessing here, but I imagine the MDF is truly 1/2" and the plywood is 1/32 undersized, thus the reason why it fits better. Plywood today is undersized for some weird reason. But we call a 1.5 x 3.5 a 2 x 4. Go figure. Tom
ctsjr82 and trichards
You are right that the plywood may be undersized. If the panel was manufactured in Canada, the chances are excellent that the measurement is actually metric. As far as materials made in the USA, the USA be going metric one day...whenever...so it may be that even US made panels can now be metric sized sometimes.
As far as the particleboard swelling; absolutely that can happen. It is a material that absorbs humidity very well. JL
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