Replies

1. 
   JohnWW | Apr 07, 2006 12:05am | #1

   A few questions:

   Are the drawers and doors wide glued up panels, or T+G with battens, or are they frame and panel?

   How are the drawers mounted in the cabinet, are they track mounted or do they rest on the bottom of the drawer sides?

   What are the dimensions and which way does the grain run if they are solid panels?

   If they are frame and panel, how wide are the rails and stiles?

   If they are T+G with battens, I'll need to know the distance between the outer edge of the side pieces and the nearest screws or nails that join the side pieces to the battens.

   Last question: Do you have any idea how dry the wood is?  Here in New England most furniture has dried out and shrunk considerably after a full winter of being exposed to furnace heated air, what kind of conditions have the drawer and doors been exposed to in your shop?

   John White, Shop Manager, Fine Woodworking Magazine

    

1. 
   Tucson | Apr 07, 2006 02:43am | #2

   Many thanks for getting back. Here the answers to your questions.1. The drawer false fronts are small -- 6inches ht x at most 25 inches wide. One piece of 1 inch pine.The door fronts are also small -- at most 15 inches wide by 20 inches tall. Also solid pine, and at most two pieces laminated togeter to get the 15 inch width, with two pine battens to keep doors straight.For both the drawer fronts and doors, the grain runs the long way.2. The drawers are mounted on Blum under-drawer trachs3. I think the wood is quite dry. I bought it at Woodworkers' Supply, and they said the pine boards, D Select, were kiln dried and had been sitting in their store (Tucson -- in the desert!) for several months. I've had the boards home about a week, and under cover, but still expoed to Tucson's desert air. I suppose our humidity this time of year is less than 15 percent.I'm not sure of humidty conditions in the Black Hills of SD where these cabnets will end up, but I think in general it's a low humidity climate -- though not as low as Tucson.Many thanks!Tucson

1. 
   JohnWW | Apr 11, 2006 08:07pm | #4

   Tuscon,

   Sorry for taking so long to get back to you, but the internet system here wasn't allowing me to log on for a couple of days.

   First of all, wood moves very little lengthwise with the grain, so the ends of the drawers and top and bottom of the doors can be fitted closely, a sixteenth is adequate.

   Being your wood is starting at a very low humidity, I'd calculate wood movement based on a gain in moisture of at least 8%, which would cover moving the finished piece to all but the dampest climates.

   Flat sawn pine moves .002" per inch for each 1% gain in moisture, so for the doors you would multiply the doors width, 15 inches, times the moisture change, 8%, times the movement of .002": 15 x 8 x .002 = .24", about a quarter of an inch.  The battens won't appreciably hinder the woods expansion so you should plan on leaving at least a full quarter of an inch on the latch side of the doors when you mount them. 

   The calculation for the drawers would be 6 x 8% x .002 = .10, a little less than an eighth of an inch.

   Because the drawers are bottom mounted, all of the expansion will be upward, so you should leave a 1/8" gap at the top.  The bottom gap can be smaller, whatever looks good and prevents the bottom edge from dragging against the face frame.

   Hope this helps, if anything isn't clear, please ask follow up questions.

   John White

    

    

1. 
   Tucson | Apr 13, 2006 02:21am | #5

   JohnWW,What a great answer! Right to the issue, science based, clear. Thank you!Tucson

1. 
   JohnWW | Apr 13, 2006 02:24am | #6

   tuscon,

   My pleasure to help, you are welcome.

   John

2. 
   MBerger | Apr 07, 2006 03:16am | #3

   We published an article about a year ago that might be of help. The author had a few good tips for building and installing inset doors.

   Here's the link: http://www.taunton.com/FWN/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=24132