Replies

1. 
   JohnWW | Aug 22, 2006 07:09pm | #1

   Those are very big doors, especially compared to their thickness, and the bigger the door, the more that wood movement affects their staying flat and I suspect that wood movement because of moisture gain or loss is at the heart of your problem.

   I don't have a good solution for your problem, but steaming isn't likely to work and it will probably ruin the glue in the joints and make the paint peel. 

   The one chance that you can hope for is that the doors will naturally flatten out as they gain or lose some moisture once the piece is moved into the house.  You'll probably know if this is going to work after the piece has been in place indoors for a few weeks. 

   But if the piece is in an environment where there are humidity swings throughout the year, then the doors will flatten and then twist again as the seasons change, they may even twist in the opposite direction.  In addition to seasonal moisture change, the doors will probably be under additional stress because the heat from the electronics will make the moisture levels inside the cabinet relatively drier than the air outside.

   Your basic problem is your choice of grain orientation for the door frames, especially for the 45" long stiles.  For a door like this, the wood must be quarter sawn and absolutely straight grained for the doors to be reliably stable and warp free.  In addition, just to be safe, the wood for the frames should be cut slightly oversized and stickered in the shop and watched for as long a time as is practical, over a few weeks to a few months, to make sure it isn't prone to twisting and warping with changes in moisture.

   If addition the panels should be either glued up out of narrow stock, 2" to 3" wide strips with alternating grain orientations, or made from lightweight MDF, so that the panels won't warp and twist the frame.

   I guess you can see where I'm headed with this, the only good solution is to make new doors with careful attention to the wood grain in addition to careful joinery.  I've been in the same situation and painfully learned this the hard way myself.

   John

    

1. 
   johnprose | Aug 24, 2006 04:34pm | #2

   John,

   Thanks for the feedback, although most of the techniques you suggested I had already followed. The only exception would be the panels. I could have joined more boards up to make these panels.

   In discussing the doors with my customer, I think that I may have stumbled on two causes. First, my customer stored these doors unfinished in his 110 degree (and humid!) garage for about 6 weeks while he painted them, AND he leaned them up against a wall for the whole time. They were not laying flat during this time when temperature ranged from 60 at night to 110+ during the day with varying humidity.

   Also, I made sure that the panels were able to float in the frame, but he put so many coats of latex on them that they are no longer able to move.

   My solution has been to raise the moisture content of the doors to about 16% by placing them in my humid bathroom with the hot shower running. I then placed them in a flat clamping system to over-flatten them while encased in a plastic bag with a humidifier for 3 days at 110 degrees. I have taken them out and now have them at 50% RH clamped flat for several more days. So far, they are flat.

   If after a week, they don't stay flat, I'll have to remake them and stress to my customer how to paint them.

   Thanks for your help.