I plan to make cabinet doors out of some 4/4 lumber that I have . The panel
doors will be 3/4" when finished. My question is: to what dimension should
I plane and join the boards initially? Should I plane the lumber to the
finished 3/4" and then glue up the panels? In the past I have left a little
extra, i.e. 7/8", glued up the panels, and then planed them down to the
finished 3/4" dimension. This made a real smooth joint where the pieces
were glued together. But I wonder if I am wasting time planing twice?
What do you do?
On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 16:46:18 GMT, "Gary in Virginia"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>I plan to make cabinet doors out of some 4/4 lumber that I have . The panel
>doors will be 3/4" when finished. My question is: to what dimension should
>I plane and join the boards initially? Should I plane the lumber to the
>finished 3/4" and then glue up the panels? In the past I have left a little
>extra, i.e. 7/8", glued up the panels, and then planed them down to the
>finished 3/4" dimension. This made a real smooth joint where the pieces
>were glued together. But I wonder if I am wasting time planing twice?
>
>What do you do?
>
it kind of depends on what equipment you have. if your thickness
planer or sander is wide enough to take the whole panel, do the glueup
as thick as you can. this gives you bigger faces being glued, which is
more forgiving of alignment errors and easier to clamp up straight. if
the panel won't fit through your machine, do subassemblies that will,
get the thickness as close as you are comfortable with and finish by
hand.
"Gary in Virginia" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I plan to make cabinet doors out of some 4/4 lumber that I have . The
>panel doors will be 3/4" when finished. My question is: to what dimension
>should I plane and join the boards initially? Should I plane the lumber to
>the finished 3/4" and then glue up the panels? In the past I have left a
>little extra, i.e. 7/8", glued up the panels, and then planed them down to
>the finished 3/4" dimension. This made a real smooth joint where the
>pieces were glued together. But I wonder if I am wasting time planing
>twice?
>
> What do you do?
>
I make the frames as thick as they will go. Normally that's around 7/8
after straightening and planing. Panels can be, and often are less than
3/4. Since they're glue-ups, it's a great place for the boards with wane
removed to be matched, or for under thickness dog boards.
I use hand planes after the glue-ups, but with Bessey clamps and a good
jointer, there's seldom much to do.
Gary in Virginia wrote:
>
> Good idea! Don't bother planing until after glue up. That'll save a step.
...
Yes...for large panels I normally only knock off just enough of the
roughsawn surface to select stock and do the glue up w/ incompletely
finished stock. I don't even think of final thicknessing at that point.
Good idea! Don't bother planing until after glue up. That'll save a step.
Thanks,
Gary
"Stephen M" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Face joint
> edge joint
> glue
> plane
> edge joint (if I no longer have an exterior jointed edge)
> rip
>
> If panels are > planer capacity, I make <12" subassemblies as above, then
> glue.
>
> -Steve
>
> "Gary in Virginia" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> I plan to make cabinet doors out of some 4/4 lumber that I have . The
> panel
>> doors will be 3/4" when finished. My question is: to what dimension
> should
>> I plane and join the boards initially? Should I plane the lumber to the
>> finished 3/4" and then glue up the panels? In the past I have left a
> little
>> extra, i.e. 7/8", glued up the panels, and then planed them down to the
>> finished 3/4" dimension. This made a real smooth joint where the pieces
>> were glued together. But I wonder if I am wasting time planing twice?
>>
>> What do you do?
>>
>>
>
>
Face joint
edge joint
glue
plane
edge joint (if I no longer have an exterior jointed edge)
rip
If panels are > planer capacity, I make <12" subassemblies as above, then
glue.
-Steve
"Gary in Virginia" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I plan to make cabinet doors out of some 4/4 lumber that I have . The
panel
> doors will be 3/4" when finished. My question is: to what dimension
should
> I plane and join the boards initially? Should I plane the lumber to the
> finished 3/4" and then glue up the panels? In the past I have left a
little
> extra, i.e. 7/8", glued up the panels, and then planed them down to the
> finished 3/4" dimension. This made a real smooth joint where the pieces
> were glued together. But I wonder if I am wasting time planing twice?
>
> What do you do?
>
>