Hi,
First I want to say, I am very much a novice at this but want to get better.
In the basement of our house we have a build-in cabinet with a few shelves. I want to build some basic doors for the cabinet. I was thinking 2 doors that would open from the center. The open space is H:31.5″ x W:28.5″. It doesn’t look like these are any standard size so, I will need to make them (this is for the basement so functional but no need for fancy).
I bought some oak 3/4″ think particle board (front and back look very nice). My wife thinks the wood is too heavy and will pull off the cabinet. I think once the hinges are installed it should be no problem (I also bought the oak tape that you can apply to cut edges to give the wood a more natural look.)
2 questions:
1) Is the oak particle board a good idea, is there a better material?
2) Can I stain the oak edging tape (sorry, I don’t know what is it officially called)?
I don’t have a lot of tools so routing etc is kinda out of the question. But I do have patience….
Any recommendations would be helpful (i.e. tricks on cutting the wood, what to look out for, etc).
Replies
first lets address cutting the doors to size
easiest way is with a circ saw and a good straight edge
clamp a straight edge back from the cutline to suit the shoe on your circ saw, on my portacable its 5 inches
use a brand new top quality blade and cut slowly especially on cross grain
you should get a perfect cut on both sides
edge taping is easy, use a heat gun or an iron and keep the tape straight leaving a slight overhang on both sides
trim excess off carefully with a sharp knife and finish the trimming with a file and then sand paper
patience is the key word here, dont cut off too much with knife, file the last 16th
yes oak veneer pb is great material for the project and yes the edge taping will stian and finish just like the real thing
caulking is not a piece of trim
Edited 11/18/2003 5:55:07 PM ET by steve
Nic...
As far as material goes... just about anything is better than vineered particle board. Cutting it is childs play... the trick is cutting it without chipping the vineer; traditionally the bond between the particle board and the vineer leaves a lot to be desired. The pro's use a specialist set of blades on a table saw to work with this stuff; laminate blade does the heavy work while a scoring blade cuts the vineer ahead of the main blade. Trying to replicate that with minimal tooling won't be easy.
Personally.... I'd score along the cut line with a utility knife and straight edge, taking pains to cut through the vineer; for gods sake...... watch your fingers if you do this.
After scoring, I guess you could cut the panel with a hand saw, but it'd need to be in mint condition... personally I'd drop the board into my panel cuting jig and cut it on the table saw.
As for hinges, "Euro" hinges were designed to be used with this stuff. A good hardware store should stock quality hinges and a drilling template to work to. The only specialist tooling you'll need there is a 35mm Forsner bit. Be sure to get the proper screws for the hinges too; conventional dry wall or wood screws will pull out eventually; they just don't get enough purchace.
I can't comment on the vineer tape.. never worked with it... if it's the adhesive backed type... PLEASE.......DON'T use the wife's iron to heat the glue to melting point. A friend did that recently... they say he'll come off life support before christmas.
As far as better suited material goes.... you can ONLY improve on this purchace Nic... with the limited tooling that I have, I try to stick to working with either solid stock or high quality ply. I've learned the hard way that anything less isn't worth the hassle.
Personally..... I'd chalk this one down to experience... go looking for oak faced ply... keep your vineer tape for that...
As for getting better.... that'll come with patience and practice... you'll learn tons form the guys n girls here... don't be afraid to ask....
Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Nic,
I agree with Mike: get rid of the particle board and choose materials that will show you cared. Particle board is the potato buds of cabinetry. It's heavy--so heavy that it strains hardware and fasteners. A veneer helps it quite a bit, but even with a veneer it hasn't got the stiffness of solid wood or ply; it bends when ply or solid wood would not; and if it bends past a certain point it crumbles. Particle board falls apart easily--and it dissolves if the humidity gets above "dry as dust." Screws--and just about all fasteners--don't hold; inevitably they will fail. Come to think of it, particle board may be made out of potato buds...
I also agree with Mike that if you're looking for a material you can just saw to the right size and install (i.e., you don't want to make the doors out of solid wood) then get oak faced plywood. It doesn't weigh nearly as much, won't fall apart, holds screws and most fasteners very well, and will last as long as the house. You can use your tape on that.
Twenty-five years ago or so I thought particle board was a miracle product. I built cabinets with it, and even made a work table out of it with a laminate surface. Nothing I made from it lasted. Stresses or conditions that wouldn't do anything to solid wood or ply would cause it to crumble. Eventually it just fell apart. Never again will I waste my time and effort with that accursed stuff.
Alan
Well, I guess I am in luck. When I said oak particle board, I guess really meant oak faced plywood. (or correct me if I'm wrong, it looks like a solid piece of oak from the front and back but if you look at it sideways it has different layers of wood.) From my limited knowledge I'm almost 100% it is plywood, I just got the names mixed up.
Anyway, thanks for all your help.
Nic
If you are looking for a simple way to make doors, put a 15 degree back bevel on all sides like thousands perhaps millions of cabinet doors have been done for years, forget the tape, it won't stick and any little edge will get torn off in normal use.
The doors are best cut first to size, and then the back bevel. Leave about 1/8" square on the edge. That is the bevel should start below that line.
You can get hinges that work well with this type of door, ask the home center to help you locate them.
I presume you have access to a decent table saw, if not you can still use the clamped on straight edge to do the work.
Get a blade suitable for cutting plywood, little set, lots of teeth.
Good luck.
Curt
PS if you chicken out, stop by any good cabinet shop and ask them to run them for you, ask to watch or help. I have found many of nice folks in such an establishment.
Nic,
Sorry. But you shouldn't have gotten me started. You know how I am.
What you have sounds like ply to me too. Well done.
I think I'll go have a martini.
Alan
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