Im going to make a wooden frame door with glass center. I read in my
book that hardwood tends to expand and contract and will cause a door to
end up crooked. It recommends plywood or mdf or something.

Is this true? What about soft wood? I am currently planning to use
solid pine for the door frame. Should I try plywood pine? Im
intimidated by veneering.


--
Thank you,



"Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor
man's wisdom [is] despised, and his words are not heard." Ecclesiastes 9:16

Your book sounds like it's confusing you more than helping you. Solid
wood is just fine. Doors have been made from it for centuries.
Ideally, you'd make the rails and stiles with a cope and stick joint,
but that requires a fairly expensive set of matched router bits; I'm
guessing you don't have those.

A good, fairly simple alternative is this:

http://www.woodmagazine.com/wood/sto...ml&catref=wd16

Unlike doors with a wooden panel, however, glass panels usually don't
get locked into a slot in the rails and stiles. Instead, the glass
sits in a rabbet in the back side of the door and is usually held in
place with small removable pins. That's because glass sometimes has to
be replaced. It would be impossible to get a new pane into the slot
without taking the rails and stiles apart.

This page has a some pretty good diagrams contrasting the glass style
vs. wood style (drawings 1E and 1F). It also will give you a better
picture of cope-and-stick joinery with matched router bits. By the
way, there are links to several matched bit sets on the left side of
the page:
http://www.jeffgreefwoodworking.com/pnc/curvecope/

Another piece of advice:

Where this is really your first project of this magnitude, I'd
seriously consider doing overlay doors and drawer faces, rather than
inset. It's often difficult even for experienced wood workers to get
inset doors to perfectly match the opening. With overlay doors, it
doesn't matter if the opening is slightly skewed or if the door is
1/16" too wide; it won't show. Pick out your hinges ahead of time, and
size the doors so that the overlay matches what the hinges require.

Josh

On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 23:39:30 -0500, dnoyeB
wrote:

Im going to make a wooden frame door with glass center.

That's a really big project that will try your woodworking (assuming you
want it to still fit the frame in your next damp winter). If you're
asking questions like "does wood move with moisture", then in all
seriousness I'd suggest you start with a simpler project and get some
experience first.

Bruce Hoadley's book "Understanding Wood" will tell you more about
moisture movement than you ever realised was possible.

I work with a stained glass worker. Whenever I build frames for her
pieces, then I always build two frames. One goes into the wall or is the
door itself. The other fits the glass closely and is rigid and
glass-shaped. I arrange the mounting of one in the other so that it can
float, and any movement in the outer frame just doesn't get transmitted
to the inner frame.

Josh wrote:
Your book sounds like it's confusing you more than helping you. Solid
wood is just fine. Doors have been made from it for centuries.
Ideally, you'd make the rails and stiles with a cope and stick joint,
but that requires a fairly expensive set of matched router bits; I'm
guessing you don't have those.


I am going to borrow my brothers router, but I dont have a router table
or even a worktable yet. Oddly I want to finish the stereo cabinet
before I build the woodworking stuff..



A good, fairly simple alternative is this:

http://www.woodmagazine.com/wood/sto...ml&catref=wd16

Unlike doors with a wooden panel, however, glass panels usually don't
get locked into a slot in the rails and stiles. Instead, the glass
sits in a rabbet in the back side of the door and is usually held in
place with small removable pins. That's because glass sometimes has to
be replaced. It would be impossible to get a new pane into the slot
without taking the rails and stiles apart.

This page has a some pretty good diagrams contrasting the glass style
vs. wood style (drawings 1E and 1F). It also will give you a better
picture of cope-and-stick joinery with matched router bits. By the
way, there are links to several matched bit sets on the left side of
the page:
http://www.jeffgreefwoodworking.com/pnc/curvecope/

Another piece of advice:

Where this is really your first project of this magnitude, I'd
seriously consider doing overlay doors and drawer faces, rather than
inset. It's often difficult even for experienced wood workers to get
inset doors to perfectly match the opening. With overlay doors, it
doesn't matter if the opening is slightly skewed or if the door is
1/16" too wide; it won't show. Pick out your hinges ahead of time, and
size the doors so that the overlay matches what the hinges require.

Josh


Yea, I have decided to do overlay doors. I also decided that the door
will cover the drawers too. So top 2/3 of door is glass, bottom is wood.

But making doors seems like precise work. I think I will make the
drawers, and install them. And put the box face frame on. And I will
leave the door off until I get a workbench and router station built this
summer. I can take the face frame off or build a new one if I need too.

Thanks for the tips.

--
Thank you,



"Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor
man's wisdom [is] despised, and his words are not heard." Ecclesiastes 9:16

Andy Dingley wrote:
On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 23:39:30 -0500, dnoyeB
wrote:


Im going to make a wooden frame door with glass center.


That's a really big project that will try your woodworking (assuming you
want it to still fit the frame in your next damp winter). If you're
asking questions like "does wood move with moisture", then in all
seriousness I'd suggest you start with a simpler project and get some
experience first.

Bruce Hoadley's book "Understanding Wood" will tell you more about
moisture movement than you ever realised was possible.

I have /Furniture & Cabinet Construction/ by Andy Rae. it has a section
on wood movement. So I have some ideas. But this does seem quite
complex. Right now im doing everything with simply straight cuts. No
bevels, no rounded routed edges.


I work with a stained glass worker. Whenever I build frames for her
pieces, then I always build two frames. One goes into the wall or is the
door itself. The other fits the glass closely and is rigid and
glass-shaped. I arrange the mounting of one in the other so that it can
float, and any movement in the outer frame just doesn't get transmitted
to the inner frame.


I think I will back down from the door untill later this summer when I
get my benches created. Hopefully, making the drawers proves an easier
task


--
Thank you,



"Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor
man's wisdom [is] despised, and his words are not heard." Ecclesiastes 9:16

On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 23:39:30 -0500, dnoyeB
wrote:

Im going to make a wooden frame door with glass center. I read in my
book that hardwood tends to expand and contract and will cause a door to
end up crooked. It recommends plywood or mdf or something.

Is this true? What about soft wood? I am currently planning to use
solid pine for the door frame. Should I try plywood pine? Im
intimidated by veneering.

Yes, it is true that wood twists, bends, warps, wanes,
expands/contracts and all the other wacky shapes. Different kinds of
woods change differently, both soft and hardwoods. Manufactured
boards do so at a much lesser extent. Leave some space all around for
wood movement, better yet use Plexiglas.