Warped Door

[Mike 55]

Hi all,

I made a pantry cabinet with pull out drawers. The doors are 68" long. The first ones I made a I used birch (it was all that was available). By the time I got to make the groves for the panels they bowed badly. I picked up some poplar and all went well until I was ready to mount the doors. The door on the right bowed so the bottom sticks out. Is this just a bad design or just bad wood. Maybe I should have made a tenon in the middle rail to cut sown the length? I really hate to do this over.

[garmar60]

Sorry I don’t know how to fix this without building new or maybe cutting apart some how.  My experience is this is twist that happens when the door is being glued up. If your bench has any twist or the clamps don’t set flat the twist will be set into the door when clamped up won’t come out.  I moved my bench once a checked all 4 edges with a level and it looked good but it had about a 3/8 twist when I checked diagonally.  Found it after gluing up 2 doors for a pie safe and both had the same twist which doubled the amount when they were put together .   Put 2 equal size blocks on opposite corners pull a string and measure from the string to the bench top in the center. Then do the same at the opposite corners. If the measurements are different the bench is twisted and any big glue ups will have some twist
Gary

[Mike 55]

Sorry I don’t know how to fix this without building new or maybe cutting apart some how.  My experience is this is twist that happens when the door is being glued up. If your bench has any twist or the clamps don’t set flat the twist will be set into the door when clamped up won’t come out.  I moved my bench once a checked all 4 edges with a level and it looked good but it had about a 3/8 twist when I checked diagonally.  Found it after gluing up 2 doors for a pie safe and both had the same twist which doubled the amount when they were put together .   Put 2 equal size blocks on opposite corners pull a string and measure from the string to the bench top in the center. Then do the same at the opposite corners. If the measurements are different the bench is twisted and any big glue ups will have some twist
Gary

I will check but my bench top is 1 1/2 thick maple I purchased from Grizzly 25 years ago. I'm 99.9% sure it's flat. The other door is fine. The birch I first used bowed even before I did the glue up. Now, during the glue up perhaps too much clamping might be the issue. I don't recall having any issues as the tenons fit OK.

[Tapper]

Bummer! Sorry this happened; something that could happen to anyone IMO. Hard to know exactly what went wrong, but since the doors are painted IF you decide to make a new door, think I'd use MDF for the panels and straight grain pine for the rails and stiles. As we all know, wood has a mind of its own, whereas MDF stays pretty flat and straight most of the time.

Good luck,

Doug

[Mike 55]

Bummer! Sorry this happened; something that could happen to anyone IMO. Hard to know exactly what went wrong, but since the doors are painted IF you decide to make a new door, think I'd use MDF for the panels and straight grain pine for the rails and stiles. As we all know, wood has a mind of its own, whereas MDF stays pretty flat and straight most of the time.

Good luck,

Doug

The panels are 1/4" MDF. I bought 2 poplar boards for this project from the same place. One door if fine and the other bowed. When I used the birch  it was flat and straight after I jointed and planed it. The next day all the long rails were bowed. The poplar was perfect and bowed after the glue up.

[jteneyck]

The panels are 1/4" MDF. I bought 2 poplar boards for this project from the same place. One door if fine and the other bowed. When I used the birch  it was flat and straight after I jointed and planed it. The next day all the long rails were bowed. The poplar was perfect and bowed after the glue up.

Both results are telling you that your wood was not acclimated to your shop; the moisture content (MC) was different than the equilibrium moisture content (EMC).  This is what JCC was talking about above, although you don't need to wait a year for the wood to season before using it.  However, you do need to wait until it's at equilibrium with your shop.  How do you know when that is?  Buy a moisture meter with two depth capability and check the MC at both depths.  Then check some wood that's been in your shop for many months.  If any of those results differs by more than 1 or 2% then the wood is not yet ready to use.  Don't have a moisture meter?  Not good.  Best investment you will ever make but there are workarounds.  Take a piece of the wood you bought and weigh it.  Weigh it every day or two until it stops gaining/losing weight.  When it starts gaining/losing weight around some average value it's ready to use.  If you bought 4/4 KD wood it usually will come to equilibrium with your shop in a week or three.  Make sure to sticker it while you wait.  

Of course there are exceptions or workarounds for most every rule.  When forced to use wood that I know is not really at EMC with my shop I make sure to try to joint/plane equal amounts off both sides.  It's also a good strategy to joint/plane only to rough thickness, say 7/8" if your final target is 3/4", then sticker it for a day or two to see if it moves.  Then rejoint and plane it to final thickness, again trying to take an equal amount off both sides as much as possible.  Usually, this strategy will yield flat lumber that remains that way.  

And it's never a bad idea to make a few extra pieces so you can cull out any that do go wonky along the way.  

John

So what should you do if the moisture meter results on wood that's been in your shop for many months shows more than a 1 - 2% difference between the two depth settings?  That's telling you that the relative humidity in your shop is changing a lot over a short period of time.  In that case, wait until your wood is within 1 - 2% of the average of those results.  And you also might want to think about installing some sort of RH control.  Of course people have been building furniture for centuries with no RH control, but it sure makes life easier if you have it.  

John

[Mike 55]

Both results are telling you that your wood was not acclimated to your shop; the moisture content (MC) was different than the equilibrium moisture content (EMC).  This is what JCC was talking about above, although you don't need to wait a year for the wood to season before using it.  However, you do need to wait until it's at equilibrium with your shop.  How do you know when that is?  Buy a moisture meter with two depth capability and check the MC at both depths.  Then check some wood that's been in your shop for many months.  If any of those results differs by more than 1 or 2% then the wood is not yet ready to use.  Don't have a moisture meter?  Not good.  Best investment you will ever make but there are workarounds.  Take a piece of the wood you bought and weigh it.  Weigh it every day or two until it stops gaining/losing weight.  When it starts gaining/losing weight around some average value it's ready to use.  If you bought 4/4 KD wood it usually will come to equilibrium with your shop in a week or three.  Make sure to sticker it while you wait.  

Of course there are exceptions or workarounds for most every rule.  When forced to use wood that I know is not really at EMC with my shop I make sure to try to joint/plane equal amounts off both sides.  It's also a good strategy to joint/plane only to rough thickness, say 7/8" if your final target is 3/4", then sticker it for a day or two to see if it moves.  Then rejoint and plane it to final thickness, again trying to take an equal amount off both sides as much as possible.  Usually, this strategy will yield flat lumber that remains that way.  

And it's never a bad idea to make a few extra pieces so you can cull out any that do go wonky along the way.  



John

So what should you do if the moisture meter results on wood that's been in your shop for many months shows more than a 1 - 2% difference between the two depth settings?  That's telling you that the relative humidity in your shop is changing a lot over a short period of time.  In that case, wait until your wood is within 1 - 2% of the average of those results.  And you also might want to think about installing some sort of RH control.  Of course people have been building furniture for centuries with no RH control, but it sure makes life easier if you have it.  

John

John,

I do have a moisture meter as I used to kiln dry my own wood. That was many years ago and before my friend arthritis set in. Since moving south for retirement I'm now in a garage shop and have no way of controlling RH. I always followed your way of thinking when I was up north but space and time gets in the way. I've made a bunch of stuff since moving here and not had an issue but I will dig out my moisture meter to check it our before and after i joint and plane. Since most of the wood I purchase is through our woodworkers club (we have a 10K sqft shop) with every tool you can think of I will do a test before I buy it. It's stored in the shop which is condition space. It's amazing how much you forget as you get older. 

I think I need to kick it back to just 2 Martini's per day. LOL

[KC]

Hi all,

I made a pantry cabinet with pull out drawers. The doors are 68" long. The first ones I made a I used birch (it was all that was available). By the time I got to make the groves for the panels they bowed badly. I picked up some poplar and all went well until I was ready to mount the doors. The door on the right bowed so the bottom sticks out. Is this just a bad design or just bad wood. Maybe I should have made a tenon in the middle rail to cut sown the length? I really hate to do this over.

One of many variaties available...

Hickory Hardware Catches Collection 1-5/16 in. C/C Cabinet Door Catch Cadmium P107-2C - The Home Depot

May not be as satisfying as the door being 'right', but they'll fix a problem like that.

[jcclark]

You have to have well seasoned wood for large doors like that, kiln dried is
not good enough. And even then, you have to have the same amount of finish
on both sides.
Even though the kiln dried wood you buy has the same moisture 
as my aged wood there is a big difference in stability.
For large doors like that I will only use wood I've had in my heated shop
for a year or longer. 

[Bill Holt]

Thank you for posting.

I have learned a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish you the best of luck on the next door.