what kind/grade of ply for cabinet door
i’m getting ready to build about 35 doors for a kitchen.for lack of better description they will be stile and rail/mission with a 1/4 plywood inset.
using red oak for the frame work and just trying to figure out what to order for plywood. i would prefer the plywood to lean toward a pretty straight grain.
first see if i got this much straight, rotary cut,they just start peeling off the venner so it has a very grainy look. plain sawn looks more like a regular cut board that has been edge glued together. rift is a pretty straight grain,with no fleck and qtr sawn will be a fairly straight grain but have some rays and fleck to it.
i used some qtr sawn a while back ,bueatiful stuff till the stain hit it,then it was striped every 4″.it alternated back and forth form a dark,then a light and i just didn’t care for the look with a dark stain.
tried to find some samples on the net but just couldn’t dig them up.larry
if a man speaks in the forest,and there’s not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
Replies
Try the Rift sawn Red Oak veneer it is virtually vertical grained Oak .
The striped effect or color change you speak of is characteristic of Red Oak when plain sliced and rift or quartered especially . They refer to the look effect as " chatoyance " almost a reflective look .
dusty
Check a few of the local building supplys, you will probably find one that has a good selection of 1/4". If not there are places that do custom orders of ply. Had to do that once, needed a sheet almost 10' long. One of my local building centers usually has something I can work with.
I just made (4) doors of that style for a custom cabinet I'm building right now.I'm using the Domino for the joinery - pretty darn amazing - fast, accurate - these have to be as strong as any door made...The plywood I'm using is called rift-sawn plywood - when you stain it, it just looks like real Oak - none of the telltale cathedral grain patterns. About $65 a sheet for 1/4", about $84 a sheet for 3/4". Unforunately - the reverse side is a standard rotary cut Oak veneeer (on the 1/4"). Not as coolas the front, but decent enough looking for the inside of the door panels.Not sure if you know about the product called "spaceballs" - they are these little 1/4" rubber balls that you put into the groove before the panels - they allow the panel to expand and contract and eliminate the rattling panels that'll happen sometimes when they get a bit loose.Can get them at Rockler and Woodcraft.JT