Laminating and Solid Surfacing

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1/4” solid wood over and under mdf

9/30/19       
Al

I read some posts from awhile ago about laminating solid wood over a substrate like plywood. If I were to glue solid 15/16” boards up to let’s say 18”x36” and then slice them in half to 3/8” on bandsaw mill and then plane or sand them to 1/4”. Edge band 1/2” mdf with 1/8” then sandwich mdf between the solid wood. Giving 1” thickness total. Would this work for cabinet doors?
Thanks for any input

9/30/19       #2: 1/4” solid wood over and under mdf ...
David R Sochar Member

Only if you do it while standing on your head, on a chair, and while twirling plates on poles held by your feet.

And whistling "Dixie".

9/30/19       #3: 1/4” solid wood over and under mdf ...
Al

Down a little on this forum someone wanted to know how to straight edge 1/8” material for veneer glue up. Paul M responded he does thinner boards for glue ups for tops he makes. Maybe it works for him because the tops he makes are thicker
and they are held down. I doubt it would work for doors but thought I would ask.
David, your answer is just stupid. For as smart as you are you can be very condescending.

9/30/19       #4: 1/4” solid wood over and under mdf ...
Jared

Can you provide some context for why an elaborate glueup might be necessary? What problem are you trying to solve? Veneering pre-banded 1" MDF seems like an easier route, but maybe there's more to your situation.

9/30/19       #5: 1/4” solid wood over and under mdf ...
Al

I much prefer doing doors and drawer fronts with veneer on 3/4” mdf all ready done. However I think if doors could be made with a heavier veneer we could sell our cabinets for a much higher price. I’ve been building cabinets for years and never stop hearing I want solid wood from potential clients.

10/1/19       #6: 1/4” solid wood over and under mdf ...
Tom Gardiner

Have a look at special thickness veneers. 1/32, 1/24, and 1/16" are available in a range of woods.
What you propose is labour intensive, likely to cause problems in the preparation and I would suspect that the finished doors would self distruct. Definitely do some test doors before suggesting them to customers.

10/1/19       #7: 1/4” solid wood over and under mdf ...
John S

Your customers are asking for solid lumber cabinet doors. The first step in your process is to make a solid lumber "blank", then proceed to split it, sand it, and laminate it to both sides of a piece of MDF. You come out with one door, and lots of added costs. What is the value to the customer? Stability? That's an expectation. Aesthetically? Exactly the same as lumber or thin veneer. Calling it "lumber" instead of veneer? Sounds nice, but no real value. I'm very skeptical that customers will pay more for that construction.

10/11/19       #8: 1/4” solid wood over and under mdf ...
Mark B Member

Do they want "solid wood" or just the illusion of solid wood? Or just not PB core/thin veneer? Not sure I follow some of it.

If they want solid wood slab doors and are averse to possible movement issues and dont want battens on the back of the door then it would seem educating them with regards to the reasoning may be more the issue though thicker shop sawn veneers could definitely be a selling point.

My take away is that your shop sawn veneers would need to be thinner than you outline but definitely an option.

Not speaking for David but my only assumption for the snark is the issues of sawn veneers and veneer thickness, balanced layups, and the like seems to be so beaten to death we will likely be seeing it done on HGTV and the DIY network soon (if it hasnt been already, thankfully I dont have cable/satellite).

Ive sawn veneers on my bandmill a few times for the shop and you could probably layup your panels and get three veneers out of each with a good blade and a good running setup with some way to hold the blank (vacuum pad on the mill would make the most sense).

If you could come off the mill with 1/4" thick veneers that need just a pass through the sander before laying them up you could finish in the veneer range and get more yield per panel.

10/16/19       #9: 1/4” solid wood over and under mdf ...
David R Sochar Member

I apologize for the snarkiness. After getting some from a customer, I sometimes feel I need to pass it on. No help to anyone. I am sorry.
As for your plan, if you like it, go with it. I thought is fussy and odd, with the large glue up being resawn, when you have more control over grain and the whole by resawing more narrow boards.

Technically, the 1/4" on stable 'violates' the rules, but I think they are a changin'.

2/25/20       #10: 1/4” solid wood over and under mdf ...
dan summerhill Member

You are most likely setting yourself up for failure. The math is pretty easy. Use the shrinkage table that applies to whatever species you are using and know that, with absolute certainty, that your 1/8" veneer will shrink and gap. You can glue up at 1/8 but you will need to sand to between 1/32 and 1/16 to get stability. Wood moves. That never changes.


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