MDF Shaker Doors Question

[chirpychippy]

Last week I made some mdf shaker doors, ive always known the theory of making them, so i had a go - ive got all the gear "tools".

I could of made faker shakers, which i find to be amateurish, so bought some cutters and rebated the stiles and rails and glued in 6mm inset mdf panels.

I'd already made the drawers a few weeks ago.

I am happy with the outcome, but im not happy with the flimsyness of the doors. I used 18mm & 6mm Moisture Resistant MDF.

I'm wondering if 25mm and 9mm MR MDF would give less flex?

 

[foxhole]

9mm rebated into rear of door as one piece would make a sturdier door .

 

[opps]

I recall having to spray shaker doors for a cabinet maker years ago. He too used MR MDF and although they were only kitchen cabinet doors they flexed a lot. The guy is one of the best cabinet makers that I have ever worked for. He eventually concluded that the MDF was of an inferior quality.

 

[chirpychippy]

I recall having to spray shaker doors for a cabinet maker years ago. He too used MR MDF and although they were only kitchen cabinet doors they flexed a lot. The guy is one of the best cabinet makers that I have ever worked for. He eventually concluded that the MDF was of an inferior quality.

Ive got another one coming up, this time im going to use Tulip for Stiles and Rails with a 9 or 12mm MR MDF inset panel.

I could however, use 22mm with 9mm if the budget doesn't stretch to Tulip Wood.

 

[opps]

Ive got another one coming up, this time im going to use Tulip for Stiles and Rails with a 9 or 12mm MR MDF inset panel.

I could however, use 22mm with 9mm if the budget doesn't stretch to Tulip Wood.

Another cabinet maker, who's (whose?) units I used to hand paint, used 22mm MDF for the rails and styles (approx 1.8m tall). From memory, he used 9mm panels and used 9mm off cuts as the "biscuits". No notable flexing but he used small brass butt hinges rather than 35mm cup hinges. I guess that you would need to use more expensive 35mm projection hinges.

To be honest, as the painter, I was indifferent when it came to painting MR and non-MR. In some respects I preferred the latter. If I could see a slight ridge in the rail and styles after the primer, it was slightly easier to sand flat (in situ) when regular MDF.

From a painter's point of view, MDF is not "flat", it has factory sanding grooves in it. I assume each sheet goes through a large drum sander.

When painting, I apply a coat of primer and sand it until I can no longer see the grooves. The paint acts as a "search" coat.

eg



MR gives lovely crisp edges and is a must for damp/wet areas such as kitchens, but I am not sure that it is worth the premium cost wise and tooling wear wise when making wardrobe doors in a bedroom.

Appros the tulip. Yeah, I painted many kitchen cupboard doors made out of tulip or similar. I got the impression that the main advantage was the when the door edges got dinked, it was more forgiving than raw MDF.

But I say this as a decorator rather than a cabinet maker/carpenter.

I would love to hear how you get on.

Best of luck

 

[chirpychippy]

MDF's.

Earlier days i used the mdf from B&Q the brown tan stuff that used to be £17 a sheet for 18mm, but its a horrible product.

I changed to MR MDF eventually and preferred it, it doesn't fluff up on the edges when its cut and its more dense. I dont use it for its moisture resistant properties I just prefer it to carp sheds supply.

I sand my doors myself before installation, I dont want to offload that stage to the decorator, the decorator has to sand normally after 1st and 2nd coat if using water based paints.

Im now looking at changing to 22mm Finsa, it takes paint better than MR MDF and im going down the route of taping, but Finsa is £72 a sheet whereas MR is £39 a sheet. Which considering the picture above required 15 sheets of mr mdf the price difference is nearly double.

Oddly Tulip is on par, price wise,with 22mm MR MDF.

We'll see, ive put the price in for the job, if i get it, I'll be back!