The Technique of FURNITURE MAKING

FLUSH DOORS

Light pattern flush surface doors for cupboards, wardrobes, etc. are usually made of ply, blockboard, laminboard or particle board covered on the edges (226:2), with the edgings sturdy enough to support the hinge screws. Heavier doors can be made up of plywood sheets glue pressed to supporting softwood frameworks with crossrails as 226:3. As the strength of these doors is almost entirely dependent upon the thickness and rigidity of the ply faces and the glue bond to the framework, the frame itself acts as distance-pieces only, and in theory at least can be light in section and jointed together in the simplest possible manner, i. e. tongued into the grooves (226:3), butted (226:4, 6) or stapled together (226:5). If, however, the intermediate rails are widely spaced, there is always a danger that the framework will show through under a high polish, owing to the suction of the trapped air in the interior; and an alternative sometimes adopted is to bore holes through the bottom and all interior rails (226:3A) to allow the air to circulate. It is, however, more satisfactory to fill the interior spaces with any convenient material—strawboard slats (226:4), horizontal softwood battens closely spaced (226:5), wood or metal honeycombing (226:6), or even softwood shaving curls placed on edge—but such doors are only economic if produced in quantity, and when the number required is small, solid cores are more practicable for all but the thickest doors. With framed skeleton doors appropriate lock rails and hinging blocks must be incorporated.

Dustproof doors

Modern practice rarely provides for dustproof doors, although it was common practice in traditional furniture, presumably because sweeping rooms by hand raised dust whereas vacuum-cleaners are now universal. However, the technique is sometimes useful and the illustrations in 226 give representative examples. Figure 226:7 shows a door hung on centre-pin (pivot) hinges, 226:8 a rebated/ rabbeted carcass side, and 226:9 a grooved carcass side with allowance for the radius of the curve as the door swings open. Meeting doors must be bevelled slightly to prevent binding (226:10) which further increases the gap; but the doors can be rebated together (226:11), or a parting bead glued and pinned on 226:12, while 226:13 shows a machined joint formerly worked by hand with special moulding-planes. The obvious disadvantage of rebated door stiles is that the right-hand door must be opened first and the left-hand door closed first, and for this reason (226:10) are not now common practice.