Slab doors out of Veneer Ply for a silly person

[robrob]

I am the silly person,

I bought a house recently and have installed a kitchen (symphony kitchens) that I got free. I do a lot of general DIY but know nothing about cabinet making or woodwork in general. I wanted to replace the doors with Veneered Ply, initially finding some websites that make them, but most websites I've found make Ikea fitment ones and it felt both a waste to buy those and then cut new holes for brackets, but also I was surprised at the pricing so thought I would give it a go to make my own. Well I suppose not even making them as really I am talking about buying Veneered plywood cut to size and then just drilling the holes for the brackets myself to fit them.

The price of this is a fraction of buying doors from these websites though which has me worried I am missing something?

I've tried to do my research and have seen that both sides have to be veneered to avoid warping. But is there a step missing I'm not aware of? Currently I was going to contact Winwood as they have a nice range, and get a quote. But is it as simple as buying the cut to size veneered panel, drilling to fit the brackets and attaching them? I am possibly just over thinking this, but having spent a few days on this forum reading some lovely informational posts I've now realised there is so much more to working with wood than I realised so would like to make sure I don't screw up.

As for why ply and not MDF, I'm not actually sure. I could probably just do MDF instead. It was while searching for doors that I'd found pictures like the below, and I really liked the look of handles cut out of the door (although I'm guessing cutting that out is probably much harder than I think?).

Apologies if this is not the right place to post this and thanks in advance for any help.

Edit: Also have now learned that I can't use the I word referring to myself which was automatically replaced by silly person.

 

[niall Y]

The main thing you have to worry about when cutting veneered boards is breakout of the veneer. If you are cutting the board to size on a table saw/panel saw, then one with a scoring blade is useful or at best use a triple tooth blade which will minimise breakout on the end grain cuts.

If you are having someone else cut the board to size, then for a job like this the doors will have to be millimetre perfect and square to function and give you consistent width shadow lines You will need someone who knows what they are doing, and with access to the right equipment. Having the board cut in a builders yard with one of those wall mounted panel saws probably won't give you the accuracy you need

Then there is how to treat the edge to protect it, One way is to lip the doors with timber, though this is more easily done before the doors are veneered. Another is to apply iron on edging, though these edges are not so robust. The third option is to use the edge of the material , as is, which works well with some plywood, like Birch, and can even work (at a pinch) with MDF, if the edges are well sealed

 

[robrob]

The main thing you have to worry about when cutting veneered boards is breakout of the veneer. If you are cutting the board to size on a table saw/panel saw, then one with a scoring blade is useful or at best use a triple tooth blade which will minimise breakout on the end grain cuts.

If you are having someone else cut the board to size, then for a job like this the doors will have to be millimetre perfect and square to function and give you consistent width shadow lines You will need someone who knows what they are doing, and with access to the right equipment. Having the board cut in a builders yard with one of those wall mounted panel saws probably won't give you the accuracy you need

Then there is how to treat the edge to protect it, One way is to lip the doors with timber, though this is more easily done before the doors are veneered. Another is to apply iron on edging, though these edges are not so robust. The third option is to use the edge of the material , as is, which works well with some plywood, like Birch, and can even work (at a pinch) with MDF, if the edges are well sealed

Thank you for the reply. I had planned on having them cut to size and keeping the ply edge (I do like the look of it) but does make sense about the sizing. The way these hinges work is that the door is on the outside of the frame so maybe that has more leeway if the sizing is slightly off, but while I have a table saw I'm not confident that I wouldn't mess up the veneer if I did have to cut it. I've done iron on edging for shelves before but was never a huge fan of how it looks so was thinking of keeping the ply edge but was worried about finishing it neatly also. I was looking up finger pull router bits also thinking I could do the handles too but maybe I should grab some spare ply and have a mess around to see if I'm going to ruin it before ordering a load of cut to size panels.

 

[niall Y]

Thank you for the reply. I had planned on having them cut to size and keeping the ply edge (I do like the look of it) but does make sense about the sizing. The way these hinges work is that the door is on the outside of the frame so maybe that has more leeway if the sizing is slightly off, but while I have a table saw I'm not confident that I wouldn't mess up the veneer if I did have to cut it. I've done iron on edging for shelves before but was never a huge fan of how it looks so was thinking of keeping the ply edge but was worried about finishing it neatly also. I was looking up finger pull router bits also thinking I could do the handles too but maybe I should grab some spare ply and have a mess around to see if I'm going to ruin it before ordering a load of cut to size panels.

You have to be careful which ply you use, because a lot of ply has voids inside where pieces are missing, and bulges where two pieces overlap and the adjoining layers have been squashed accordingly It is only the high quality boards like birch ply that are free of these defects.
The kitchen you picture shows a pretty simple design but behind this has been a lot of careful consideration and selection of material. For instance, the recessed handles you show would look like a "pigs ear", machined in anything other than a top quality board.

 

[Kayen]

The biggest issue with making the doors yourself is the spraying. It's highly recommended that you use a catalysed lacquer that is water resistant and scrubable - I'm assuming you haven't got those facilities. Any sort of finish you apply with a brush or roller will look pretty poor IMO.

 

[robrob]

Ok so it's definitely looking a little trickier than it seems. Will do some extra research, thank you.

 

[robrob]

The biggest issue with making the doors yourself is the spraying. It's highly recommended that you use a catalysed lacquer that is water resistant and scrubable - I'm assuming you haven't got those facilities. Any sort of finish you apply with a brush or roller will look pretty poor IMO.

If this isn't done I assume they warp more? Thank you all for the help, this has been interesting.

 

[SimonStevensCanes]

If I were doing this then I know I have a good sheet materials supplier locally with a cnc beam saw (http://pbplywood.com). They can provide any veneered (baltic birch) ply required, and the beam saw cuts perfectly as required. I'm not sure I'd undertake it using anything less than that as any mistakes are going to be very obvious. I would expect you should be able to find a similar provider somewhat local to you.

 

[CowboyBeBop]

I'm also keen to be doing something similar (bar the recessed handles).
My current questions are:
- I've found some cheaper veneered hardwood plywood, but I guess, from what I read here, if I want to use the edge of the material it's better if I use birch.
- @robrob, I'd be curious to find out what sort of prices you are encountering. Please feel free to DM me and I'll share some of the quotes I've received.
- In terms of finishing, I've seen people using Osmo oil in veneered plywood fronts. Is there any particular reason to not use Osmo?

 

[Doug71]

I once made some budget wardrobe doors just using Oak veneered MDF, no edgings just a small round over, think the customer just varnished them, didn't actually look too bad.........