Wood and glass?

[Knotty_Pine]

A neighbor asked me about making some doors for his wifes China Cabinet. I have reservations.

The old one that is in poor shape (water damage) has glass in the door, paned like a window. She'd like to keep that design in place, with the glass.

I have a slight issue. Wood moves, and does so somewhat unpredictably. Glass on the other hand doesn't like to bend and flex much. A 1'x3' pane of glass may give 1/16" but I'm not seeing it move a quarter inch without breaking.

I'm aware of leaving a channel for the glass with slack for movement, if I do take the job, how much should I allow, and what other things should I keep in mind about movement. The material she wants is white oak. I took a few pics of different joints over, and she likes bridles for the corners.

Thanks,
TJ.

[Stretch]

I'm guess that the frames between the panes of glass are rather narrow right? Say about 1" wide. With a piece of wood that narrow, the actual amount of movement is negligible. Lot's of people just have their glass cut about 1/8" undersized and stick it in from the back with clear silicone. The flex in the silicone is enough to allow for any wood movement you get.

[Beamer]

If you construct the door using rails and stiles - that is two vertical sticks with two horizontal sticks, you can forget about wood movement if they're 2" or less in width. Wood doesn't move lengthwise enough to even consider unless you're doing wooden satellite parts for NASA

A frame with a rabbet to set the glass in can be dang snug on the glass without fear. Throw in either some glazier's points or a moulding to keep the glass in place on the inside and you're golden.

I have no doubt you can pull this off, sir

[Knotty_Pine]

I'm sure I can, I just don't want to waste their time or money, lol. She likes the look of applied moulding, I figured that out. The issue with me is, she's wanting to move away from the style of the old doors, that leaves me having to a little creation rather than copying. (In tests, rather than just rely on my own studying, I prefer to hedge my bets and sit by nerds).

I'm almost talked into it just gimme some time. She's looking to have no major embellishments that'd demand I have a shaper/moulder, which is a plus. It's just a matter of getting up the nerve to agree to it. My success with flatwork, yick!

[brburns]

I built a coffee table (my first WW project) over 5 years ago. It's red oak with 2 glass inserts in the top. I'm going to say that each glass peice is about 12" 18" the frame is 5.5" wide and the rail between the 2 peices is 3.5" wide. The glass sits tight in rabbits on the top. I have had no issue with this. I don't use air conditioning much in the summer, so it has gone through the humidity swings of sothern Ohio. I wouldn't worry about the wood movement in this situation.

[Leo Voisine]

When I cut glass to go into windows I always cut 1/16 - 1/8 smaller than the opening. Never had a problem. I have done lots of windows.

[sawduster]

Unless that piece is quite old, chances are it is a single sheet with that divided light look accomplished with a grill on the outside alone (or maybe one inside and one outside. It'd be a lot simpler to reproduce if it is that way.

[Ruffnek]

May 27, 2010 10:35:48 GMT -6 sawduster said:

Unless that piece is quite old, chances are it is a single sheet with that divided light look accomplished with a grill on the outside alone (or maybe one inside and one outside. It'd be a lot simpler to reproduce if it is that way.

What Jerry said.

[Knotty_Pine]

I was planning to go over today and take some detailed measurements. She'd already had somebody else build the doors and install them.

I lost out on a few bucks, but on the bright side, the doors on it look worse than what you could buy in a big box store cabinet type deal. Visible plywood, gappy joints (You can stick a quarter into the gap on one corner). poorly mounted glass, exposed hinges, just shoddy.

Oh well, she's gotta live with the ugly thing. I could used the income, but I'm thinking within a month whe'll want somebody to fix it and do it right. Of the stuff there, only the glass would be usable on the next doors.

Note to everyone interested in design; an antique looking white oak cabinet doesn't look at all right with freshly cut, waxed once pine.

"But he did the whole job for $40!"

Grrrr. I hate people who waste my time.

[sawduster]

$40 for cabinet doors? I got more than that, each, for replacing the drawer boxes on two stock kitchen cabinet drawers. The other fella is a ho.