Learned the hard way about grain direction on a shaker door

I was building a set of shaker doors for a kitchen in Austin back in February. Rushed through the glue-up on a panel and didn't check the grain direction. Next morning, the whole panel had cupped about 1/8 inch right in the middle. Had to rip out the panel and start over with new MDF core that I'd let acclimate for 48 hours. Anyone else had a project go sideways because they skipped the grain check?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_miles3d ago

Lean into that lesson and make grain checking a habit before every glue-up. I started marking arrows on the back of my panels with a pencil to show the grain direction, caught a few near misses that way. Saves a ton of pain later, especially with solid wood panels that love to cup.

barnes.jamie2d ago

You ever have that moment where you think you marked it right but the pencil mark gets rubbed off... and then you're just praying the grain is going the right way?