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Showerthought: a single cabinet door eats almost 10 board feet once you count the waste
I was pricing out a run of shaker doors last Tuesday and actually sat down and tallied the stock for one 18 inch by 30 inch door. Adding rails, stiles, and the panel, plus trim loss, it worked out to right around 10 board feet per door, which floored me. My supplier in Grand Rapids quoted me $7.40 a board foot for soft maple, so that is about $74 in wood before I even touch a shaper. Does anyone else track board feet per door, or am I just making myself feel bad for no reason?
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finley7774d ago
So the 10 board feet includes the panel too, right? That seems like a lot for an 18x30 shaker unless you're cutting the panel from wider stock and losing a ton to the groove and the raised or flat panel sizing. Are you ripping your stiles and rails from 5/4 or are you buying 4/4 and milling down? A lot of guys get killed on soft maple because they buy skip planed and then joint away half the thickness. What's your actual yield on a door after you knock off defects and snipe? The number only matters if you're comparing the same cut list and the same waste factor. If you're pulling 10 bf out of a door that should be closer to 6 or 7, the problem isn't the door, it's how you're laying it out on the stock.
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