Fine saw

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior

Soldato
Joined
4 Aug 2007
Posts
22,412
Location
Wilds of suffolk
I need to cut down a couple of kitchen doors. These doors are glued and i have applied as much force as I dare to open them up to take them back to individual pieces, and failed.

As they are shaker style I can get away with cutting them in straight lines, then I can glue them together with some dowels or biscuits joining the two think parts.

I remember years ago I used a mitre saw that had a very fine blade which made me think, as what i am cutting is thin, bar the two ends, could I get away with a hacksaw? something like a 24tpi blade?

Anyone tried similar? I am fairly certain they are MDF internals, but hard to say for sure as they are covered in a PVC/vinyl type covering.
 
Hacksaws are horrible for getting straight cuts with. You might be better off with a Japanese style pull saw, they cut nice and straight under tension so the blade can be thinner. Without being able to visualise what you're trying to do I can't be of more assistance, but might it be that a table saw is a more useful way of doing what you're attempting?
 
If it is MDF inside then you will probably be fine with a fine toothed circular saw. Make the the good side is facing down. In an ideal world I'd use a router, especially if it is chipboard inside. I wouldn't attempt to make a straight cut with any type of hand tool personally.
 
Thanks guys, all things I had considered.

The japanese saw was one I was most leaning towards initially.
I think I may go for one of them and see

Just to clarify, the cabinet is an old built in unit. Now we have moved to an american jobbie I have a gap, smaller than the old unit will fit in, thats also glued together but as its not on show I can rough cut the internal panels then smarten them up with new cuts and rebuild narrower. The doors are shaker style but again glued. I need to take about 10cm off the width, so I was again planning to cut them roughly, then do 2 nice cuts in order to refit them, there is a chance the centres are not glue in place but just slotted as they are clearly faced then assembled.

Think its japanese for the first try. May do the rough cuts this weekend actually just to see if they are indeed slotted centres or glued down the lengths as well.

I am half tempted to buy one of the old manual mitres as well as I need to trim some other bits as well to fit. Only issue is that if they are glued down the length it wouldn't work.

A blade for my mitre thats very fine isnt cheap and as I only have a cheap powered mitre saw I prefer manual for a small job like this.

Cheers for the comments and suggestions :)
 
Ah just found that screwfix have some in stock, and quite highly rated.
Will pick one up and try to do a smooth cut through the frame and see if its slotted or not, seems worth £13 or so to try to do a decentish job

I hadnt got that the term seems to be pull saws in the UK rather than japanese saws
 
Pull saws tend to also be referred to as Tenon saws.

Japanese pull saws then tend to have a much thinner more flexible blade. Not sure if it applies to them all but i've seen some where the blade is almost bendy to allow you to cut very close which you couldn't do normally.

Like this

hQurwZZ.png
 
I'm pretty certain they're pull saws as you're generally more controlled on the pull stroke and tenon saws are usually more for fine precise work.
 
From what i can tell they can be either/both!

Got me thinking though, I do have a tenon saw but its very old now and quite blunt so could probably do with updating

Screwfix do have a very nice Irwin Jack triple ground for £11, think I will go with one of them, if its not doing what i need i can always go for the pull saw afterwards
I am never going to be able to match the finish exactly as there is a very slight camber where the woods join, and as they are faced I dare not risk trying to match.
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
I need to cut down a couple of kitchen doors. These doors are glued and i have applied as much force as I dare to open them up to take them back to individual pieces, and failed.

As they are shaker style I can get away with cutting them in straight lines, then I can glue them together with some dowels or biscuits joining the two think parts.

I remember years ago I used a mitre saw that had a very fine blade which made me think, as what i am cutting is thin, bar the two ends, could I get away with a hacksaw? something like a 24tpi blade?

Anyone tried similar? I am fairly certain they are MDF internals, but hard to say for sure as they are covered in a PVC/vinyl type covering.
Click to expand...

You want a Predator Laminate saw. Can get a straight cut on a full 230+ end panel fitting kitchens with one of those; assuming you are any good.

This will give you the fine edge you need on laminate boards, quick wipe over with sandpaper then iron on edging strip if finishing or use correct colour worktop jointing filler on a joint between two panels.

https://www.toolstation.com/shop/Hand+Tools/d10/Saws/sd70/Predator+Laminate+Saw/p44726

Using a router and template will get you the best finish but unless you already have the kit stick with the saw.
 
Well I haven't tried to do the doors yet, modifying what was a built in fridge freezer cabinet to take shelves whilst also narrowing it took a lot longer than expected. Its almost there so now i need to just finish it off and then i can do the doors, so probably this weekend.
I did buy the tenon saw and cut a few small cuts in the laminate board with it, very good, very smooth cut and virtually no chipping. I am tempted when I cut through the doors to brace some wood each side to use as a guide.
I am still undecided.
I still believe the insert section at the center of the panel is just sitting in a slot all the way round, but it could be glued in. The whole job will be a lot easier if its just inserted and not glued as I only need to remove 2 small sections from the top and bottom of the door frame (then trim the middle section to length), if its glued in I need to cut the whole of that length and edge join it, nastier!
I fear the worst as these were factory assembled units and everything is dowels and glue rather than the strength coming from any other type of fixing.

I need more clamps. Standard statement I know. An extra couple of thousand should do ;)
 
The stiles and rails of a shaker door are joined, typically with an intricate routed joint for maximum glue area and strength. You won't get them apart. Some panels are glued, some are not. In an engineered wooden door where movement is unlikely, I'd suspect the panel is glued in place.

Why can't you just trim the door frame, and re-edge?
 
As someone who's recently bought a lot of various ones.

I've found the Silverline F Clamps to be decent. Come in a variety of sizes and very well priced. Some sizes/prices are exclusive to prime members but I can help out with that if you're not.

Otherwise I've recently bought a "guide clamp" to help with cutting straight.
 
Skiddley said:
The stiles and rails of a shaker door are joined, typically with an intricate routed joint for maximum glue area and strength. You won't get them apart. Some panels are glued, some are not. In an engineered wooden door where movement is unlikely, I'd suspect the panel is glued in place.

Why can't you just trim the door frame, and re-edge?
Click to expand...

I hope your wrong in my case ;)
The cabinets only used 16 dowels on a 2M+ unit that was to house a built in fridge freezer, so I suspect these were as cheap and fast to assemble as possible. Original builder fitted kitchen quality you see

Will attempt it this weekend so we will see

Oh and trimming is out, I need to remove about 11cm which is just over the whole of one side. (60cm wide door x2 needs taking to about 49cm)
 
So I did the doors at the weekend.
Worked out pretty well.
I had 3 panels to trim, the top I did first which was a filler panel. Just 3 parts, left and right "down" sections and middle "across" section.
I cut down one side and found it seemed to be assembled with dowels. The saw cut was very very good so just a very minor tidyup needed

I then did the doors, cut through the top and bottom, and the first one came straight apart, the centre panel was glued in, but hadn't held, either from me forcing or had just failed over time. So I trimmed the top and bottom to length and then the centre panel. Second door resisted more, but some gentle tapping managed to dislodge the centre panel again, repeat cutting.

I found my clamps were just too short so had to buy a couple of 36" sash clamps, glued the doors in turn and clamped them up tight. In the end I have just gone with glue as I glued the handle side, not the hinge side I figured should they fail I can just redo with some dowels in future. I think to be honest they will be fine however, I had a large area to be able to glue so think they will hold fine. They feel very solid.

Fitted the cabinet and doors. Only slight disappointment is the cabinet isn't square and I cant get it so. Maybe it warped with the weight of the fridge freezer in it or something. Its close enough that it looks ok, but I know its not square and that kind of niggles me. The tenor saw definately cuts on forward and backwards strokes. The doors were MDF frames and chip centres.
 
Excellent, glad it worked out well. Sounds like a great effort to get them fitting back together again and looking good.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom