Thread: twisted doors

how twisted are the doors?
can you post a photo?

my initial guess is that your mortices and tenons are not exactly parallel to the face of the rails and styles


or were the doors built using a set of cope and stick router bits?

The twist has most likely been induced by some defect in the joinery method used for the frames, eg a small angular offset when prepping mortices or tenons in a M&T frame, or a slight mismatch in profiles for routed complimentary rail and style bits in that method is used. Any method producing consistent inaccuracies at every joint will lead to one of three situations in the finished item, either obvious gaps in a flat frame, no gaps in a twisted frame, or obvious gaps in a twisted frame.

To resolve the problem, you would need to make new frames, but very carefully analyse your joint techniques etc first (including making sample joints from scrap material using the same techniques) to establish what is creating the issue and then correct that problem before proceding with the doors.

If there is an issue in the joinery technique, cauls and clamping down to a surface won't fully solve the issue, they may yield a flat rather than twisted door, but in doing so, they will open gaps in the joinery that will be visible somewhere. Worse, if there is twist in the surface that the cauls are clamping to, the cauls will force the doors to mirror that twist as well.

Originally Posted by dave_c

Or is my only option to cut the frames off and start again this time putting cauls across the doors?

Well No . you don't need cauls . You need to check for twist and square when your doing the test Dry Run . No Glue !! The Dry Run is One of the golden rules.
If its out of square at this stage adjust the clamps until it is square . Then sit the frame on its end in a way that the weight of the clamps has as little effect on twist as possible . If the joints are having an effect on twist it will show , and you have to mark on the front and back faces of the door where to remove wood from the joints, and that loosens the joint, but it is the only way to bring it into a true parallel frame . And this teaches how much better it is to keep joinery all true while cutting if possible .
Rob

Back to basics - how dry was the timber used, and how long was it stored in ambient temperature after dressing and preparation work prior to assembly?

I have had timber twist after being thicknessed and glued up because I did not leave it to relax prior to the glue up.