# Repairing solid wood Shaker kitchen doors



## ec362 (16 Jul 2021)

Hi there, first time poster here!
I bought a lovely Mark Wilkinson shaker kitchen. The cabinets are in great nick and most of the doors too. Sadly, whilst it's been in my garage for 6 months, 4 of the largest doors have warped as shown in the photos. The tongue no longer sits in the groove- and it's not going together with a gentle knock from a mallet. I'm not an experienced woodworker and am interested to know-
- Are these repairable with some sanding, gluing and clamping? Or does this suggest bowing of the groove piece that can never really be fixed?
- Any other tips on how I could carry out this repair, or should I just be biting the bullet and getting some new ones made?

Thanks for your help! Ed


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## recipio (16 Jul 2021)

Something has shrunk - are the panels solid or ply ?
You will have to acclimatise the wood again by bringing them into the house for a few weeks. If you can, prise off the rails, clean up the joints and re- glue. If not, just pour some glue into the gaps and push it into the joints with a sliver of wood.. Either way you will need at least two sash clamps.


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## thetyreman (16 Jul 2021)

more likely that the wood has expanded and not shrunk back to its original size, a clamp should do it, also bring it inside ideally back into the house so it can re acclimatise to a dryer environment, be careful not to force it too much, it may crack. I would leave it inside the house if possible for at least a few weeks and see if it shrinks enough to where you can knock it back in place.


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## ec362 (16 Jul 2021)

Thank you very much. Sounds like patience is key here. In general if I understand correctly it sounds like you're saying they might be save-able which is positive!
The panels in the middle are solid (but thin). So to clarify
- Wait a few weeks
- use 2x sash or F clamps at the top and bottom of the door to attempt to gently bend the rails back to being flush with the main section? Should I clamp and bend before gluing or do it all at the same time? As at the moment when I place the rail onto the tongue it's impossible to make if flush at both sides even with weight. (as in pic Door 2- as you can see, it's flush in the middle but there are cracks at the side sections)
- Are there any videos or tutorials that might help me as a first timer? Thanks again


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## Beanwood (16 Jul 2021)

Welcome!!

You aren't really trying to 'bend' the stiles (The upright bits). 

What appears to have happened is the middle board has expanded side to side, so pushed the stile out. If it shrinks back when dry, it should just pull flush - so you can add some glue in the bits you can see are open, and clamp it tight until it's dry.

If it DOESN'T shrink back, and the stile will detach completely, you could carefully trim a couple of millimteres from the edge of the centre panel - but it would need to be straight, and don't cut too much (i.e. cut TINY bits and try it again) otherwise the gap will show - then proceed as above - glue where the rail meets the stile.

I don't believe the centre panel should be glued.

!!These are just my opinion, based on the pictures I can see.!!


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## ec362 (19 Jul 2021)

Thanks very much for your help. I will keep the doors inside and after a while I'm sure I'll be back with more questions : )


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## GerryT (19 Jul 2021)

Beanwood said:


> Welcome!!
> 
> You aren't really trying to 'bend' the stiles (The upright bits).
> 
> ...



Yep, I’d second that 
I’ve seen similar happen before.

You can just see in one of the pics that the side of the mortice is slightly broken which might indicate that it was tight enough (properly) in the first place and expansion of the panel has forced it apart.
The poster also says that he can’t tap it together indicating that something is either too tight or too big which is why I think it might be panel expansion as Beanwood says.


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## ec362 (19 Jul 2021)

Thanks Gerry. I will see if it shrinks. It it does, I'll hammer and glue. If it doesn't, I'll shave off a tiny bit from the centre panel as suggested


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## ec362 (20 Jul 2021)

one other question- would it be good to move the doors into the sun in this heat to enable them to dry quicker, or would that be too quick and lead to potential damage?


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## porker (20 Jul 2021)

I wouldn't. I would dry them slowly and evenly. Fast drying in the sun is likely to dry one side faster than the other leading to other problems.


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## Orraloon (20 Jul 2021)

When it comes to wood drying sloooooooow is best. Even then there is no guarantee but less likely to go badly wrong.
Regards
John


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## ec362 (20 Jul 2021)

OK great, thank you


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## Cabinetman (20 Jul 2021)

It seems to me that the panel was probably too wide to start with – in effect it didn’t have any room to grow so pushed the joints apart, 
Remove the stile- The vertical bit, tap the exposed tenons outwards to break the paint line and then if you can pull the panel out, you need to take probably three or 4 mm off the edge of the panel and also as has been said let it dry out slowly. Remove any crusty glue and then rebuild with two sash cramps, The only place where glue should come into contact with the panel is a small section in the middle top and bottom. Ian


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## ec362 (20 Jul 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> It seems to me that the panel was probably too wide to start with – in effect it didn’t have any room to grow so pushed the joints apart,
> Remove the stile- The vertical bit, tap the exposed tenons outwards to break the paint line and then if you can pull the panel out, you need to take probably three or 4 mm off the edge of the panel and also as has been said let it dry out slowly. Remove any crusty glue and then rebuild with two sash cramps, The only place where glue should come into contact with the panel is a small section in the middle top and bottom. Ian


Thanks Ian, I will do that


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