# Creating sliding furniture doors



## radionightster (Apr 8, 2009)

Hi guys,

I've been teaching myself woodworking by trying to make furniture. I really love the mid-century modern style furniture and I've been trying to duplicate some of the pieces while adding my own flair to them. Boy I've spent some money on tools! I think I'm going to break down today and get a table saw finally!

I'm curious the best way to make these sliding doors in furniture. It *looks* like he just used a dado to run two grooves on the bottom/top panel to let the doors slide in. What do you think about that? Also what would you use for the doors themselves? I've seen some thin, stiff material at the hardware store that I could use, but it seems pretty rigged.

Also, how would you put those doors in? Would you assemble the box part of the furniture, and then kind of "bend" the doors to get them in the tracks?

And lastly  , what color stain would you think that is?

Thank you guys for any input!

RN


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Sliding doors*

Most sliding doors, the bypassing type, have 2 grooves top and bottom, the top being more deep than the bottom to allow for an up and over method to insert them. The top depth must be at least 1/8" or so deeper than the bottom, to allow for material thickness swing. My suggestion if they are wood in wood tracks, is to laminate a formica or other smooth hard material strip on the bottom edge of the door for a "friction free" slide and to reduce wear on the wood. Wood to wood will work, but it should be waxed occaisonally to prevent "stiction" I have used black plexiglass for sliding doors, but it's a pain to cut without a special blade on the TS, or use a bandsaw and polish the edges, another PITA. Lexan is great but pricey. Any built up type lamination of disimiliar materials is a warp waiting to happen if you only glue on one side. Veneered pywood like birch would stain black well to maintain the Style you like. :thumbsup: bill


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

There's a few ways to do sliding by-pass doors. Of course the basic method is to make a double dado in the floor and top to guide the doors. There's a lot of friction there, and the best dust collector.

An easy method would be to use this type of guide system, where the lower guide just fits into a saw kerf.

Another type that I use quite often that offers height (and alignment) capabilities is this one.


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## mooreoftom (Dec 7, 2010)

*nice*

Great ideas.


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## rrbrown (Feb 15, 2009)

cabinetman said:


> There's a few ways to do sliding by-pass doors. Of course the basic method is to make a double dado in the floor and top to guide the doors. There's a lot of friction there, and the best dust collector.
> 
> An easy method would be to use this type of guide system, where the lower guide just fits into a saw kerf.
> 
> Another type that I use quite often that offers height (and alignment) capabilities is this one.


Cman that last choice you listed sure would have came in handy when I made the wall units for my jeweler. I made wood on wood sliding doors but the doors or flat panel. here's a picture, not great quality was taken with my phone.


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## DarianFodd (Dec 1, 2010)

Thanks great idea. Sliding *furniture* door will be helpful in less space.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

rrbrown said:


> Cman that last choice you listed sure would have came in handy when I made the wall units for my jeweler. I made wood on wood sliding doors but the doors or flat panel. here's a picture, not great quality was taken with my phone.



An excellent sliding system for 3/4" doors is a sheave and metal track assembly. See them here. The sheave fits a mortise in the bottom of the door and the nylon roller rides on a metal track...very smooth, and can take quite a bit of weight.












 









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## 88dblifestyle (Dec 10, 2009)

Those are really great!.. Wall paintings is great with that too..


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## byron9393 (Nov 19, 2010)

Woodnthings said [. My suggestion if they are wood in wood tracks, is to laminate a formica or other smooth hard material strip on the bottom edge of the door for a "friction free" slide and to reduce wear on the wood. Wood to wood will work, but it should be waxed occaisonally to prevent "stiction" ]

I like putting a sliver of that real slick tape that you can get at moest better woodworking stores. Dont know what it is called but a peice of that on the bottom track and the doors will want to run away. Its only about a 1/32" thick. It will last a lifetime but you still need to clean out the dust on occasion.


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## Furnituregirl (Dec 30, 2010)

Google Heywood Wakefield champagne or wheat stains. It's a little expensive but looks amazing!


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## cherylfoster (Dec 30, 2010)

Use the tape to get the dimensions of your cabinets with sliding doors. Plywood frames in your exact measurements with a pencil. Take the saw and cut plywood with precision along the marked lines.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

deleted


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## Firewalker (Jan 3, 2011)

Furnituregirl said:


> Google Heywood Wakefield champagne or wheat stains. It's a little expensive but looks amazing!


Where did that come from?


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*It's a forum spammer*



Firewalker said:


> Where did that come from?


When you see completely unrelated statements, not answers, in broken English usually, and a LINK to a site at the bottom ....SPAM :thumbdown:
Hit the red ! Report button on the left side and the Admin or Mods will delete the link or remove the post entirely. There are 3 such posts here. They just clog up the forum with useless posts.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

woodnthings said:


> When you see completely unrelated statements, not answers, in broken English usually, and a LINK to a site at the bottom ....SPAM :thumbdown:
> Hit the red ! Report button on the left side and the Admin or Mods will delete the link or remove the post entirely. There are 3 such posts here. They just clog up the forum with useless posts.


It's actually this: 

But don't click on this one!!












 









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