Rustic Cabinet Doors
What is Rough Sawn?
Rough sawn lumber is lumber, which is left rough and usually needs to be dried, planed, and otherwise dressed by the end user. Drying is often done by leaving the lumber outside, but it can also be dried in a lumber kiln or in your workshop. Often times you can purchase this lumber from the mill after it is kiln-dried.
Wood species:
There are a few species that are best suited for a rustic appearance. We chose Kiln-dried, rough sawn, Pine. It is a fairly popular choice for a rustic look, because it displays the visible knots for which rustic kitchen cabinets are well known. Pine is also a sustainable resource, readily available and reasonably priced.
Selecting Material
We chose to get our rough sawn lumber from a local saw mill called Parlee Lumber & Box Co., Inc. Parlee was originally established as a gristmill and was converted it to a sawmill in 1815 and still operates today.
Parlee had an assortment of one-inch [4/4] and two-inch thicknesses in addition to the following widths: 4″, 6″, 8″, 10″, and 12″ and wider. We were able to purchase 4/4” x 18” wide boards.
Rough lumber thicknesses are measured in 1/4-in. increments. The thinnest rough-cut boards, labeled 4/4, and called four quarter, are 1-in. thick.
TIP: A common rule of thumb is to buy 10 to 20 percent more than you need and I’m glad we did!
Don’t Forget the Counter Top Overhang
I made my client a sample door and drawer set to make sure he was getting what he wanted. I originally used a thickness planer to mill the 4/4 pine down to ¾” thick and added the 1/4 “strips resulting in a finished thickness of 1-inch. The old doors were ¾” and the new doors left only ½” granite counter overhang. As a result we decided to split the difference and opted for a 7/8-inch thick finished product.
