Thursday, December 10, 2009

Owens Door and Flooring Closing

Owens Inc., announced the immediate closure of its two woodworking plants which will mean approximately 150 employees will lose their jobs. It is possible that the two manufacturing plants, one which makes doors and the other hardwood flooring, may reopen if they are sold at auction early next year, according to Owen's attorney Tim Nixon of Godfrey & Kahn in Green Bay.

Owens, which according to our sources received a loan totaling approximately $1.5 million in February found itself caught in a credit crunch and was forced to discontinue operations. The company will try to get approval from the Shawano County Circuit Court to be placed in receivership, Nixon said. In a receivership, the company's assets are placed under the control of a receiver who administers them for the court with the intent of preserving their value so they can eventually be sold to pay back creditors. This is normally the best way to keep a business open and running and is the best chance at finding a new owner.

Demand for Owen's products which include wood doors and hardwood flooring, fell dramatically in recent months because of the significant decline in new home construction. Increased foreign competition has also hindered growth in the past couple of years. The double whammy was too much for the company to overcome.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Why wood doors?

Interior Doors) For a sophisticated one of a kind look, wood is the natural choice for interior and exterior doors. Each wood component is as unique as a fingerprint and each wood species has a distinct feel and personality all its own. Aesthetically, you will not find another material that can match the elegance and charm of natural wood. Wood doors made with hardwoods such as cherry, alder or hickory are truly one of a kind!

Composite materials are used in the manufacturing of both interior and exterior doors to try to mimic natural wood, but none have been able to capture the texture, beauty and depth of the real thing. There is just no substitute for wood.

Wood is also a very practical choice. It is a very good natural insulator and when finished and maintained properly, it will hold up extremely well over time and against the elements. Unlike some composites, steel or fiberglass, wood is also a naturally renewable resource. Wood has been used for thousands of years for just about anything imaginable and as long as we continue to manage our forests in a sustainable manner as we are now, man will be able to continue using this awesome natural resource indefinitely.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Wood doors prehang machinery

The KVAL Company manufactures door hanging machinery. Their DL-NCB numerically-controlled door light cut out machine is designed to rout lock face holes, viewer holes, and lights in exterior doors made of fiberglass, steel or wood. Features on this machine include automatic door positioning and routing cycle for lock face holes and door light cut outs.

Their high frequency spindle option provides a three phase 11 HP Columbo motor and variable frequency inverter. Spindle speed and tool are selected by the computer program corresponding to the steel, fiberglass or wood doors. Tool change is automatic or can be performed manually with the computer keeping track of tool characteristics. The tool magazine holds 6 cutters with two chucks provided as standard.

The standard DL-NCB is configured for residential steel or fiberglass doors, with capacity ranging from 12” wide sidelights to doors up to 4’ by 8’. An option is available to increase the capacity of the DL-NCB to accommodate doors up to 10' high.
This machine is equipped with a single, variable speed, high frequency motor. A precision tool holder chuck is mounted on the motor shaft. They also include a six position tool holder on the DL-NCB with chunks and programming to automatically change the tooling as needed.

Programming can be done from the operator’s console, or from a personal computer in the office via an ethernet connection. It requires only a few minutes to create a new program for a new cut-out specification by filling in blanks on the Windows based screen ware to include regular shapes, rectangles, circular, or multiple cuts. Programs for irregular curves, ovals or reversing arcs may be ordered as an extra.
The DL-NCB may also be equipped with an option to add barcode scanning hardware to the machine with integration of the scanner input into the computer.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

wood veneer doors

A lot of folks think that the 6 panel oak interior doors they can buy down at the local lumber chain are solid wood doors. Chances are they are probably veneer doors. Veneer doors with raised or flat panels actually have a very thin layer of real wood glued to a man made core of particle board or medium density fiberboard aka MDF. Veneer doors are just as heavy as solid wood doors and most folks can't tell the difference unless they know exactly what they are looking for. You can usually see the man made core by looking at the top or bottom edge of the door or inside the hole for the doorknob.

Some veneer doors also have glued up wood stiles and rails and only have the man made cores in the panels. If this is the case then the only way to determine if the door is a veneer door is to look closely at the veneer thickness on the ends of the doors. You may need a magnifying glass. The wood on veneer doors is 1/16" or less. Higher quality veneer doors will have veneer thicknesses of between 1/32" and 1/16". Cheaper veneer doors may only have a 1/64" or less veneer thickness. Usually the veneer on the panels is a little thinner than the veneer on the stiles and rails especially on raised panel doors because the veneer actually has to be vacuum pressed to conform to the panel configuration.

Veneer doors are not inferior, they are just different. They have some advantages and some disadvantages over solid wood doors. Advantages include less expansion and contraction and fewer seams in the panels. Veneers are often higher quality and more consistent in color than solid wood. Veneer doors make better use of high quality wood resources and are often more economical than solid wood doors. However, care must be taken not to sand through the thin veneers. The hardness of the wood is not as important to wearability and impact resistance because the door will only be as hard as the substrate underneath the veneer.

So when deciding on interior doors for your home you can now compare quality and construction.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Colonial Wood Doors

I just returned from Williamsburg, Virginia with a nice collection of photos of wood doors and moldings. The vast majority of the interior doors and exterior doors in Colonial Williamsburg are some version of an 8-panel or 6 panel door. Most have raised panels on 1 side and flat panels on the other side. The raised panel side of the door faced the most visible part of the room or in the case of an exterior door faced the outside of the structure. Since everthing was made by hand this was obviously a time savings measure. The raised panel side of the panel took more time to make than the flat panel side.

Many of the structures had louvered doors in front of the exterior doors. The louvered doors were attached as outswing doors in front of the exterior doors. They allowed for air flow into the structure but failed to keep the bugs out.

Rim lock door locks and wrought iron strap hinges were used on most of the interior doors. Since the hinges mounted on the face of the door instead of the edge of the door this put the door face flush with the door casing on the hinge side of the door. The hinges were fastened to the face of the door casing instead of the door jamb. The latch portion of the rim locks was also fastened to the door casing.

The window and door casing was usually built up in pieces. Either 2 piece or 3 piece. The first piece of casing was always a flat board with a beaded edge closest to the jamb. This bead was used everywhere because it was easy to make by hand. This same bead is also used to dress up the exterior lap siding, interior wood panelling, baseboard, and wood porch planking as well as the casing. The built up casing was usually 4" to 5" wide if 2 piece or 6" or wider if 3 piece.

All doors and moldings were painted. I only saw natural wood doors in the Governor's palace which had some natural walnut interior doors. Just as in todays structures the more prestigious the building the more ornate the millwork was.