Making Raised Panel Doors

Frame and panel doors consist of the rails the top and bottom pieces the stiles the side pieces and the panel.

Making raised panel doors.

Raised panel doors are an example of frame and panel construction a method developed hundreds of years ago to combat the effects of moisture on solid wood used in cabinetry and furniture making. Size the rail and stile frame to fit the door opening and then size the raised panel to fit that frame. Use straight grained stock for stiles and rails to best resist warping. If you intend to strengthen the cope and stick joints with loose tenons or dowels cut the mortises after routing the profiles.

First you cut the parts for the rails stiles and panels to size. The panel may be flat or raised. Flat panels are the easiest to construct and install. In a frame and panel construction a large panel is fitted into a groove in the interior edge of a more dimensionally stable frame made of narrow.

There are lots of different choices and lots of different hardware considerations but one door style that makers come back to time and time again is the frame and panel door and particularly the raised panel door. This prevents tear out around the mortise. There are five major steps to creating a raised panel door. Making a raised panel door safety instructions creating raised panel doors is a fun and rewarding woodworking project.

A raised panel resides in a frame that is composed of two stiles uprights and two rails horizontal members. Raised panels take more work and arched raised panels require the most work. Full size home doors are a project we can all find a place for but they can be intimidating. To prove that you don t need expensive cutters to make handsome doors we made the beautiful raised panel doors above using only three common router bits.

The frame parts can be plain but most often they are decorated with a profile on the front edge where they meet the panel. Arched panels may be simple arches or a cathedral design. In part two we ll build the interior panel and and finish it. As with any woodworking project however your first concern must always be safety.

Cabinets usually need a door or two and deciding on the style of the door can be make or break the appearance of the piece. How to build a door. There s a lot of lumber and a lot of weight plus they re bigger. In this article we ll be building the frame for an interior door from wood.

We ll show you the best tips techniques and tools to make doors quickly and easily without expensive panel raising bits. The good news is that with patience practice and a modern router bit set you can make great looking raised panel doors for your next project.