Hi John,
I’m interested in building a raised panel door, but i want the panels to be raised on both sides. Most router advice seems to say don’t try to route both edges of a panel with two raised sides at the same time, do one side and then flip it over to do the other. That makes sense, but such a panel would have to be thicker and therefore probably more expensive, plus there is twice as much chance to ruin the panel. Would it work to route two one sided raised panels and then glue them together?
Thanks, Dan
Replies
Dan,
Are you talking about just a few cabinet doors or a kitchen full, or are you talking about an interior or exterior door for a house?
Also are you planning to use a relatively inexpensive domestic hardwood or softwood or something exotic and pricey?
The devil is in the details, let me know what you have it in mind to build and I'll be able to give you a better answer.
John White
Interior doors, mahogany or walnut.
Dan
Nothing would be gained by making two thinner panels and then installing them back to back in the door frame. It is quite likely that they would warp a bit on the perimeter when you cut away for the profile and it would then be near impossible to get both pieces in the groove of the frame.
Perhaps I am not understanding your question, but routing from both sides of the panel won't require that the final panel be any thicker than if you made the panel in two pieces.
John W.
Edited 4/9/2007 4:37 pm ET by JohnWW
I envision a door 1 3/4 inches thick. Therefore the raised panels will be the same thickness. They would have to be made from walnut at least 2 inches thick, possibly more expensive than walnut 1 inch thick, and more difficult to find the desired grain pattern in. As a result, I thought to take two 1 inch panels and route them for the raised panel effect on one side of each panel and glue them together before placing them in the door, or glue the panels together and then route them for the raised panel on both sides.
My question was whether or not there were any problems to be aware of in the above procedure.
Thanks, Dan
Dan,
There is no technical reason why the panels have to be as thick as the rails and stiles, the panels could be quite a bit thinner. Panels serve no structural purpose, they just fill up the spaces created by the frame.
If you are going to glue two thinner pieces of wood together to make thick panels, glue up the panels first, plane them to an even thickness and then create the profile around the edges.
John White
Thanks John,
I appreciate your comments. They are helpful when one enters into unknown territory!
Dan
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled