True divided light cabinet doors

[Mark Buchanan]

I am in the process of researching true divided light methods for cabinet doors. I have a number of doors to build that are unique in design. I have looked at the Freud set and others but would like some advice for members here. My doors are going to have a double cope on a 45 degree angle. I am attaching a sketch up drawing. All help would be appreciated.


Beverage Bar.jpg

Thanks
Mark

[Neal Clayton]

i'm in the process of making such windows to replace rotten ones in my house. mine are 2x4 foot casements, rather than cabinet doors, but the same principle applies.

short answer: unless you want to have straight cope/stick profiles, it requires a tool you don't likely have.

see this thread, some others along with myself have been researching these on that forum, since such window sash designed were popular at one time and are difficult to reproduce. the tool in question is linked there, hasn't been made since the 30s afaik. it was called a sash trimmer.

long answer: you can't cope rounded profiles for sharply angled muntins. reason being, the stick cut will destroy your cope. you don't have enough meat left on angled points for the stick profile. how they accomplished that was the machine listed above, it drove a blade that matched your stick profile into the rails/stiles at any angle you wanted, thus creating a sort of profiled mortise for the muntins to go into.

options i'm thinking of: 1) a custom chisel with a tang that fits my mortiser to replicate the machine linked above. 2) a sash trimmer showing up on craigslist around the block. in the interest of getting them done before i'm dead, 1 is probably the more reasonable .

[Paul B. Cresti]

Interesting discussion. What is defined as too sharp of an angle for coping? I will be finding out shortly as I have an eliptical transom to create along with normal sidelights

I was thinking to cut out the stick and then use loose M&T's (at and angle of course) for the joint. The only issue is the mutins are about 2" so there is not much meat for a M&T ....most likely will be a "dowel" of some sort.

Now the tricky part is to either stop stick portion of the mutin before it enters that cut slot or very delicately cope by hand the profile on the styles & rails .... either way it is going to take awhile. Then again I am still in stave core construction hell....watching my stack of beautiful real Honduras Mahogany dwindle.

Paul

[Neal Clayton]

i haven't worked the math on that yet, for square patterned muntins i use a plain ole door set, so that profile in the pics is 3/8 by 3/8. traditional window profiles are usually a bit smaller in depth (maybe 3/16 to 1/4?), so that would give you a bit more leeway, but i don't think enough to get 35 degrees by 55 degrees. that's what my window pattern works out to be.

no matter what the limitation, if you need a muntin to come to a point in a corner at a rail/stile joint, as i have to do on these diamond pattern windows or as mark wants to do with his X pattern cabinet doors, you can't make that point by coping the ends, since you need all of it to make your point, and the stick cut will take some at least.