How to build these doors?

[Dave Cav]

I am building a cabinet with doors similar to the ones shown in the picture below. The door construction, despite using a raised center panel, isn't conventional stick and cope. Any suggestions on how to make the doors with the corner radius? One approach might be to rough cut the rails on the BS, then mortise the ends and cut the stiles with tennons and assemble (or use dowells), then sand on the OSS, then rabbet the back with a router and piloted bit, then install the panel (or glass) and hold it in place with long stops pinned back to the rails and stiles. Any other suggestions?

It also looks like the raised panels have radiused corners on the raised panel. How would I do that? Freehand on a shaper/router table with a rub collar or piloted bit? That doesn't sound like much fun....

Thanks

[Tom A Brown]

Seems a lot like making doors with mdf and a router bit w/plunge capability. Make a template you can attach to the perimeter of the door and pick a profile. Plunge to desired depth, with a top mounted bearing and follow the template around the door. This would be assuming the panel is solid wood.

[Frank Drew]

Dave,

A full sized drawing and careful layout are the key, showing the stiles before and after so you'd know where to position the mortise and tenons, which I'd cut and fit before changing the shape of the stiles. That can be accomplished on the band saw (I wouldn't attempt plunge cutting on the table saw), then clean up the saw marks by hand with scrapers, small planes, sandpaper, whatever.

The raised panel should be fit to the enlarged opening and can be cut conventionally then round the corners of the raised portion by hand; draw the curve with a compass, or even just put a nickel or quarter or whatever over the corners to trace the correct curve, then cut with an in cannel gouge of you have one, or just peck away with a straight chisel then rasp/file to finish.

[If you can visualize the doors with the stile edges in line with the shoulders, you can see that this is actually a pretty straightforward job.]

[Dave Cav]

Thanks, Frank; I hadn't considered the chisel/gouge route for the panel corners, but since I am only making two doors it shouldn't be a big deal. I'll probably make the frames pretty much as you described. I'll make at least one full sized mockup out of alder before I start cutting up my sapele.

[Dave Cav]

Seems a lot like making doors with mdf and a router bit w/plunge capability. Make a template you can attach to the perimeter of the door and pick a profile.

I hadn't thought seriously about using a template (I also don't have an appropriate piloted router bit, and I do have the correct shaper cutter.) but it would probably work fine. I also have an inverted pin router at school and it might be the ideal solution to this situation; it would require one template for the frame, and another for the panel.

[Dave Cav]

I'm making progress on the doors. I cut out a frame prototype out of alder today and got the radiused corners I was looking for. Here's how I did it:

First I made up a frame using bridle joints. I wanted the rails and stiles to be 2", but I glued them up out of 2 1/2" stock.

Once the glue set up I put a 1/2" piloted rabbet bit in the router table and cut a 1/2 x 1/2" rabbet around the inside perimeter. This left round corners in the rabbet, which you normally square up with a chisel, but I wanted the round corners.

Next I put a long flush trim bit in the router table and flipped the door frame over and used the trim bit to cut the remaining lip of the rabbet away with the pilot following the interior surface of the rabbet I had just cut. It left me with 2" rails and stiles and nice radiused corners. Then I used a 3/8" rabbet bit to cut another rabbet, this time for the panel.

When I cut the panel I'll trim it to size, cut a radius on the corners to match the radius on the frame, and then route the raised panel by hand using a piloted bit on the router table (or shaper cutter and rub collar) making several passes. It should give me a nice rounded corner on the panel field to match the frame.

Now that I know how the frame and joints ended up I can probably substitute M&T joints for the bridle joints, but I may just stick with the bridles because they give a lot of glue area and are pretty straightforward to cut on the table saw with a tennoner.