tapered edge on raised panel with planes

[Acharya Kumarswami]

I've made quite a few raised panels, but all with a shaper, so as to get the flat tenon around the edge. I would like to cut the profile with a plane, but have not had luck at finding a pair of left/right panel raising planes to do the job. Closest I have is a pair of 48mm fenced rebate planes.

But this leaves a tapered edge. Someone told me this is OK. But my logic leads me to think that that even-width tenon is needed around the edge to allow for wood movement. I can't see how, if it is tapered it would not become loose when it shrinks.

Thoughts from panel makers?

[Casey Gooding]

As long as you allow room for movement, a tapered edge will work just fine. I've never had any problems doing it this way.

[Acharya Kumarswami]

Thanks, Casey. Do you make it so that the tapered edge is tight in the slot?

[Jim Matthews]

I'm rowing the same boat, but it's in a quiet lagoon...

I draw a line describing the corner, the width of the plane to be used.

I cut a groove in scrap to test the width of tapered end, until it is a little tight.
I then "fair" the angle with a card scraper to make the last bit "flatter".

An alternative is to cut a slightly larger test piece and fold sandpaper into the resulting slot. This leaves a smooth finish with clearance for seasonal variations.

If you're dealing with tropical conditions, the faired flat will more readily slide into and out of it's slot. Some kind of elastomer in the slot will keep things from rattling.

[Jay Bush]

All my panels have a tapered edge. Like Casey said, there shouldnt be a problem as long as you account for movement.

[Acharya Kumarswami]

What I am not understanding is how the wood can moved if the tenon is wedge-shaped (rather than uniform thickness) and placed tight into the slot? What if the wood expands? There's no way for the wedge to move farther into the slot. Right? What am I missing?

[Tim Sproul]

When make frame and panel, you need to consider your shop environment. In Kauai, it is generally quite humid so you are safe to fit panels quite tightly in the frame because just about the only way they will move is to shrink. Someone in a heated shop in Chicago would face the opposite problem. The humidity in their shop is probably 10% and so they need to size panels as small as possible because those panels will only get bigger.

To keep panels from rattling, I like to pin them towards the middle of the panel - 4 pins with 2 on top and 2 on the bottom works well. Pinning panels or using something like spaceballs will help with beveled panels.

[Tony Shea]

I am also confused at how one would handle the expansion of a panel made this way. Say your in Maine making a panel in the winter with around 20% humidity, how do you account for expansion come July with this tapered edge? Do you leave a gap between the tapered panel edge and the frame groove to allow for the expansion? This seems as though it would be unsightly during the winter months and tight in the summer. Wouldn't a rebate along the entire panel edge be a better option in this case?
The rebate could be made to the proper thickness prior to feilding the bevel with the plane.

[Casey Gooding]

I follow the rule that if you make the door in the summer, you can make it pretty tight. If you make it in the winter, you want to make it a bit looser as the panel will expand in the summer heat and humidity.

[Dan Andrews]

I believe the traditional raised pannel is just the taper with no flat. The angle of the taper has to be gradual enough to fit most but not all the way to the back of the rail and syle groove. Nor should the angle be so gradual that is is bottoming out in the groove. Done right the pannel will still have enough play for dimentional changes. When this pannel expands and contracts, the appearance of the pannel does not change. I have made mostly raised pannel doors with a router bit set that cuts the flat on the tapered edge. When these pannels shrink the transition angle between the taper and the flat does show. If the pannel is not pinned the difference between the two sides of the pannel does look kinda bad. As usual the traditional way is probably best. Hense my move from power tools towards the use of more hand tools.

[Acharya Kumarswami]

I like Tony's idea: "The rebate could be made to the proper thickness prior to feilding the bevel with the plane."
I think the angle could be cut then with the new Veritas skew rebate plane, which comes in lefts and rights.
Gotta save up for those!

[Tim Sproul]

You are over thinking this. The bevel on a raised panel is typically fairly flat - not a 45 degree chamfer. The frame with a raised panel is often profiled. If the panel shrinks and shows a slight gap, the gap is unnoticed because of where it is - between frame and panel, the smallness of the gap and the profile in the frame and the panel.

[Acharya Kumarswami]

Overthinking… well it wouldn't be the first time. It's certainly a whole lot simpler to make the bevel with one pass!
I'm sold. Thanks.

[Acharya Kumarswami]

In occurs to me that one key to not overlook is that the top and bottom will remain unchanged and therefore keep the firmly in place, since all the wood movement will be side to side.

[David Keller NC]

In occurs to me that one key to not overlook is that the top and bottom will remain unchanged and therefore keep the firmly in place, since all the wood movement will be side to side.

You've hit the correct answer. The reason that a traditional fielded panel will work without making the ugly modern bevel & tongue configuration is that the 2 ends of the panel are made to be quite tight in the grooves in the rails, and they don't shrink or exapnd, so the panel remains tight. On the edges, a little room for expansion and contraction is acounted for, but as noted above, that shrinkage & expansion goes unnoticed because of where it is.