What options do I have for the joinery on raised panel door frames?
I'm building an armoire with raised panel doors approx. 30"x14" with the
door frame 2 1/4" wide (3/4 material). While I've done M&T before on table
legs, they were much wider than 3/4" and using a router was, well, not easy,
but easier than on this narrow of a material. I spent most of Saturday
trying the neander route practicing on scrap with a chisel, but the mortises
were inconsistent, narrow in spots, wide in others. By the time I got the
tenons whittled down to fit it, they looked like toothpicks. So yesterday I
built a jig to route mortises only to find the template on my router that my
jig relies on prevents the router bit from extending very far, and they
ended up being off center anyway, ...argh.
I don't have a drill press or a mortising machine (obviously), and from what
I've read the coped router bits for door frames require a real router table
(not my cheapee sheet of plywood with a hole in it) and hold-down plate and
clamp so you can route the end grain smoothly.
At this point I just want to get the doors finished, but I want them to hold
up. Can I use a biscuit joiner for the frame joinery? Like everything else
on the Internet whenever I do a search for something I find half the people
say "yes, you can", and the other half say "no way".
Any recommendations for the joinery ideas welcomed.
--
Cheers!
Duke
On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 06:58:33 -0500, "Dukester"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>What options do I have for the joinery on raised panel door frames?
>
> I'm building an armoire with raised panel doors approx. 30"x14" with the
>door frame 2 1/4" wide (3/4 material). While I've done M&T before on table
>legs, they were much wider than 3/4" and using a router was, well, not easy,
>but easier than on this narrow of a material. I spent most of Saturday
>trying the neander route practicing on scrap with a chisel, but the mortises
>were inconsistent, narrow in spots, wide in others. By the time I got the
>tenons whittled down to fit it, they looked like toothpicks. So yesterday I
>built a jig to route mortises only to find the template on my router that my
>jig relies on prevents the router bit from extending very far, and they
>ended up being off center anyway, ...argh.
>
>I don't have a drill press or a mortising machine (obviously), and from what
>I've read the coped router bits for door frames require a real router table
>(not my cheapee sheet of plywood with a hole in it) and hold-down plate and
>clamp so you can route the end grain smoothly.
>
>At this point I just want to get the doors finished, but I want them to hold
>up. Can I use a biscuit joiner for the frame joinery? Like everything else
>on the Internet whenever I do a search for something I find half the people
>say "yes, you can", and the other half say "no way".
>
>Any recommendations for the joinery ideas welcomed.
for doors that size biscuits will work fine.
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 06:58:33 -0500, "Dukester"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >What options do I have for the joinery on raised panel door frames?
> >
> for doors that size biscuits will work fine.
What size biscuits do you recommend? (I've not used a biscuit joiner
before).
--
Cheers,
Duke
I've used dowels to do this. Handdrill was all I used.
Brian.
"Dukester" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> What options do I have for the joinery on raised panel door frames?
>
> I'm building an armoire with raised panel doors approx. 30"x14" with the
> door frame 2 1/4" wide (3/4 material). While I've done M&T before on
table
> legs, they were much wider than 3/4" and using a router was, well, not
easy,
> but easier than on this narrow of a material. I spent most of Saturday
> trying the neander route practicing on scrap with a chisel, but the
mortises
> were inconsistent, narrow in spots, wide in others. By the time I got the
> tenons whittled down to fit it, they looked like toothpicks. So yesterday
I
> built a jig to route mortises only to find the template on my router that
my
> jig relies on prevents the router bit from extending very far, and they
> ended up being off center anyway, ...argh.
>
> I don't have a drill press or a mortising machine (obviously), and from
what
> I've read the coped router bits for door frames require a real router
table
> (not my cheapee sheet of plywood with a hole in it) and hold-down plate
and
> clamp so you can route the end grain smoothly.
>
> At this point I just want to get the doors finished, but I want them to
hold
> up. Can I use a biscuit joiner for the frame joinery? Like everything
else
> on the Internet whenever I do a search for something I find half the
people
> say "yes, you can", and the other half say "no way".
>
> Any recommendations for the joinery ideas welcomed.
>
> --
> Cheers!
> Duke
>
>
Hi Duke,
FWIW, when I built the cabinet doors for my workshop
(about 10 years ago), I used a combination of MT, biscuits,
dowels and cope/stick - just to experiment with the construction
and to see if one method would outlast the others. I made a total
of 13 doors - 2 or 3 with each method of joinery.
They are all oak 3/4 oak rails & stiles with a 1/4 flat panel
oak plywood. Most of the doors were about 18 x 24 or so.
They get banged around quite a bit and none of them has failed
yet.
My preference today is cope & stick since I got my shaper a few years
back.
Good luck!
Lou
On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 10:36:13 -0500, "Dukester"
<[email protected]> wrote:
><[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 06:58:33 -0500, "Dukester"
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> >What options do I have for the joinery on raised panel door frames?
>> >
>> for doors that size biscuits will work fine.
>
>What size biscuits do you recommend? (I've not used a biscuit joiner
>before).
the widest biscuits that will fit inside the joint. #20 biscuits fit
in a 3" joint, IIRC....
Dukester wrote:
> What options do I have for the joinery on raised panel door frames?
>
> I'm building an armoire with raised panel doors approx. 30"x14" with the
> door frame 2 1/4" wide (3/4 material). While I've done M&T before on table
> legs, they were much wider than 3/4" and using a router was, well, not easy,
> but easier than on this narrow of a material. I spent most of Saturday
> trying the neander route practicing on scrap with a chisel, but the mortises
> were inconsistent, narrow in spots, wide in others. By the time I got the
> tenons whittled down to fit it, they looked like toothpicks. So yesterday I
> built a jig to route mortises only to find the template on my router that my
> jig relies on prevents the router bit from extending very far, and they
> ended up being off center anyway, ...argh.
>
> [snip of other method]
>
> Any recommendations for the joinery ideas welcomed.
IMHO, you really should use m&t construction. It's one of the
oldest forms of joinery (if not the oldest) for a reason. Like most any
form of joinery, there's a price to pay, and that is using the right
tools and practicing the joint beforehand.
For m&t joints you need a mortising chisel (unless your name is
Lowell :-), a decent mortise gage (or multiple single gages), a good
saw for cutting cheeks (rip configuration) and one for shoulders
(crosscut configuration).
I could ramble on and on about how I do the joints, but there are
somoe basic technques involved. Scribe the width of the mortise with
your gage(s), sizing the mortise to the chisel width (I do mine the
*slightest* bit larger than the width of my chisel). Scribe all
mortises from the face side of the work. Mark your chisel-back for the
desired depth using a "permanent" Sharpie or such. Readup an in any
book on techniques for chopping mortises.
Once they are done, lay out your tenons with your gage(s), again
from the face side of the piece. Saw your cheeks, shoulders and round
over the edges slightly with a rasp or file. Test fit and adjust with a
chisel or shoulder plane as needed.
Chuck Vance
Just say (tmPL) And practice a bunch of them before hacking up
your special project-wood.