Making Raised Panel Doors

Flat panels are the easiest to construct and install.

Making raised panel doors. A raised panel resides in a frame that is composed of two stiles uprights and two rails horizontal members. As with any woodworking project however your first concern must always be safety. The panel may be flat or raised. Frame and panel doors consist of the rails the top and bottom pieces the stiles the side pieces and the panel.

Arched panels may be simple arches or a cathedral design. There are lots of different choices and lots of different hardware considerations but one door style that makers come back to time and time again is the frame and panel door and particularly the raised panel door. Making a raised panel door safety instructions creating raised panel doors is a fun and rewarding woodworking project. First you cut the parts for the rails stiles and panels to size.

There s a lot of lumber and a lot of weight plus they re bigger. Use straight grained stock for stiles and rails to best resist warping. If you intend to strengthen the cope and stick joints with loose tenons or dowels cut the mortises after routing the profiles. How to build a door.

We ll show you the best tips techniques and tools to make doors quickly and easily without expensive panel raising bits. Raised panel doors are an example of frame and panel construction a method developed hundreds of years ago to combat the effects of moisture on solid wood used in cabinetry and furniture making. Size the rail and stile frame to fit the door opening and then size the raised panel to fit that frame. Learn a new way to make beautiful raised panel doors.

There are five major steps to creating a raised panel door. Full size home doors are a project we can all find a place for but they can be intimidating. In part two we ll build the interior panel and and finish it. This prevents tear out around the mortise.

In this article we ll be building the frame for an interior door from wood. The look of sophistication and craftsmanship raised panel doors provide is if my email is any indication both beautiful to the viewer and intimidating to new woodworkers. The frame parts can be plain but most often they are decorated with a profile on the front edge where they meet the panel. Making doors with a shaper is a great idea if there are more than a couple of doors required.

To prove that you don t need expensive cutters to make handsome doors we made the beautiful raised panel doors above using only three common router bits. Cabinets usually need a door or two and deciding on the style of the door can be make or break the appearance of the piece.