How to make the Center Panel for Raised Panels Doors

[Todd SmithMD]

I am building my first raised panel cabinet doors and I want the center panel to look like a single board and have a custom cabinet look where the grain of the wood will match between doors. (i.e. the grain for doors above, below, and next to the door will match)

I have been searching this site for posts and there is a lot of good information for how to make the Stile and Rails. But I cant find anything for how make the center panel with the look I'm trying to achieve.

Some options I've considered for building the doors:

1. Use multiple boards of solid wood and biscuit jointing the boards together. Then cut them to size and router (as described here http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?100205-Raised-panels-material-question (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?100205-Raised-panels-material-question)). However I am not able to find solid boards where the grains match close enough to give the panels a single board look or have the grain match from board to board where they are biscuit jointed together.

2. Put a solid wood edge around a MDF Core and put veneer over the panel Then router/cut the ogee edge into the solid wood (as described here http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?60472-Veneer-on-Raised-Panel-Doors (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?60472-Veneer-on-Raised-Panel-Doors)). However this will produce a different grain between the solid wood egde and the veneered center panel not giving it the single board look I want.

3. I have seen cheap Wal-mart syle furniture that has raised panels where the grain runs smoothly over the face of the panel and over the ogee bends as if it were a single piece. How do I make something like that? Do I need to cut the panels out of MDF, ogee the edges, and then veneer over the ogee? how do I get the veneer to bend with the ogee edge for a consistent look? what about the corners? etc.

Any help or insight will be appreciated.

Thanks

[Derek Gilmer]

If you get 8/4 stock you can resaw it then edge join the boards back for a bookmatched look on each panel.

[Lee Schierer]

I am building my first raised panel cabinet doors and I want the center panel to look like a single board and have a custom cabinet look where the grain of the wood will match between doors. (i.e. the grain for doors above, below, and next to the door will match)

I have been searching this site for posts and there is a lot of good information for how to make the Stile and Rails. But I cant find anything for how make the center panel with the look I'm trying to achieve.

Some options I've considered for building the doors:

1. Use multiple boards of solid wood and biscuit jointing the boards together. Then cut them to size and router (as described here http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?100205-Raised-panels-material-question (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?100205-Raised-panels-material-question)). However I am not able to find solid boards where the grains match close enough to give the panels a single board look or have the grain match from board to board where they are biscuit jointed together.

2. Put a solid wood edge around a MDF Core and put veneer over the panel Then router/cut the ogee edge into the solid wood (as described here http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?60472-Veneer-on-Raised-Panel-Doors (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?60472-Veneer-on-Raised-Panel-Doors)). However this will produce a different grain between the solid wood egde and the veneered center panel not giving it the single board look I want.

3. I have seen cheap Wal-mart syle furniture that has raised panels where the grain runs smoothly over the face of the panel and over the ogee bends as if it were a single piece. How do I make something like that? Do I need to cut the panels out of MDF, ogee the edges, and then veneer over the ogee? how do I get the veneer to bend with the ogee edge for a consistent look? what about the corners? etc.

Any help or insight will be appreciated.

Thanks

Getting several doors to match will be all but impossible with real wood unless you slice veneer from one thick piece and laminate it to a substrate. Even then because each layer will change slightly they won't be identical. You can make one large panel the width and total height of the vertically aligned doors and then cut it for the various sized panels. The grain will look like it runs from one to the next. I would avoid the biscuits though as #1, they aren't needed in edge to edge joints for strength and #2 they can be a problem if you cut the panel in the wrong place and expose a biscuit. The doors with the grain running down over the edge of the raised areas are made from veneer over a substrate. Lots of furniture manufacturers, particularly cheap ones, are using artificial veneers with printed wood grain that will be identical from piece to piece. The cherry panels in the elevator where I work looks like real cherry until you notice that all the raised panels have exactly the same pattern on every one and there are nearly a dozen panels. Only upon extreme close observation can you tell it is printed on the material.

[Larry Fox]

If I understand you correctly you want the figure to be consistent across the width and over the length. This will be very difficult to do across the width but just about impossible over the length because of the way the rails and stiles run. The figure of the stiles run with the panel but the figure of the rails runs perpendicular to the panel. I would think that if you did it the other way where the figure of the rails runs with the panel you would have tons of end grain showing and you would have almost no stability as the rails would be prone to snapping. Now that I types this out - I suspect I am not understanding you correctly.

I agree with other posters that in order to do what you want you are getting into some pretty hairy veneer work and even then it will likely look strange relative to what people are used to seeing with a raised panel door.

IMHO, I actually like a little difference between the panels and the rails / stiles - YMMV.

[Todd SmithMD]

I'm building a Built-it Entertainment center that is recessed into the wall.
I'm going to make the stile and rails out of solid wood with a dark stain to create a frame around a light color stained center panel similar to an AWI architectural wall panel or the elevator example.
I'm not veneering the Stile and Rails and am only interested in the center panel being consistent between the doors. My question is how to get the AWI look while using an ogee edge.

Below is a sketch of what I'm thinking.

189366

[Chip Lindley]

Dr. Smith, you can go to great lengths to add solid wood edging to MDF panels, veneering over it, and then routing the reveal of the panels. Or, you can resaw bookmatched boards of the same thicker board. I would prefer the latter.

Remember that all your hard work (in either case) may be mistaken for the cheap, too-consistent, photo-lithiographed "grain" of WalMart furniture. Some variation in grain pattern is just the nature of the beast--wood. I would opt for bookmatched solid wood raised panels. Careful selection of wood can result in some very pleasing doors, and should be very doable using two boards per door, for small RP doors as you have sketched.

[Joe Chritz]

I'll take a stab. I assume you are doing standard 5 pieces doors. The stiles and rails you will need to hand pick for grain match but usually you can cut the two stiles from the same board (width) and get really good results. To get consistant panel grain match from door to door you either need to choose your boards very carefully, do some decent veneer work or use very high quality plywood. Each method has advantages and disadvantages.

I often do recessed panel doors by re-sawing 4/4 stock but if you are doing raised panels you will have to do at least 5/4 more likely 6/4 to make it work.

I am with Chip. The "best" looking raised panel in my never humble opinion is a true bookmatched panel with well matched stiles and rails.

Joe