Edge Treatment On Cabinet Face Frames

[Mike Goetzke]

I'm slowly finishing the cabinets for our kitchen. Now that I only have one more face frame to sand for our island I have a question about the sharp cut edges on the face frames that the doors/drawers will surround. When I started the cabinets I read that one should just break the edges. I did this by using a block of wood and some 220 paper to form about a 1/32" to 1/16" radius. On the cabinets that have been in place for a while I'm noticing where the plates and bowls are stored I'm already getting some small nicks. The overlay doors will cover this but I'm trying to learn from this project. Last night I experimented on a piece by cutting a 1/8" radius with my new DeWalt 611 router (stealth gloat). With the larger radius a heavy hit with a plate on edge will cause a dent but with the sanded smaller radius it looks like a nick which is more noticeable.

What do you experts do?



Thanks,

Mike

[scott vroom]

I'm no expert but what I've done recently is ease the face frame edges by hand using a fine grit sandpaper. I prefer a very slight easing as opposed to a using a roundover bit.

This one of those deals where you ask 100 people and get 100 different answers.

[Kent A Bathurst]

I'm no expert but what I've done recently is ease the face frame edges by hand using a fine grit sandpaper. I prefer a very slight easing as opposed to a using a roundover bit.

+3

ie:
1] I'm no expert
2] I've done the sandpaper deal
3] I've done the 1/8" roundover bit also

I've moved Scott's direction - my goal is to break the edge, using the least-messy and fastest method, just so the finish works on the edge. I'm in a project where I've done 3 small tables, and I did the edges of the tops with a half-dozen or so light passes with a block plane, just before the final sanding.

I don't think there is a right or wrong, it's just what do you want it to look like.

[Bob Wingard]

I ease the inside edges with a 45 deg. chamfer bit, and round over the bottom rail with a large radius bit.

[Jeff Monson]

I like to use a 1\8" roundover bit to get a uniform edge on cabinet doors.

[Chris Padilla]

I do whatever is most convenient at the time. If my trim router is handy and a roundover bit is handy, I will do it that way.

Either way, I eventually hand sand the edges and use my fingers to feel if it right or not.

[Larry Edgerton]

I have a theory with utilitarian woodwork......

"All edges end up round eventually."

I try to gain control and get ahead of the curve, I give edges a roundover, from 1/8th to 1/4" depending on its intended use.

But that is just my theory....

Larry

[Chris Fournier]

I have two laminate trimmers permanently set up with 1/16" and 1/8" RO bits. Quick to use, uniform and gives a professional look. As mentioned the 1/8" can look too heavy in some applications so I'll drop down to the 1/16". I always do a test! For something that requires a tweaner look I adjust the 1/8" RO to less than full depth and then fair the one edge with sandpaper.

[scott vroom]

For the folks that use roundover bits on faceframe edges: Are you running the roundover on all exposed edges? If so then you must be applying the roundover prior to faceframe assembly?

[Patrick McCarthy]

Only a weekend warrior here, and my first post to boot, but CMT mades a 1/16 roundover that I REALLY like for hardwood edges. I first used it (was introduced to it) when making a masters bench at William Ng's school of finewoodworking in Anaheim Ca a few years ago. It relieves the edge "just enough" to take away the sharpness to the touch but still gives a clean straight line. I have also used it on all the edges of my overlay doors for bath vanity and pantry , as well as the leading edges of faceframes.

Just my opinion, but 1/8 roundover on maple and cherry cabinets jsut seems to "soften" the visual too much . . . . . but as I said before, I am still new to this game and have LOTS to learn.

[Lee Schierer]

Freud also makes a 1/16" radius round over bit. I highly recommend their bits. You will get crisper inside corners on your face frame if you round them over before assembly and you have to know where to stop the cuts. Rounding over after assembly you will end up with a radiused corner that you may have to hand sand.

[Chris Padilla]

Only a weekend warrior here, and my first post to boot, but CMT mades a 1/16 roundover that I REALLY like for hardwood edges.

+1 I have that bit and use it a lot.

[Chip Lindley]

The OP did not mention what wood he is using for his cabinetry. It must be soft OR his family must be a bit heavy-handed to nick the faceframes in everyday use.

I have never felt that square corners were an issue on cabinetry. I DO break the edges with sandpaper. Finish seems to build better on corners with a ever-so-slight chamfer.

But, as mentioned earlier, any roundover bit run inside an opening, is unable to reach into the very corner because of the pilot bearing. If the radius is stopped in this fashion, in my mind it wreaks of the many "made-with-router-only" cabinets I have seen over the years. It is much more work to create a radius into the corner than to finish a chamfer with a chisel.

I went to such lengths "back in the day" before I owned a shaper with rail/stile cutters. I painstakingly chiseled out the corners of this medicine cabinet FF after rounding over the inside corners of butt joints so that the theme was followed throughout. That's a far cry from radiusing the inside edge of every cabinet FF.

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