Rail & stile doors with beveled glass?

[Victor Robinson]

How would you go about doing this? Since beveled mirror/glass I have seen tends to be beveled all the way to the edges, it doesn't register squarely against the profile, like a raised panel that doesn't flatten at the edges. How is this dealt with if making beveled glass doors/mirrors?

[Duane Bledsoe]

Maybe there's a special bit for the router to make the wood hold beveled glass. Just a guess, I don't know, I've only read about such things so far. I would imagine that it wouldn't be too hard to conceive a bit to cut a sloped inside surface instead of a squared flat surface, so I'm thinking that somewhere they have one.

[Bill White]

Build the doors as usual, then trim off the back side of the dado for the glass. Install the glass with an attached "stop" molding pinned to the frame which will allow you to remove the glass if needed. The stop will let ya fit the glass tightly to the frame.
Kinda like framing a picture except that you don't use framer's triangles.
That's the way I'd do it.
Bill

[Victor Robinson]

Maybe there's a special bit for the router to make the wood hold beveled glass. Just a guess, I don't know, I've only read about such things so far. I would imagine that it wouldn't be too hard to conceive a bit to cut a sloped inside surface instead of a squared flat surface, so I'm thinking that somewhere they have one.

Hey Duane - yeah I thought there might be, and I checked the usual suspects (Infinity, Whiteside, MLCS, etc.) and didn't find one. I wonder if bevel angles for glass aren't standardized and maybe there's no point in making dedicated bits?

I would think something like a straight 17 or 18 degree panel raiser could be used to slope the groove, but I hate using bits for creative purposes (i.e. other than their intended use!). *Something about using a panel raiser's outside rim to slope a groove doesn't sit right with me. *Maybe I'm just being overly cautious? *:)


Maybe there's a special bit for the router to make the wood hold beveled glass. Just a guess, I don't know, I've only read about such things so far. I would imagine that it wouldn't be too hard to conceive a bit to cut a sloped inside surface instead of a squared flat surface, so I'm thinking that somewhere they have one.

Thanks Bill. So you're thinking as I suspected - the bevel doesn't register perfectly against the groove, it's just kind of pressed against it with the stops. Seems reasonable enough...