Frustrated with 3/8" depth of cut rail and stile bits. Who makes unique profiles?

[Jonathan Badalamenti]

There are 15 companies that make the same rail and style bits. The standard has always been 3/8" depth of cut, which means for recessed panel doors, you don't get much of a profile. Modern furniture and cabinetry uses recessed panels more often than historically, and my wife and I prefer them, and like the profiles we see in the stores from custom cabinet companies. My question is why can't I find some that makes bits for a ROUTER TABLE so I can transfer this more modern style to the doors I'm trying to build?

i attached one sample photo of a piece of furniture I already own. Looking for bits that will allow me to do profiles of similar depth of cut, in any style profile. I'm not interested in spending $500 on custom bits, but if that is the only way to achieve what I'm after, let me know who will do it.

[George Bokros]

Don't know if they are available over the counter but I believe Whiteside will make custom bits.

George

[Robert LaPlaca]

Well, one to get your desired profile would be to use one router bit to create the profile near the panel on the styles and rails, then use a slotting bit or dado head to create the dado for the panel. You can use stub tendons on the rails that fit into the dado, or you can create a much deeper mortise in the styles..

In either case the rails and the styles will need to be mitered at the profile to use this technique, the excess profile on the styles will need to be removed so the style and rail meet up. It's not as easy as the matched rail and style set, but you get more freedom of the profile on the inside of the inside of the rails and styles this way and a nice deep mortise and tendon..

[Peter Quinn]

Well...thats a big bite for a router table. You can get shaper cutters that go that deep or have HSS knives ground to pattern. I'm guessing that a 3/4" deep X 1/2" high profile would tax the best router set up. So perhaps you can get a custom set made, or at least get a cope and stick set for the profile and do the groove separately?

[Jonathan Badalamenti]

It wouldn't be too big to take in passes same you do with raised panels. I've contemplated custom bits - I'm looking at $500 for a set for something that should only cost $60... just not willing to spend that kind of coin. I've also thought about mitered frames, and don't want to go that route. Again, I'd be looking for a custom bit anyway if that route.

I'm I correct in that there are no tooling manufacturers filling this hole in the market? That's what I'm most amazed at. Especially given how prevelent recessed panels are in cabinets these days...75% of custom kitchens on Houzz have them.

With that said, I guess I'd be willing to pay up to $120 for a rail and stile bit set to do what I'm looking for. Any recommendations on manufactuerers?

[Loren Woirhaye]

I just rout a rabbet, square the corners, drop in a panel and finish with applied mouldings.

You may be able to cobble something up from the stacked r&s cutters and slot cutters that mount on special router bit shanks. Maybe if you look at available shaper cutters you can figure out how it would be done on a shaper by stacking cutters, then from there determine if you can duplicate that with available router cutters.

[Rick Potter]

I think Freud makes an adjustable bit set for drawer fronts etc. You might check what they have.

Rick Potter

[Loren Woirhaye]

http://www.infinitytools.com/Reverse-Ogee-Shaper-Cutters/products/1193/

[Mark Wooden]

Contact Bobby at Woodworkers Tool Works-http://www.woodworkerstoolworks.com- and tell him what your looking for. He's very knowledgeable and can you make you what you need. But, custom profile matched stile and rail router tooling is not inexpensive. If you're going to do any amount of custom profiles you're better off to invest in a decent shaper and a corrugated head for it; the custom knives would be less expensive and much easier to get.
But back to Woodworkers'- I've had them do custom router tooling for me and am very satisfied.

A regular square edge cope and pattern (aka tongue and groove) set with applied moulding ( like Loren said above)would also do what you want , you'll just have to set the groove deeper to accommodate your molding profile

[Jeff Duncan]

The point of some of those different door styles is so that the guys with a router table can't easily make them! Businesses look for ways to make a unique product that stands out just a bit from what everybody else is doing. The cost of tooling to do so is pretty small to a business and pretty big to a guy just trying to make a couple doors. When I started making interior passage doors I made up my own profile and had HSS tooling made for it. It's nothing fancy or complicated, but it's my own profile and it's not so easy for another company to duplicate my look without having tooling made up to match it.

In your situation it's a matter of how much you want to invest to get a different look…..but you have to somewhat realistic as well! Your not going to get a matched set of quality bits for $60 even off-the-shelf, that's just completely unrealistic! A good quality spiral bit will cost you $60 or more! A decent set of R&S bits off-the-shelf will cost you $80. I don't honestly know if anyone will make you a matched set for $120…..but I highly doubt it:o If you want to go the distance and have it made up there are plenty of companies out there that will do so for you. I've used Magnate in the past for router bits and they do a decent job….but there are plenty of others as well.

good luck,
JeffD

[Art Mann]

If I wanted the appearance of the door in the original photo, I wouldn't find it really hard to do, but I wouldn't plan on doing it using a one-of-a-kind router bit set. There are other ways to get the look you want as someone already mentioned.

[Peter Quinn]

Multi pass on a cope and stick set can lead to sloppy fit and inaccuracies. It's not quite the same condition as panel raising. Multi pass panel raising may actually be more accurate than one big bite, especially on a router where a single pass could introduce chatter and tear out. I'd look into panel molding with an offset square edge set up and a plywood spline glued in as a nailer. You also might learn to jack miter, then you can do any profile you like, multi pass will work as long as the groove is done in one pass and always referenced from the same face. Freud makes reversible wainscot bits that give you a molding that can be coped with the same cutter, could do the tongue separately.

[Loren Woirhaye]

You can also miter the inset profile part and do the joinery as loose tenon. It sounds hard to do and it might get tiresome to do it well by hand or using a band saw, but with table and miter saws set up with stops it's not difficult. This is one of those tasks where a radial arm saw can be useful as the blade can be turned parallel to the table.

[Jonathan Badalamenti]

Great replies guys. Very thankful for the feed back! I feel like I have some options now.