Frame and panel cabinet door help

[Ray Bohn]

Since this is my first attempt at this, any help would be appreciated. I want to make mortise and tenon mission style cabinet doors by hand.

What width and thickness would be appropriate for frame stock? The cabinet openings are 17" H x 15" W.

It seems that 1/4" panel stock seems to be popular.

I have a good range of bench planes, bench and mortise chisels, 044 plow plane w/full set of cutters, router plane, and the marking tools I need.

Any tips, suggestions, questions?

Thanks

[Jeff Heath]

I make my doors 7/8" thick, and 2 3/4" wide, most of the time. On larger moulded doors, I have gone to 3". As far as a panel goes, if you're making a flat panel, I prefer 3/8" thick, with a perimeter rabbet, and turn the raised face to the back side if you want a flat panel look. 1/4" panels are too thin and twangy sounding, when you pluck one. Use a thicker panel.

[Ray Bohn]

Jeff,

Thank you for replying to my post. You provided all the information that I needed to start on this first time project.

[Jim Matthews]

I would caution a first time builder about building doors with mortise and tenon construction.
It is not trivial to cut all four mortises and the mating tenons in the same plane.

Consider the humble bridle joint, which can be made without chisels or through holes
and is very strong. It can be tarted up with drawbored pegs, if more holding power is desired.

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[Judson Green]

I've never really stuck to any absolute formula or measurements. When making kitchen doors those have been a scant 1" thick (the face frame just over 1" thick) and the styles have been anywhere from 2" to 2¾". The rails more or less the same, but usually make the bottom rails wider, this is especially true of base cabinets. I like the look. But at other times I've just done what the material will allow. Ya just gotta do what looks/feels right. Draw it out if your not sure. When I've made dainty furniture 1" thick door might seem out of place.

I'm with Jim about the panels.

With double doors the meeting styles I make narrower.

[Pat Barry]

I would caution a first time builder about building doors with mortise and tenon construction.
It is not trivial to cut all four mortises and the mating tenons in the same plane.

Consider the humble bridle joint, which can be made without chisels or through holes
and is very strong. It can be tarted up with drawbored pegs, if more holding power is desired.

288232
In my experience, while it seems simple enough to make a bridle joint it is actually relatively difficult. Why?
1) There are twice as many cuts to make with your saw
2) every edge is important to the appearance of the finished joint.
3) The empty space in the bridle joint is not so easy to accomplish + the two cheeks - alll need to be very clean
4) Gluing that bridle joint together is no easy task in itself. It makes keeping things square more difficult and requires the use of at least 6 more clamps (4 to squeeze each bridle together and another two to pull the frame together tight from top to bottom).

Making the bridle joint with power tools though such as a tenon jig on a table saw, relative piece of cake except for the cleanup of the empty space and the two cheeks (unless you have a saw blade that makes true flat bottom cuts. You still have the glue up issues though.