Can a rail rise?

[Robert Engel]

I know this is a knit picking exercise in semantics, but I'm curious what others think.

Commonly accepted that stiles are vertical & rails horizontal.

I call the rails the pieces that fit between the stiles and are always are coped. So in my world stiles can be horizontal and rails can be vertical.

For example, a wide face frame, a drawer front, or wainscotting. In describing it to someone I would say "vertical rails" or "horizontal stiles" and confuse people.

What say you all?

[Kevin Jenness]

I go with horizontal rails and vertical stiles. Why do you want to confuse people?

[Ron Citerone]

I would stick to horizontal = rails. In discussions it would mean less confusion I think, but I am interested in other thoughts.

[Stan Calow]

If you have to explain it, its not worth having a general term for it. I always think of fences when I hear the terms rails and stiles, so it immediately orients things.

[Jared Sankovich]

Rails are always horizontal, stiles are always vertical

You can have mid rails and mid stiles.

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Then there are mulions
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[Bill Dufour]

To further confuse the issue when I make a tongue and groove fence. I make half the boards with two tongues and half with two grooves. Reducing the handling time at the shaper by a lot. More then making up for the slight increase in time spent at the job site sorting boards from two piles.
I also put a chalk mark on the up face of the board on the shaper and keep that chalk mark showing when installing. That helps reduce any issues from thickness differences.
Bill D

[Brian Tymchak]

I generally agree with you Robert but since the other perspective is so much more readily accepted I go with the flow. I mean if you build a frame oriented with traditional rail & stile definition, then turn it 90°, do the parts names change?



I call the rails the pieces that fit between the stiles and are always are coped.


Do you consider mortise & tenon joinery, or doweled or pocket screws to be "coped"?

[Edward Weber]

I generally agree with you Robert but since the other perspective is so much more readily accepted I go with the flow. I mean if you build a frame oriented with traditional rail & stile definition, then turn it 90°, do the parts names change?



Do you consider mortise & tenon joinery, or doweled or pocket screws to be "coped"?


Yes, the names of the parts change.
If it's horizontal, it's a rail. It it's vertical it's a stile.
The parts are designated not by how you made them but how they are oriented when used.