Paneled Wall - how to?

[Bill Webber]

I'm considering a paneled wall with raised panels for my family room, something in the size and perspective in the sketch below. The wall is about 13 x 8 feet. I have standard stile and rail cutter sets but I'm wondering if there is another cutter design that might be more appropriate, more forgiving? Anyone have experience with this sort of thing? Thanks...

[JayStPeter]

Norm did a show on wall panel systems last season. He covered raised panel. I'm planning on finding my Tivo copy soon as he did wainscoating and had a nice way to do outside corners without applied moulding. I'm getting ready to do a little of that in the basement. He spent the most time on the raised panel wall IIRC.

[Jim Becker]

Technically, you can do the rails and stiles on the table saw if you want the most simple design cope and stick joints. (Square edges all around) But otherwise, for wall paneling like this and assuming you're using 3/4" or so thick material for your rails and stiles, you can use your favorite cope and stick router bits in your router table to produce these items.

[Michael O'Sullivan]

What would be the best way to affix the panelling to a plaster (not drywall) wall?

[Bill Webber]

I have cope and stick, or stile and rail cutters, the kind commonly used for cabinet doors. I think these can be used, though that kind of joint is not very forgiving and would be difficult to install with so many pieces over such a large area. I was hoping someone might identify a clever joint that could tolerate a little less precision in the installation.

Michael, as for fixing everything in place, I plan to glue the stiles and rails together with the raised panel floating. I'll nail the rails to pick up the studs in the wall and then fill the holes.

[Todd Burch]

Humm... been there, done that.

Try this thread. Perhaps you'll get some ideas. Since the post is almost 3 years old, the links to the pictures are not hiperlinked, but you can cut and paste and the images should still be valid (not sure for how much longer though...)

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=8080

Todd

[Greg Funk]

Bill,

We installed lots of raised panel wainscotting in our house and didn't have any problems with standard cabinet door cutters. I am not sure why you consider the joint unforgiving. I ran everything through a shaper with powerfeeder so that may have made the cuts a little more consistent.

One simplification I would suggest is to try some different panel layouts. Personally I prefer rectangular (golden ratio) shaped panels to square panels. If you reduced it to 3 vertical panels you could cut the number of joints by at least a factor of 2. Also, you might try having the rails wider than the stiles.

What kind of wood are you using?

Greg

[Lars Thomas]

The most recent New Yankee Workshop shop has a segment on making paneled walls. Turned out looking good. Lars

[Bill Webber]

We installed lots of raised panel wainscotting in our house and didn't have any problems with standard cabinet door cutters. I am not sure why you consider the joint unforgiving.
Hi Greg,
By unforgiving I mean how small misalignments would appear. For example, two boards with rounded ends can be butted together and if the alignment is not perfect the eye would not likely detect the misalignment. Cope and stick cutters have squared ends and any misalignment would be noticeable immediately. Additionally, any misalignment of stiles in a lower row would create problems in the next row up. Not a show stopper, but I was simply asking about other options. :)


One simplification I would suggest is to try some different panel layouts. Personally I prefer rectangular (golden ratio) shaped panels to square panels. If you reduced it to 3 vertical panels you could cut the number of joints by at least a factor of 2. Also, you might try having the rails wider than the stiles.
The design is driven by the need to use up a large pile of really crummy wood. Knots, splits, pith centers wandering throughout the boards. I'm going to do a lot of resawing, bookmatching and gluing to get the small 12 x 12 inch panels. The short stiles should be easy enough to find but the longer rails will need to be pieced together. 'course I couldn't handle 13 foot boards in the shop anyway. And, I did find some paneling pics on-line of similar design and they look OK. I'd have preferred larger panels, too.


What kind of wood are you using?
The wood is air dried walnut. Will pre-finish with pre-cat lacquer sprayed with an old hvlp sprayer.

Thanks for your comments...

[Bill Webber]

Humm... been there, done that.

Try this thread. Perhaps you'll get some ideas.

Nice work, Todd. My design and available materials are, however, significantly different.

[jud dinsmore]

bill,

pocket screws are what i've used to put together panelling in dining rooms in new construction. everything is paint grade with moulding applied over the simple butt joints. check out the kreg video - "pocket hole solutions to trim carpentry with gary striegler" ($10 at woodcraft). this might not really apply for your application. also, fine homebuilding issue #128 (january 2000) has something more like what you are doing - "recycled redwood wainscoting". this author uses biscuits to put his butt joints together. this article also incorporates panel moulding. as for attaching it to the wall, liquid nails and a limited number of 15g nails (or trim head screws). it certaintly isn't "fine woodworking" but it won't come off the wall. good luck.


jud