Raised panel doors...

[Adam Boyer]

I am planning on making new interior doors for the house to fit into the existing frames. I once got a quote to have this done and it came to $14K for 11 custom made solid cherry doors:eek:! I plan on making arched raised panel doors with 6/4 cherry for the rails and stiles - and to likely make raised cherry panels - the wood could change, but I like cherry a fair bit...

Anyhow, I am in the design phase of this project, and am wondering if raised panels are always the same thickness as the rails and stiles or could one use 6/4 for rails and stiles, and something thinner for the panels such as 4/4. I do want the panels raised to some extent - and so do not want to use plywood panels.

[Jamie Buxton]

Panels on interior doors are often thinner than the frame parts.

Re your plan to use 6/4 for the stiles and rails... Door hardware like knob sets expect interior doors to be 1 3/8" thick. You should make your doors that thickness too. In my experience, it is rare to be able to start with 6/4 rough-sawn and get pieces which are straight and 80" long. That is, you're probably going to need to start with thicker stock. Most commercial door companies form the rails and stiles with thick veneer over secondary-wood cores.

[Adam Boyer]

Maybe 8/4 cherry to $tart?

[Jamie Buxton]

Maybe 8/4 cherry to $tart?

You're seeing where the $14K quote came from.

Seriously, you might consider building the stiles and rails the way commercial door builders do. They often use thick (like 1/4") show faces laminated to a core of some other wood. Sometimes the core wood is a lower grade of the show wood. Sometimes it is some other species entirely. All the wood in a laminated plank has the grain running the same direction; that is, it is laminated, but it is not plywood. The laminated plank handles like solid lumber. You can cut nice deep mortises in it, and the face laminations are thick enough to do any edge treatment or sticking you want.

This approach reduces the cost of materials, which may be important for you. However, it increases the labor. You pick 'em.

[Quinn McCarthy]

Adam

Like Jamie said most of the doors out there are stave construcion. Using pine or yellow poplar in the middlewith the 1/4 saw facing the face of the door. This give you a very stable door.

Quinn

[Adam Boyer]

I have estimated that there are about 380 BF with a 15% waste factor... (yipes)

I will consider the ideas stated previously - the lamination thing (though 8/4 cherry is not all that much more compared to 4/4 in this quantity), but wonder what people have to say about how thick the raised panels should be - or is this purely an aesthetic decision? (I believe my bit set from infinity tools cuts a 1/4 inch groove for the panel to sit in for the 1 3/8 cofiguration).

[Jamie Buxton]

I don't think I've ever seen a solid-wood interior door whose panels are as thick as the frames. Typically they're much thinner. (Stamped masonite faux-raised-panel doors often have panel faces which are flush with the frames because that's easier with that style of construction.)

Structurally, the point of frame-and-panel doors is that the frame provides the structure of the door -- strength and flatness -- and the panels fill in between. You can make your decision about the thickness of the panels from esthetics and/or cost and/or construction technique.

[Joe Chritz]

Panels are normally thinner because they don't need to be full thickness and it is much cheaper to do thinner panels. Especially when doing 10,000 doors.

For your own doors where profit margin isn't important you can do anything you want with the panels. Even with 14 doors it couldn't be more than 200 BF or more difference. What is a few hundred bucks when talking about a project of this size? Go with what looks best.

Joe

[Adam Boyer]

I'm not sure what would look best - but I thought 4/4 would be better in appearance - it is difficult to say since finding examples is not easy to do - and my sketchup skills are limited... I appreciate your input that the amount they are raised is an aesthetic thing.

[Chris Dodge]

The only caution I would give is if the top of the panel is going to be curved so that you won't be able to use your router fence to guide the top of the panel then make sure your wood it thick enough so that it makes contact with the bearing on the router bit. Does that make sense? I find that my panels need to be at least 3/4 inches thick in order to make contact with the bearing. Just my experience.

[Scott Loven]

Try a test on some scrap wood to see what thickness you like.

[Jim Becker]

I have estimated that there are about 380 BF with a 15% waste factor... (yipes)

Your waste factor will likely be way higher than that for producing quality doors that are grain and color matched. One of the best ways to mitigate that is to use the sandwich construction previously mentioned. In that manner, you can use some premo 8/4 boards, resaw the thick veneers so you can book match your stiles and rails and utilize lesser cherry and say, poplar, stock for the cores.

This is "very visible" woodworking and choosing stock wisely will pay off in the long run. (The first step in finishing is picking the material you build with...)