Trimming Rails on Cabinet Doors

[steven c newman]

Why stop at just one block of wood, to guide a saw?
test fit.jpg
When you can have two boards AND a metal guide? Clamp this to each stile where you need to make a cut, align the guide to the cut line, and trim the horn....move to the next spot, and repeat. GEM Mitre Box, and..you can cut from both sides.

[Pat Barry]

I have no idea why it would be better to leave them long and trim them down after glue-up. Doing this seems backwards. Seems to me the dimension you are looking for is plainly evident as the length of the stiles fit into the door opening. I would cut them first to proper length and then glue them up and use their proper length as the gauge for aligning the rails.

[lowell holmes]

If you had small Lee Valley block plane that I have, it might become your style/

[Warren Lake]

trained guys leave them long then cut them down, they do make doors to width at least the old guys ive known. They also make the bottom rail wider on all lower cabinets.

[Pat Barry]

trained guys leave them long then cut them down, they do make doors to width at least the old guys ive known. They also make the bottom rail wider on all lower cabinets.

I can see leaving the stiles a bit long so you can trim to size assuming you have the rails fit to that same position, so you are trimming both the stiles and the rail all together. Otherwise it still makes no sense to just have the stiles long.

[Warren Lake]

rail wider styles longer then they adjust fit it to the face frame. on the big level volume wise I was told they sometimes had a jig for face frames so everyone is exactly the same, then even a jig so when the doors were edge sanded they all came out the same and matched the face frames all the gaps would be consistent.

[steven c newman]

Stiles are made LONG, as there leaves enough "meat" on the ends to chop mortises, without blowing out the ends. Simple as that.

[Jim Koepke]

Stiles are made LONG, as there leaves enough "meat" on the ends to chop mortises, without blowing out the ends. Simple as that.

Wouldn't the same hold true if the piece is made with mortises in the rails?

jtk

[John Schtrumpf]

Stiles are made LONG, as there leaves enough "meat" on the ends to chop mortises, without blowing out the ends. Simple as that.

Wouldn't the same hold true if the piece is made with mortises in the rails?

jtk

The same is true whenever a mortise will be close enough to the end of a piece that blow out may be a problem. Leave the piece long, chop the mortise, and cut to length after.

[James Pallas]

More reasons to leave the long. The mortise blow out for sure. When the mortises are haunches the rail ends can be crushed when glueing and clamping. When you are making many doors it also gives you something to set them on so they don't get beat up moving them around during the process. This is essential for full size heavy doors. The horns are usually cut off when the door is hinged and set. Until they started nailing scraps to the bottom of doors entry doors were sent to the job with the horns still on the bottom for protection. The finish carpenter cut them off when fitting the door to the opening. It's easy mark it knife the line and saw it off with a back saw plane a bevel on it from each side if necessary for fitting.
Jim

[Warren Lake]

"The mortise blow out for sure. When the mortises are haunches the rail ends can be crushed when glueing and clamping"

can you explain that ive never had a mortise blow out or an issue with a haunch and had one on every door, its just a continuation of the slot cut for the panel. Im talking a mortise machine not hand work and cabinet to armoire sized doors. The blow out I assume is possible from doing them by hand., the haunch thing im not following. On the cabinet sized stuff we were taught just make them an 1/8 longer each end then cross cut them to fit.

[Jim Koepke]

On the cabinet sized stuff we were taught just make them an 1/8 longer each end then cross cut them to fit.

It is always easier to deal with a piece that is a bit too long than one that is a bit too short.

jtk

[Brad Keen]

This is the first time I've made cabinet doors (also my first major woodworking project). So I followed Paul Seller's advice with the extra length. I believe that he suggested leaving them long because it protected the bottom of the door as you waited to install it. Which made a lot of sense to me. Also, I've appreciated having the horn available to disassemble the frames. I put them together before gluing just to make sure everything fits. And then I can tap on the horn to take it apart. So that's my experience with that. I'll definitely leave them long if I make something like this again.

Now, whether or I would cut them to length before the final glue-up. That's a good question, and I'll think about it. But as Jim said, it (should be) easier to trim it down than it would be to make it longer, and at this stage in my skills, that seems about right.