Painted shaker doors - tooling and materials

[mark mcfarlane]

I need to make some painted shaker-style doors for my laundry room cabinet extension that I will hopefully complete today. I still need to cut a few more trim pieces, build some shelves, and do a 3-piece crown build up to match the opposing wall. Here's a quick look at the cabinet carcass.

IMG_3601.jpg

The largest door will be ~ 18" * 50". My current thought is to use either poplar or soft maple for the frames, and 1/2 baltic birch for the panels. I'm thinking 1/2" birch just for stability and rigidity. I'd groove the birch panels so they were 1/4 on the edges, or whatever exact thickness I actually need to match the rail and style grooves (some sets are designed for undersized plywood).

Although I have a shaper in my CU300 combo machine, I haven't used it yet, and something similar to the Infinity shaker panel router bit set seems like a reasonable choice for this short run.

• What tooling, and wood, have you all used for this type of project?
• Any experiences to share with various manufacturers router bit sets?

If this goes well, I'll probably be asked to redo the doors in our kitchen 'some day in the future'.

[Jim Becker]

Shaker style is generally simple to work, but there is no "one style to the style". The reveal between the rails/stiles and the panel, for example, could be at 90º or at some other angle, such as a gentle 15º. I have built both styles...the former is the easiest for obvious reasons as you can actually do it without fancy cutters if you want or need to. The angled face on the reveal is generally done with a cope and stick router/shaper bit set. Mine is from Whiteside and I've had it for about a million years. (bought for my original kitchen renovation back in 2003)

For the panels, 1/2" or 3/4" is traditional, back-cut to fit snugly. There are "Shaker style" back-cutters available...I actually used mine yesterday for a door panel I'm making to refine the fit after I cut the design on the front with the CNC. These back-cutters generally have an angled reveal, but a wider gap. I use 1/2" material to keep a constant thickness to the doors, which is more convenient for cabinet use where shelves are involved. A 3/4" panel will project beyond the rails and stiles in most cases, unless a flush front design is, um...designed.

[Jamie Buxton]

Really, the key construction issue is to glue the panel into the frame. Then the corner joinery can be anything you like -- cope and stick, mortise and tenon, biscuits, dominos, it doesn't matter.

[John Lanciani]

This shaper cutter; https://www.amazon.com/Amana-Tool-In.../dp/B000P4NMHO will make all of the cuts you need for what you described. 8mm x 1/2" deep grooves, 8mm x 1/2" tenons, and back cut the 1/2" ply panel to form 8mm tongues. Glue the panel in and the door is bombproof. M preference is for soft maple frames.


This is a perfect project to get familiar with your shaper on

[Jon Nuckles]

Hi Mark,
Are you trying to match the short doors in the picture? If so, I don't think you are looking for a shaker profile, which is much simpler. If you want true shaker doors, you can make them on a table saw. It might be a bit more work to cut the joinery rather than using a cope and stick, but you wouldn't have to buy router or shaper tooling. If you are doing only the laundry area shown in the picture, that's what I'd do. If you do plan to do the kitchen in the same style, you might as well buy now.
Jon

[mark mcfarlane]

Shaker style is generally simple to work, but there is no "one style to the style". The reveal between the rails/stiles and the panel, for example, could be at 90º or at some other angle, such as a gentle 15º. I have built both styles......

I was thinking 90 degrees.

[mark mcfarlane]

Hi Mark,
Are you trying to match the short doors in the picture? If so, I don't think you are looking for a shaker profile, which is much simpler. If you want true shaker doors, you can make them on a table saw. It might be a bit more work to cut the joinery rather than using a cope and stick, but you wouldn't have to buy router or shaper tooling. If you are doing only the laundry area shown in the picture, that's what I'd do. If you do plan to do the kitchen in the same style, you might as well buy now.
Jon

Thanks Jon.

No, I am not trying to match what is there already, which is actually just 3/4 plywood with picture frame molding mitered and applied around it. It's a very simple on-site construction method, and extremely common in the Houston area for custom built homes. Probably takes the trim carpenters all of 3 minutes to make each door.

[mark mcfarlane]

This shaper cutter; https://www.amazon.com/Amana-Tool-In.../dp/B000P4NMHO will make all of the cuts you need for what you described. 8mm x 1/2" deep grooves, 8mm x 1/2" tenons, and back cut the 1/2" ply panel to form 8mm tongues. Glue the panel in and the door is bombproof. M preference is for soft maple frames.


This is a perfect project to get familiar with your shaper on

Thanks John for the reference. That's a pretty economical shaper cutter, but might be a pain to repeatedly set up perfectly. Seems like I always have to go back and 'make just one more'. Adding a second cutter to cope the rails might do the trick...

[Jared Sankovich]

Thanks John for the reference. That's a pretty economical shaper cutter, but might be a pain to repeatedly set up perfectly. Seems like I always have to go back and 'make just one more'. Adding a second cutter to cope the rails might do the trick...

I'd get this set from amana (61218) It works better if you cut the full profile and not just the groove. Also with it being adjustable in groove width it has more applications than just shaker doors

https://www.amanatool.com/61218-2-pi...-bore-set.html

[John Lanciani]

I'd get this set from amana (61218) It works better if you cut the full profile and not just the groove. Also with it being adjustable in groove width it has more applications than just shaker doors

https://www.amanatool.com/61218-2-pi...-bore-set.html

I don't disagree at all, but the nice thing about the 8mm groover is it is relatively inexpensive and has lots of uses.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I just finished making 17 doors for a rental.

I used this Whiteside set.

I bought this set to do another kitchen at another rental.

I'm pretty disappointed in the set BTW - -they got dull real quick. I did less than about 40 doors total & the 17 I just did had a whole bunch of "fuzzy" cuts on the copes.
I'd expected a better lifespan from the Whiteside bits.
I got lucky for the rails and stiles. Some guy on CL was selling a whole bunch of finger jointed 16 foot long pieces of 3/4" thick by 5.5" wide primed poplar molding for like $2 a board. I had to cut them in half so they would fit in the RAV 4, but, no biggie.
I used 5.5 mm underlayment for the panels. (Hey, it's for a rental - I wanted inexpensive...)

[Warren Lake]

you could do a mortise and tennon with your table saw instead of that cutter set. Nothing to buy and a stronger joint.

[Jared Sankovich]

I don't disagree at all, but the nice thing about the 8mm groover is it is relatively inexpensive and has lots of uses.

The cost isn't bad, but it's about half way to a 2 pc adjustable groover, or about 1/3 of the 3 pc 4-15.5mm adjustable versions. Those each have more utility than a fixed 8mm.

[mark mcfarlane]

If I'm going for shaper tooling, would something like this 55mm insert set from Whitehill be a good choice, for $310 + shipping, for the 125mm diameter steel combi/rebate head with 55mm profile and limiter inserts?

And which one of the 4 Whiteside shaper heads would be appropriate for my 5HP CU300? In the 1 1/4" heads, it looks like I have a choice of (1) 96mm aluminum, (2) 96 mm steel, (3) 125mm steel, and (4) 125mm steel with rebate knives.

• What do the limiters do on this type of head? I assume they somehow prevent you from making cuts that are 'too deep', but are at least as deep as the profile calls for,...

Or maybe this 40mm Amana aluminum kit which includes the T&G inserts, for $252. The Whitehill setup seems like a better deal, unless shipping is exorbitant

I'm clueless about shaper tooling.

[Jim Becker]

I really like the idea of insert cutters (using them on my CNC for my v-bits already) since they provide a lot of variety with a single head and are less expensive over the long term when new cutting surfaces are required.

I personally like the Amana products, but those Whitehill units do look nice. (I've never heard of that brand, however)