Armoire doors?

[PDQ]

--=20 PDQ

[gwoodwork]

I am building an armoire, I want it to have heavy doors just because the one that Im trying to pretty much duplicate does. I have made a couple armoires but have have only used solid wood for the doors. These doors are not raised panel, its just a flat panel such as the Shaker style has. I have a simple panel raiser bit that only makes the slot to fit into the rails and stiles. I was wondering if it might be possible to use plywood for the panel- might be a dumb idea but thought Id ask? since the plywoods edges wont be exposed

[SonomaProducts.com]

Sure. For flat panels this is very common. Some details even then overlay a molding. This is commonly referred to as "Applied Molding". You also see a similar detail in Mitered doors with flat panels, although in that case the detail is usually milled into the rail and stil rather than applied but it looks nearly the same.

See this example

door at the top right is a flat panel with an applied molding at the inner edge of the rails/stiles. You could also do an edge treatment to the outside edges too.

[gwoodwork]

I have done this also before, I just like the feel of the heavy 3/4" doors so was wondering if it would work? What about 1/2" plywood?

[Leon]

Ok umm. I have not seen a panel raiser bit that makes a slot. Soooo, since panel raising bits cut away at the surface of a slab, if you use it on a piece of plywood you are going to expose the lower ply layers of wood when using that particular bit.

If however you only have a rail and stile bit then those do cut slots and yes you can use plywood for the panels to fit in to the slots.

[C & S]

Absolutely.

In this application, ply is superior to real wood. There are no issues with expansion and contraction. However, measure your plywood it is seldom the stated thickness.

-Steve

[Dr. Deb]

1/2" ply would work, but you might want to undercut the back to 1/4" and mount it forward. Make your usual 1/4" dado and mount the ply.

Depending on how you do the panel raising and finish it, should look really sharp AND give a look of being hefty.

Deb

[gwoodwork]

Thanks for the help, especially for those who understood what I was trying to get at. This helps.