Rail/stile router bits for full sized door

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If you're going to "cope and stick" doors, how will you handle the tennons? What size will they be?

John

Steve Manes wrote:

Unfortunately, the Fine Woodworking article by Joseph Beals is no longer in print, as it was an excellent primer on building doors without using any cope and stick bits. Slip tenons, blind dadoed slots for the panels, and hand-coped profiles. I have built 7 or so doors in this fashion, and can vouch for its practicality.

You do the mortises in all pieces first, cut whatever profile, ogee or half-round, etc, make your slip tenons sized to your mortise, and then do the cope/stick work. Which means removing the profile on the stiles where the rails will go, and then using a gouge to cope the profile on the rails to the stiles. . .

Kim

Gee, that's hard work isn't it?

I see in books such as Loonie Birds ( I think) using a stub spindle and some shaper cutter that can buzz it out. But I never see these things for sale. ???

Now that I think about it, maybe a little gouge work wouldn't hurt.

I am considering doing new front doors for my house. And I want those tennons to go right through. Like in days of old. Otherwise it seems to me things would be stronger if the stiles were not full hieght but rather the top and bottom rails were full width instead.

John

I use a router to remove the profile (the sticking part of cope and stick) on the stiles where the rails go.

Ya, you just use a gouge as close as you can get to the radius of your profile, if it's got a curve to it, or a chisel if it's straight.

You actually want to stop the tenons at least a 1/4" before going right through, as well as using two tenons on the bottom rail. . .You would be exposing lots of end grain running the rails long, not to mention flying in the face of tradition! ;~)

Kim

I can never remember the stick bit and cope and all that ,I suppose that there is no logical reason for the names .

Several years ago I bought a set of cutters from grizzleguts and a raised panel cutter, just added it into the cost of a job. At the time I thought that they were bloody expensive but since have never regretted the purchase.

I have done many jobs with those cutters including several paneled rooms including doors [ 1 3/8 interior doors with raised panels boths sides] . The raised panel cutter has a small quarter round right where the chamfer meets the field .my stile and rail cutters also feature a matching quarter round. both the cope and stick [whatever that means] cutters and the raised panel cutter are standard grizzleguts parts and aside from a chip or two in the carbide they work fine .

A few pictures are of my crappy web site of a room I did using these cutters .......mjh

Web page ....

I was just going to have a quarter round in there. Flat would be easy but if I stuck a moulding in there after construction, I don't know if it would rally be durable enough. And I'm building it for myself.

Well if it's tradition.....

John

------------------------------------------=o&>o---- Steve Manes, Brooklyn, USA

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