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How To Build A Door
How To Build A Door
Build a Door
POWER-TOOL JOINERY
Cope-and-stick Joints
Run the moulding and
make the joint with this
time-tested technique.
Photo by Al Parrish
power-tool joinery repertoire.
Typically, two separate bits are used. One
is the sticking (or stile or pattern) bit, and
the other is the cope (or rail) bit. In one pass, The moulding profile cut in reverse forms an integral part of the cope-and-stick joint.
the so-called sticking cutter forms the panel
groove and the decorative edge profile. With
this cutter you machine one long edge of the that with a little experience, you can set up • Next, cut the tenons and then fit them
stiles, and the top and bottom rails, and both and cut the joinery for a door in about 10 to to the mortises.
edges of mullions and intermediate rails. (To 15 minutes. • Cut the decorative profile.
my understanding the term “sticking” stems To fully grasp what I mean about efficiency, • Cut the panel groove.
from the profile being formed directly on the compare that two-step process against this • Trim the profile at the joints, an opera-
frame member – it’s “stuck” there – as opposed routine of the traditional door maker: tion usually called mitering the sticking, so the
to it being a separate strip that’s attached.) • Lay out each joint. joints close and the profile on the rail meets
The cope cutter forms, all in one cut, a stub • Excavate the mortises with chisels and the profile on the stile in a crisp miter.
tenon (or tongue) that mates with the panel a mallet, with a hollow-chisel mortiser, or I’ve recently done this. It’s a lot of setups.
groove and the cope of the sticking profile. maybe with a router and jig. It required a hollow-chisel mortiser, three
Copes are cut across the ends of all rails and continued on page 32
mullions. Perhaps it’s a bit of stretch to say this,
Bits are available as
but a coped joint won’t peek open seasonally
pairs of matched cutters
the way a miter will. Finish carpenters cope or single bits. Single bits
architectural trim at inside corners rather are either height adjust-
than mitering it for just this reason. able or stacking with a
The joint thus is cut by milling every frame reversible cutter.
piece with one bit and selected pieces with
the second. I’ve never timed it, but I’d bet
Step photos by the author
by Bill Hylton
Bill is the author of several woodworking books
including “Bill Hylton’s Power-Tool Joinery” (Popular
Woodworking Books). To purchase, visit your local
bookseller, call 800-448-0915 or visit popwood.com.
ance fit is most important on the infeed side case. If you can get away without resetting the Assembly
of the cutter. If your fence is split, you can feed fence, you’ll save some time and effort. Assembling a cope-and-stick frame is pretty
the infeed half of a sacrificial fence into the If you have a setup block, use it, of course. straightforward. Work on a flat, true surface.
spinning bit, right up against the pilot bear- Otherwise, set the bit against a coped Apply glue judiciously to the ends of the rails.
ing. With the solid fences on my router tables, workpiece. Make a test cut, and fit it to one Tighten the clamps gently, alternating back
I use an expendable strip of thin plywood or of the coped rails. You want the surfaces flush, and forth, and keeping the rails flat on the
hardboard to make a zero-clearance opening and running your fingers across the seam will clamp bars. Very little pressure is required,
as shown in the photo above. tell you if you’ve achieved that. If some adjust- and over-tightening the clamps will likely
Of course you need to make a test cut. If ment is necessary, make it and run a new test distort the joints and thus the assembly. Make
you have a setup block, fit your test cut to its piece across the bit. Keep adjusting and testing sure the assembly is square and flat by com-
sticked edge. If not, look at the cut and assure until you have the fit you want dialed in. paring the diagonal measurements and by
yourself it’s not obviously misaligned. Set featherboards, if you favor their use, checking with winding sticks. PW
The cope cuts should be completed in one
pass. Repeating a pass can enlarge the cut and
create a loose fit. In theory, a second pass can
enlarge the cut only if there’s some movement
in your setup. In practice, there probably is
a “skoshe” of movement possible, no matter
how firmly you grip the work.
Pay attention when you turn the rails to
cope the second end. You want to turn them,
not flip them over. Mark the face that’s sup-
The pieces should come together flush on their faces (left), not offset (right).
posed to be up as you make the cope cut. Before
you cut, look for the mark.
Rout the sticking second. Chuck the
sticking bit in the router collet, and adjust its
height. It’s great if you can do this without
moving the fence, but that’s not always the
popwood.com
POWER-TOOL JOINERY
Building
Glazed Doors
Most cope-and-stick bits can
produce frames that will house
glass as well as wood panels.
Here’s how to do it.
popularwoodworking.com
POWER-TOOL JOINERY
CIRCLE NO. 137 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD. CIRCLE NO. 144 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD.
Raised Panel Doors
I’ve sandwiched this section between the sec-
tion on flat panel doors and the next on cope-
and-stick doors because raised panels can be
used with all these doors. There are a number
of techniques that can be used to “raise” a
solid wood panel, but I will be focusing on the
method using raised panel cutters, either in
a sturdy router table, or in a shaper. Use the
method that best suits the equipment you
have in your shop.
Install the panel-raising bit in your router, making certain that it’s properly seated
1
and tightly locked in the chuck. Your table should be equipped with a router that’s
rated at 2 horsepower or more. Many woodworkers maintain that only variable-speed rout-
ers should be used because these bits seem to cut better when the router is set at one-half
or three-quarter speed. There’s a lot of truth in that belief, but I have successfully used fixed-
speed routers to raise my panels. Experiment with router speed and panel feed rates to
There are many plain panel-raising router achieve clean cuts. However, even the correct speed and feed rates may not guarantee suc-
bits, but the most common is a simple cess; some types of wood, such as oak or maple, tend to splinter or tear out in chunks, so a
cove style. These bits have long, medium lot of testing may be necessary.
and short radius cuts, so you’ll have to de-
It’s often better to make a
cide which profile best suits your needs. 2
number of small passes
This group of plain panel-raising bits
rather than one large cut with
also includes tapered cutters, which are
these cove panel-raising bits.
available in a few different profiles. These Mill the end grain first, as that’s
bits can be used to make door center where most of the tear-out oc-
panels that can be used with many furni- curs; then follow up with cuts
ture styles, so it’s probably the best one to along the grain. Continue mak-
purchase for general use. ing the cutting passes until the
panel edges are 1∕ 16" thick, or the
proper thickness for stile and
rail frame grooves.
Simply-Built Cabinets
The panel should be guided by a bearing on the bit using a medium feed rate to
2
achieve smooth cuts. A certain amount of finish sanding will always be required, but
you can minimize it by testing for the best feed rate and router speed.
Simply-Built Cabinets
Simply-Built Cabinets