Frame and Panel Cabinet Doors Question

Good Morning:

This is a several part question. :D

At the the link below you can see both beaded and v-groove flat panel doors.

http://www.famarwoodworks.com/country-door.html

Here are my questions:

1. In a frame and panel door isn't the panel usually ply and the frame solid wood?

2. Since you can't make plywood with a v-groove or beaded, does that mean the panel is solid wood?

3. How do you make a beaded or v-groove panel?
a) with power tools (router?)
b) with hand tools?

Thanks,
 
Good Morning:



Here are my questions:

1. In a frame and panel door isn't the panel usually ply and the frame solid wood?the panel in alot of kitchen cabs are solid wood and the frame is solid as well

2. Since you can't make plywood with a v-groove or beaded, does that mean the panel is solid wood? yes

3. How do you make a beaded or v-groove panel?
a) with power tools (router?)that is one method or you can do alot with a molder or molding head on a table saw
b) with hand tools? and hand tools work as well using a scratch stock or specailty planes for such profiles.

Thanks,

i have answered in red
 
Cynthia, I'm no pro, but I've answered in blue after your questions as I understand the answers. Keep in mind you can often purchase V groove and bead board panels. Depending on the species of wood you are using, it might be hard to match. Jim

Good Morning:

This is a several part question. :D

At the the link below you can see both beaded and v-groove flat panel doors.

http://www.famarwoodworks.com/country-door.html

Here are my questions:

1. In a frame and panel door isn't the panel usually ply and the frame solid wood?
If it is a flat panel, ply would be fine.
2. Since you can't make plywood with a v-groove or beaded, does that mean the panel is solid wood?
Don't tell the Home Centers that!!! :rofl::rofl: Most likely, it is solid material. Just like if you were doing raised panel doors, you would use solid wood for the panel.
3. How do you make a beaded or v-groove panel?
a) with power tools (router?) This would be the easiest. There are V grooving router bits. Beaded panel might take a molder head in a table saw or RAS to do. And I hate molder heads.
b) with hand tools? Not me!! :D

Thanks,
 
Take a look at this thread I did Cynthia.http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14264

Everything here is made from plywood. The doors, face frames and the beaded panels. The only solid wood is the beaded edge on the face frames and the ogee moulding I put on the inside of the drawer fronts. Even the dovetailed drawers are plywood.

This is the part I don't understand.....If you cut beading or a v-groove in plywood, aren't you cutting through the veneer?
 
This is the part I don't understand.....If you cut beading or a v-groove in plywood, aren't you cutting through the veneer?

Yes you are cutting thru the veneer. I guess it all depends on what your expecting the look to be. To me it helps to highlight the beading. Why do it if it's just gonna kind of blend in. We just did a high end entertainment center at work that had a v-groove back at the tv and the area above the tv. We used 3/4" cherry mdf for it. We used a brown glaze on the v-groove and a very light toner to just darken the cherry a bit. Looked awesome.
 
Ok, thanks Alan. I thought that if you cut through the veneer you turned into a pillar of salt or something. I didn't know that it's ok to cut through the veneer for different esthetic reasons and the panel wouldn't implode. :D

So the bottom line, if I understand correctly, is that to have a beaded or v-groove panel you can use solid wood *or* ply. THANKS
 
Cut the v-groove on the table saw with a flat bottom blade or dado blades.
Tilt blade to 45 degrees and set height (about 1/8 inch).
Measure from fence to top most tooth on blade.

The different veneer will highlight your finish and show off the groove.
Just my 2-cents!
 
1. In a frame and panel door isn't the panel usually ply and the frame solid wood?
Depends, it can go either way. I use an MDF core for the panel usually, most people aren't willing to spring the extra money for a solid panel


2. Since you can't make plywood with a v-groove or beaded, does that mean the panel is solid wood?
Yep. But there is bead board available that is out of raw mdf for painted applications, and some just expose the core which you can get away with sometimes if its stained really dark


3. How do you make a beaded or v-groove panel?
a) with power tools (router?)
b) with hand tools?

I use a Magic Moulder from LRH. It has interchangable cutters that go into a head that you put in the tablesaw. Works really slick, and there is lots of plugs available.
 
cynthia,

just keep in mind if you are using 1/4" ply for the panel, and you want to cut grooves or beads in it, they will have to be very shallow. you can purchase beaded 1/4" ply in some species but I haven't seen many.

then if you choose to use a thicker ply in order to get deeper grooves, you will have to relieve the back of the panel to fit in the groove of the door frame, which will then show several layers of the plywoods core. which very well may be fine with you. just wanted to point that out.

keep in mind it may very well be worth it to outsource the doors to a company like Walzcraft. I don't know what their pricing is like but it could be about the same as getting all the tools required and buying the lumber. unless of course you would like an excuse to buy the tools...which i would totally understand ;)
 
<b) with hand tools? and hand tools work as well using a scratch stock or specailty planes for such profiles.>

What's a "scratch stock"?

I made this one from a shaped piece of old Sawzall blade and a scrap. I used it to edge-bead the slat panels for the back of a small cabinet.

scratch-stock-001.jpgs-NWC Parts 003.jpgac-NWC-open-part-way.jpg

For the surface grooves like the panels you show the proper bit in the router table would be my preference.
 
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Like Karl, I use a Magic Moulder for beads and V-grooves, too. They are not so scary compared to traditional heads using gibs. We have done MDF panels for paint grade, and solid wood for paint and stain grade.

MDF core flat panels are much closer to 1/4" thick and stay flatter than ply core panels. I have gone to a 6mm wide groove as standard on all doors, and skim shape (with back cutter run above the table) 1/4" veneered panel edges for a perfect tight fit.
 
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