Thread: What tool(s) for raised panelling?

There are planes for making raised panels but it can be done with a plane with a heavily cambered iron.
Mike

Here are some posts, including Adam Cherubini ...

Badger

And this is a badger plane ...

Panel raiser or badger? : Hand Tools - UKworkshop.co.uk

Also discussed here ...

Panel Plane from Raney - Page 3 - talkFestool

The process is shown here ...

VIDEOS by GRAHAM BLACKBURN

FRAME & PANEL I: MAKING & JOINING THE FRAME
Taunton Press 2000

FRAME & PANEL II: PANEL RAISING
Taunton Press 2001

(now available as a single DVD direct from The Taunton Press)

Originally Posted by tonyw

I am about to make some raised panel doors for a bathroom cupboard, using a very simple curved profile for the edge of the panelling. I could use a router to shape the edges of panels but it would be nicer to use a hand tool. How would it normally be done? The wood is Queensland white beech, probably the easiest ever to work with.

by hand there's generally four steps
1) cut what is known as the field, the vertical wall around the central portion of the panel -- tool used: a rebate plane with a fence (eg Stanley #78), or a shoulder plane guided by a battern. If your rebate plane doesn't have a knicker, use a knife to cut across the grain at the ends
2) cut the tongue that will go into the rebate in the frame -- can be cut with a plough plane, rebate plane or a shoulder plane
3) remove the bulk of the waste -- work the cross grain ends before doing the long grain sides -- the plane you use will depend on the profile you want on the slope. Sometimes you will want to cut a series of steps to act as guides for your molding plane(s), othertimes a #5 plane set for a coarse cut will do
4) finish the profile with hollows and rounds, a molding plane or two, or a rebate/wide shoulder plane for a sloped surface

This one was done with a shoulder plane and a bevelled chisel.

Here is a pictorial on building the frame: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furnitu...dtheframe.html

And another on raising the panel: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furnitu...ingapanel.html



Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks to all who replied.

My wife has told me that I should have a straight bevel for the raising and, given that, I will use a field which I had not planned on including. I should be able to do it with a rebate plane then, more or less as people have suggested. I don't have a skew rebate plane, which would be particularly useful across the end grain, but a straight one should do well enough.

I had already planned to do the frame as Derek has described except that I don't want any moulding or beading on the inside, perhaps a slight bevel.

Cheers, Tony

Oops - got my terminology wrong. I should have said fillet when I said field.

Originally Posted by tonyw

......My wife has told me that I should have a straight bevel for the raising and, given that, I will use a field which I had not planned on including.....

Tony -that sentence seems to be at odds to me - a 'straight bevel' implies no fielding. Do you mean you are going to field it to spite SWMBO...?

This has not been mentioned in the discussion, unless I missed it.... Raising a panel without fielding is perectly legitimate, & has been done often enough on old pieces. All that requires is a good sharp plane. When raising a non-fielded panel I lay out the edge of the bevel on the face of the panel with a pencil gauge so that I don't have to cut out a scribed line. However, to carry it off well, you have to be dead accurate in levelling & thicknessing your panel, and keep it dead flat whilst planing the bevels, or you can end up with a wavy edge on the cross-grain bevel. Any small discrepencies in thickness are magnified as a very visible variation in the width of the bevel. (Also, be careful when sanding so that you maintain a sharp, straight edge). Fielding not only sharply defines the flat area of the panel, it hides these small variations, giving a very neat appearance to the job.

Depending on the piece & the effect you want, there are many ways to treat a panel. I used a raised but not fielded panel on this door (pic 1), because fielding would have introduced rather jarring lines on the highly figured wood and a 'softer' edge looks better to my eye. In fact I probably should have used a flat front, with the bevel inside, in retrospect.

Flat panels also have a perfectly good pedigree, and can be used without any tizzying-up on utilitarian doors, or tarted up in various ways. On these silky-oak doors (pic 2), the ray figure of the panels is decorative enough, but I couldn't resist a little 'Chinese' style cut-out on the top rail for a touch of added interest...

You can have a flat panel & use moulding on the rails & styles, or apply mouldings to the frame as on this copy of a Victorian era sideboard...

There are many ways to skin this cat, which can all be achieved with hand tools, but the ones to choose depend on what you want in the end......

Cheers,

Ian, Thanks for your contribution.

Firstly the terminology: I am using the definitions that I lifted from

Badger

Raise= beveled portion
Field= the broad flat surface in the middle of the floating panel.
Fillet= the vertical step between the raise and the field

I am talking about a bathroom cupboard where simplicity is appropriate. What I have in mind is a small step from the field, the flat central part of the panel, down to the raise, then a straight raise rather than a curved one and then a small flat tongue which goes into the groove in the frame. This has been officially sanctioned.

I think this can all be done with a rebating plane, although going across the grain I will have to cut along the step with a knife or chisel first.

Tony

Originally Posted by tonyw

Ian, Thanks for your contribution.

Firstly the terminology: I am using the definitions that I lifted from

Badger

Raise= beveled portion
Field= the broad flat surface in the middle of the floating panel.
Fillet= the vertical step between the raise and the field

I am talking about a bathroom cupboard where simplicity is appropriate. What I have in mind is a small step from the field, the flat central part of the panel, down to the raise, then a straight raise rather than a curved one and then a small flat tongue which goes into the groove in the frame. This has been officially sanctioned.

I think this can all be done with a rebating plane, although going across the grain I will have to cut along the step with a knife or chisel first.

Tony

Hi Tony - yep, we are on the same wavelength - those are the trerms I use too. I agree, a flat fielded panel is highly appropriate for what you want, both fro aesthetics & practical reasons (you don't need a lot of fancy fillets & coves to hold water & other stuff). I was just offering some views on other ways to fit panels that don't always get a mention...

You can indeed do the raising with a rebate plane, but you will need a little care to avoid an undercut field, caused by the blade of the rebate plane being on an angle as you work the bevel. Panel-raising planes are corrected for this, so they cut a perpendicular edge when the bevel is completed. One way to avoid the undercut on the finished item is to raise the bevel slightly to the waste side of the fielded section, then carefully square it up to the line after the bevel has been formed, by holding the rebate plane horizontally. This is more important with clear finishes, if you are painting, it is actuaally an advantaage to have the field undercut a bit, becausse when the paint flows into this, as it inevitable does, the edge of the field remains crisp-looking.

Cheers,

Here's another example if anyone is interested:

http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f11/m...d-tools-33353/