I am building raised panel doors with 2″ frames and mitered corners. I have made some of the doors I need for a kitchen but am wondering if the joint is strong enough to hold up to heavy use in a kitchen. I have been using biscuits (#0) because it doesn’t seem that there is room for anything larger or deeper but it doesn’t seem like there is enough biscuit to get a good bite even with the expansion. I don’t want to use splines but do you have any other suggestions?
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Replies
Well, 2" stock with miters is a bunch of miter surface. First question is can you cut that on the money? Can you glue up the joints tightly?
If you can, then I'd feel okay with a biscuit strengthening the cut. You could also run a blind spline inside the joint which would give you more gluing surface.
But my choice for cabinet doors is not a miter. That's a picture frame joint, left hanging, untouched in a nice environment, no steam, no heat, not much of a chance of a joint opening up if cut properly and glued tightly.
For speed I would go with a loose tenon. Cut mortises between the frames and rails and stick a long loose tenon in. Lots of gluing surface and easy to clamp. An integral mortise and tenon works, but for kitchen cabinets it's a lot more work.
I, personally, would avoid cope and stick joints as there's no gluing surface there. If you decided to strengthen the joint with a dowel or screw, then it would be okay.
Good luck with this.
Gary Rogowski
http://www.northwestwoodworking.com
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