Deep Mortise and Long Tenon Cabinet Doors

Deep Mortise and Long Tenon Cabinet Doors

Deep mortise-and-tenon joinery will add to the strength of a cabinet door by increasing the glue surface area. To cut the mortises,use plunge router and Amana Tool® straight plunge bit #45414

A common method for cutting tenons is with a tablesaw and a stacking dado head #658030 Another option is to cut the tenon with a router table and mortising router bit #45505. With either method, use the miter gauge to guide the stock along with the fence to control the tenon length.

When constructing a door with mortise-and-tenon joinery you have a number of different design options. For example, you can choose to shape a decorative “sticking” profile along the inside edges of the door frame. The sticking can be cut with any number of profile bits such as Amana Tool® #49510 corner rounding router bit or #54170 beading router bit. Where the profiles intersect in the corners of the frame, cut a miter on the stiles and rails with the Prestige™ PR1040 saw blade on a tablesaw. Mitering the profile also allows you to use profiles that cannot be coped, such as the bead in the photo. Of course you can omit the sticking for a simple Mission Style door.

To cut the panel groove first decide what type of panel and panel material that you’ll be using. There are a number of different raised panel profiles such as #54119 and #54117. To cut the 1/4" frame groove for the panel you can use Amana Tool® #53410.

The E-Z Dial Slot Cutter #55500 will allow you to cut an undersized groove for a plywood door panel. Most plywood is undersized and the E-Z Dial adjusts in increments of .004" so you can achieve a perfect fit.