nostrildamus

Hi all,
I'm looking for some advice on veneering the field on a tombstone-style raised panel door.

Do you apply the veneer after raising the panel? It seems like it would be awfully hard to trim the edges. Or do you veneer first, then raise? I'd be afraid that the veneer would chip off easily.

As a related question, can you make a panel out of a solid piece of crotch-figured wood, or is it too unstable?

Thanks in advance!

woodnthings

Here's a link that may be helpful:
http://logancabinetshoppe.weebly.com...oor-panel.html How large is the panel any dimensions? I wouldn't think stablility would be that much of an issue, but the grain changing direction might be when shaping the tombstone. Tearout a real possibility, but unless you try you won't really know for certain. Light cuts would be the order of the day. Unless you're carving it by hand as in the above link.
bill

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nostrildamus

Thanks for the advice.
There are two door sizes on my current project, which is a secretary desk. The upper cabinet has a pair of fairly large doors, with panels of about 14" x 32". Inside the gallery is a small prospect door, with a panel of about 6" x 10". I was thinking of using solid, crotch-figured wood for the small door, and veneering the large ones.

Just realized I'll need to shell out twice for panel-raising bits of two different sizes

cabinetman

I've done the fields both ways. Done either with a router bit or shaper bit, depending on the veneer, the possibility of tear out and shreading happens more often than not.

I've had better luck with gluing the veneer after the panel is raised. It takes longer. How the bevel finishes at the edge of the field would give a choice in how to trim it. If there is a step, you could trace a pattern off the edge, and knife cut the veneer to fit. If the bevel finishes at the field with no edge, the veneer can be glued down with little overhang, and carefully filed back with a mill file.

As for using a solid piece of crotch, or a glue up, you may or may not have problems, but you will have a differential in the quality of the machining with the varied grain. If you have a sharp bit, and make several passes on acclimated wood, with the last pass just a skim pass would produce the best results.





would produce the best results.