Rail and stile design
#9
A photo in Fine Wood Working No. 248 (August, 2015) had me going back to the Readers Gallery, page 75, because something was odd. Finally. The cabinet door rails were full width and the styles butted into them. Normal (universal) procedure is to have full length styles.

Esthetic reasons aside, my question was why have (want) the styles full length? In the normal, the hinge and lock boards appear to determine what is full length. Do they actually define the styles? But what about bridal joints for door frames? Must the rail be a tenon board?

So, after a few twists, I bring the question to the forum. Is there an engineering reason for standard door framing? Can the whimsical geometric cabinet door, with full width rails, do just as well?

Reply
#10
Yes, there are good engineering reasons for the vertcal stiles to be full height of the doors, and the horizontal rails to connect the stiles together.
Reply
#11
.... and what are those good reason - I'm curious?
Thanks,  Curt
-----------------
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."
      -- Soren Kierkegaard
Reply
#12
One reason that occurs to me for doors mounted with butt hinges is that, if the vertical members shrink, the horizontal members will stick out past the vertical slightly and, potentially, bind.

The issue would be less important with knife hinges, although the opposite problem might exist: vertical members swell out past the horizontal ones, where the hinges are mounted, and bind.
Reply
#13
When the stile expands/contracts if full length it all moves the same.

Not so with the rail is across the full width it acts more like a breadboard on a table top without the great expansion issue a full solid top would give due to the floating panels. things do not move the same and it looks funny

There is also the issue of twist a shorter (inside the sitles) rail is stiffer holding the door in a more stable (neutral) position
Let us not seek the Republican Answer , or the Democratic answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future  John F. Kennedy 



Reply
#14
Bill & Joe,

Thank you!
Thanks,  Curt
-----------------
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."
      -- Soren Kierkegaard
Reply
#15
cputnam said:


Bill & Joe,

Thank you!




Those also were my main assumptions for standard design logic. However, I don't think the expansion issue will be a major concern. It is a frame and panel door, of maybe 12 to 15 inches width and 2 inch frames. Think of it as a typical Frame and Panel upper kitchen cabinet door.

The breadboard look was so odd once I did figure out the difference in the door construction. But, I cheer on counter esthetic, when not poor engineering. Or, don't challenge the proverbial form follows function.
Reply
#16
There's also the (somewhat minor) aesthetic tendency to try to hid end-grain. With full-length stiles on a big door, end-grain is visible only on the top and bottom of the door--i.e. not very visible at all.

From a shrinkage perspective, the long stiles make perfect sense. If you made full-width rails and mortised the hinges into the stiles, the stiles might shrink back from the rails, leaving the rails proud. In extreme situations, the end grain of the rails might hit the door frame and prevent the door from closing fully. In practice, that's probably not very common, but it could happen to a big door if atmospheric changes were drastic enough.
Steve S.
------------------------------------------------------
Tradition cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour.
- T. S. Eliot

Tutorials and Build-Alongs at The Literary Workshop
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)

Product Recommendations

Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.