Chamfering with a table saw

[Scarfwearer]

When I built my box, I chamfered the panel recesses by building a sandwich of wood:



My panels have the detail on the inside as well, which is about twice as much work and results in heavier parts.

I used 1/2" thick MDO plywood for the panels, which go the full height of the door and also the full width of a wall. Probably 1/4" would have been fine.

For the doors I used 2x4s for the vertical edges (stiles), and used the table saw to cut a slot in one side to take the panel. I did this because I didn't want the edges to be visible, and I also wanted a solid piece to mount the lock hardware and hinges to.

(For the walls I just cut the stiles in much the same way as the rails.)

I set the table saw at an angle to cut the chamfer down the full length of the stile.

I cut the rails at the panel angle horizontally, and cut the reverse angle on the vertical edge so that they meet the chamfer of stiles the other way.

Given the sheer number of cuts to make, this seemed like a good way to do it, and was all done in a day.

If you do these all at  once, remember that the top and bottom rails are only chamfered on one side(!)

Also, if you use 2x4s, measure the thickness carefully, as they do vary, and you don't want the thickness of the stile to be different from the combine thickness of your panel and rail sandwich. There are only four door stiles, so it would be possible to fix this in the table saw if you don't have a thicknesser (I don't...) It may be easier to make the stiles from a sandwich of solid wood. With care you could make the seam pretty invisible.

Crispin