POPULAR WOODWORKING August 200272

Simple

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Regardless of how you make your rabbeteddoor frame, this is your starting point forthe tricky stuff to make a simple divided-light door.The frames above use the tradi-tional rabbeted mortise-and-tenon joinery.It really does look a little nicer, and if you’realready cheating on the muntins andmullions, maybe a little extra effort on theframe is not out of line.

Glass doors dramaticallychange the look of furni-ture. Not sure you can do

glass doors? I have a trick for you!A true glass door has what is

known as divided-light panes, mean-ing each paneof glass is sep-

arated from theothers by a woodframe. Somemanufacturedpieces of furni-ture use a largesheet of glass andoverlay a frame-work to the frontof the glass tolook like a di-vided-light door,but it is just notthe same to me.Traditionally,making a divid-ed-light door re-quires specialmatched router-bit sets and a

difficult technique known as copeand stick. But even professionals findthis technique a bit labor intensive.

For years I’ve been using a sim-ple method to make divided-lightdoors using simple butt joints, glueand a box full of spring clamps.

This method works best with flat-mullion doors. The process can beused with profile-mullioned doors,but this heads you back into somecope-and-stick work, so we’ll startwith this simple door. This flat-mul-lioned style is appropriate for Shaker,Southern, Arts & Crafts and many18th-century furniture designs.

The starting point is a door framewith a rabbet cut around the insideedges of the door frame. I use a cou-ple of different methods to make theinitial door frame. One is a more tra-ditional joinery method called a rab-beted mortise-and-tenon joint, whilethe other is a more simple mortise-and-tenon door with a rabbet cut inthe frame after assembly. Either works,so I’ll let you decide if tradition shouldwin out over speed and convenience.

by Glen Huey

Glen Huey builds custom furniture in his shop in Middletown, Ohio, for Malcolm L.Huey & Son and is the author of “Fine Furniture for a Lifetime.”

Divided-lightGlass Doors

The easiest way ever to add mullions and muntins to any door.

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The divider pieces for these doors are madefrom two different sizes of wood strips. Theface material is 1⁄4" x 3⁄4", while the backerpieces are 1⁄4" x 1⁄2". I use a new sacrificialfence on my miter gauge for each new doorproject to keep tear-out on the backside ofthe pieces to a minimum.This also makeslocating the cut easier by aligning the stripswith the initial kerf in the fence.

POPULAR WOODWORKING August 200274

To begin the muntin section of the doors, find the shelf locationson your project’s case (generally the glass dividers align with theshelves) and mark these on the edges of the door. Cut the backermaterial to run from side to side.These pieces divide the glassarea horizontally. The fit should be snug, but not so tight as tobow the frame. Glue the backer piece into the rabbet area andclamp until dry, usually about 30 minutes.

Now flip the door over. The first face pieces to install are the pieces that run the full length, in this casethe center piece that divides the glass area vertically into two sections, left and right. The piece againneeds to be snug, but not too tight. Glue each end (as well as each area) where the face crosses thebackers (two locations in this case).You’ll notice that I have the door elevated on some jars. Thecontents aren’t important, but the elevation is very helpful.

SIMPLE MORTISE-AND-TENON DOORSBoth methods of door frame con-struction begin with the mortises.Make your centered 1⁄4"-widemortise (for a 3⁄4"-thick door) 3⁄4"shorter than the width of the doorframe, leaving a 3⁄8" shoulder oneither edge to ensure that therabbet doesn’t expose the joinery(A). Then simply cut the matchingtenon and assemble the door frame(B). When the glue is dry, use arabbeting bit in your router tocreate a 5⁄16" x 1⁄2"-deep rabbet onthe inside back edge (C). Finally,square out the corners of the rab-bets with a sharp chisel (D).

A B

C D