Set up for Offset Rail-and-Stile Joinery
Cut crisp, strong rail-and-stile joinery with router bits.
Zach Brown
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Cut crisp, strong rail-and-stile joinery with router bits [Sources]. One bit simultaneously cuts a groove for a panel and a handsome profile along the rail and stile edges. The other bit machines a tenon on the rail ends while coping them to mate with the stiles. Instead of centering the grooves and tenons, we raised the router bit slightly, producing a back-of-center tenon and a small fillet on the front face.
Install the tenon/cope bit in your router table and raise it until the top of the bit is 13⁄16" from the table.
Align the fence with the edge of the bearing on the bit and rout the ends of the stiles facedown on the router table. Back up the cut with a piece of scrap to prevent tear-out.
Swap in the groove and round-over bit and raise it until the cutter aligns with the tenon on a stile. Cut a test groove/round-over on a piece of scrap and check the fit with a stile.
Once you have a good fit between your test piece and the stiles, rout the groove and round-overs with the workpieces facedown.