I do the rails and stiles first, then the panel. You can adjust the panel thickness (by rabbeting it if it's too thick), but not the width of the dado.Making just two panel doors for the house.
Does it matter if the rails and stiles are shaped before
doing the cove and relief on the panel?
Or should I run the panel first?
Technically flush is not a raised panel, but rather a bevel panel. The bevel panel was born when wide belt sanders became popular, allowing the whole door to be sanded in one pass.If its a matched door set it wouldn't matter.
That said, I always run the rails and stiles first, then match the panel because I usually make the panel face flush with the frame.
Does it matter if the rails and stiles are shaped before
doing the cove and relief on the panel?
I agree with what has been said but will say it my way in case that is useful. The reason to cope and stick first is that establishes where the groove for the panel will be. If the panel will be recessed, it is less important to cope and stick first. But if they are all the same thickness, it is important that the shaped area of the panel removes the right amount of material from both sides to have everything flush.
When doing the cope and stick, you cope, cut the end grain, first. That is because it tends to result in a little tearout that can then be removed when you do the sticking, the cut along the grain. So you cope and stick the frame, in that order, then raise the panel. Then I sand the panel and the inside of the frame and put a couple coats of finish on them before assembly. After assembly sand the frame joints flush and then finish the frame and when it has two coats, I put the last coat on everything. The reason to finish the panel before assembly is because it may shrink and show an unfinished edge if you don't.
When I can, I also like to cope a wider piece. That will eliminate some of the tearout since it only occurs as the bit exits the workpiece. So if you make 4 two inch rails from a 8.5 inch piece of wood only one of them would have tearout if you cope before cutting to width. I usually use a coping sled, however, which has a backer piece so it is not as important.
It's not a must for the hobbyist. Just run the stiles, then rails, checking quality and fit of the joints and finished dimensions as you go. THEN run the panels. Very unusual in my experience to need to re-run the rails or stiles because of an issue with the panels.IMO, two router tables is a must. Having to remake a rail or stile often happens for one reason or another.
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I always keep a few scrap pieces with the rails and stiles routed for future projects. It makes setup easy.I guess one could mess up the finishing badly enough to re-run the R&S, ...
this has nothing to do with the OP's question, but I just had to say it...View attachment 187891
With the doors installed and the bookcase above the desk.