help on glueing panel for raised panel door please

[xli1]

I am working on making raised panel doors for my kitchen. The project is going on well by far. Now it is the time to glue up panels for the door. I actually have questions on whether I should use biscuit(or dowel) to enhance the glue joint or I can get strong enough joint without using these. Since I will have to invest on the equipments to do these. What I am thinking is that the raised panel will sit in the stile-rail without extra force except during routering, if I use titebond II glue, it should generate strong bond on the edges, maybe stronger that the wood itself (I am using cherry). But I am not pretty sure about this. The thing is that I spent a lot of effort make this door, just don't want it to break down in short time. Can anyone please give me some advice? Thanks a lot!

[Ken Massingale]

Edge grain to edge grain doesn't really need biscuits for strength, but they do help keep the boards in alignment when the clamps are applied. The glued edges are slippery until the glue starts to set. You can use cauls to hold the boards flat while applying side pressure. For short pieces like raised panels, I seldom use them.
Good luck with your doors, post some pics when you finish, I enjoy seeing work done in Cherry, especially.
Ken

[LarryG]

You need to glue up narrow boards to get enough width for your raised panels, correct? If that's the question, biscuits are optional. They will help you line up the joined edges, and they will add some strength, since they are in effect miniature loose tenons. But a glue joint between two boards joined edge-to-edge, long grain to long grain, is plenty strong all by itself (especially for something like a door panel, which has no appreciable load on it).

[LCHIEN]

Biscuits not required but you'll love them for the line-up ease.

[xli1]

Thanks a lot for all the advices. I will post some pics when it's done.

[scorrpio]

I'd go without any bisquits. Just use cauls to hold the boards in alignment during glue-up. Be sure to finish your panels before you assemble your doors, however.

[Tom Hintz]

The problem with using biscuits or dowels in a raised panel is exposing a portion of them when cutting the profile around the edge of the panel after it is sized.
You really don't need anything to reinforce the joint with modern glues. Take your time and get a good fitting joint between the boards, apply an even film of glue and then don't squeeze it all out with clamp pressure. All you need is to close the joint tight enough to raise a little glue.
Clamping cauls will help with alignment but most raised panels are rather small and can be aligned manually easily enough.