Earlier, I had cut the doors to size and drilled the hinge cup holes. Before I could apply finish and add the brass disks, I had two more details to address: finger pulls and stiffening battens.

The doors are almost fully inset, but their upper inside edges are exposed by the cabinet’s open top cavity. Instead of adding pulls or knobs that would detract from the brass disks, I decided to route 3/8” wide finger grooves in the exposed edges.

A 3/8” straight or round-nose bit, or a specialized finger groove or juice groove bit, would have been ideal for routing the grooves, but I don’t own any of those bits. I do have a 1/4” round-nose bit, so I decided to use it to and make two parallel, overlapping passes. To make sure the ends of the groove were neat and round, I started by drilling two 3/8” diameter counterbores with a Forstner bit. My doweling jig helped center these bores.

I used my router hand-held with an edge guide to clean out the area between the counterbores. I smoothed uneven spots with a 1/4” chisel and sandpaper, and the grooves were acceptable. (Based on later usability testing by my wife, I should have made the grooves slightly deeper, but I think they’re usable.)

Because the doors are made of flat-sawn boards, and because inset doors hide no misalignment, I was very worried about wood movement causing the doors to cup. I know it’s better to use veneered MDF, edge-banded plywood, or quarter-sawn lumber for stability. I had what I had, though, and wanted to make it work.

Originally, I thought that using wood-wrapped T-track sections would make good, unobtrusive battens. I asked for advice in a forum post here: Opinions Wanted – Solid Slab Door Battens. In the end, I ditched the T-track idea and decided to use traditional wood battens (thanks to Oldtool for pushing me in that direction).

I made the battens from a piece of pecan from my scrap bin.  They’re a bit chunky, so I tried to soften their appearance by beveling their ends.

I left the center mounting hole round and elongated the others by waggling the drill bit. The elongated holes aren’t precise, but they’ll let the door panel move.

I used lath screws, which have wide heads that hide the elongated holes, to attach the battens.

The doors looked nice and flat.

With that done, I was ready to start the task I’d been both dreading and anticipating—finishing the doors and adding the brass disks.