The photos do not show the through tenons. The joints are, as you
note, mitered, but there are tenon ends that show in the sides of the
stiles (short sides). Whether they are floating tenons or solid ones I
can't tell, but it really doesn't matter, the frame isn't coming apart
short of destructive surgery.

The frame is flat and true in all dimensions. The panel is floated in
the rail/stile dadoes (I can move it a tad horizontally and
vertically). The stiles are not bowed, just the panel, that's why the
interior edges of the stiles split out, the panel bow put too much
pressure on the thin edges above the dado.

Yeh, it's almost impossible to diagnose from the photos and my lousy
descriptions, but I'm pretty sure I've got to get some of the cupping
out of the panel. Then I can shave down the panel edges where the
panel would go in the stile dados enough (maybe??) to get pressure off
the stile edges and glue them back together - hope springs eternal.
She's a sweet 80+ year old lady and seems to treasure the desk, so I'd
like to get it looking at least OK.

Thanks.

Tom


On Sun, 08 Jul 2012 12:49:08 -0500, Swingman wrote:

On 7/8/2012 11:24 AM, Tom wrote:

The panel in question is in a rail and stile frame. It's about 32 X 15
in a frame that's about 36 X 22. The frame is held together by through
tenons.

Posting some pics to a.b.p.w

Any thoughts?

Hmmmm ... where are the "through tenons"?

IOW, it looks more like the door frame is joined with miter joints in
the photos?

If so, the question then becomes whether the miter's were done with some
type of spline, biscuit, etc.?

Is that a bow in both stiles from the panel warping, or is that camera
distortion?

Just a SWAG, but considering the doors warped, and if the stiles are
indeed bowed ... something which would not have happened with a properly
designed "frame and panel" ... then the entire construction method may
be suspect, and perhaps to your benefit.

Are you positive that what to appear to be miter joints in the photos
are reinforced in some manner (I see no evidence of "through tenons" or
a spline, although it may just be the photos)?

My point ... applying some heat to an inherently weak, un-reinforced,
miter joint, joinery put together by someone who obviously does not
appear to have been an expert in joinery from the current state of
thing, might actually allow you to get that frame apart?

Just a thought, and a long shot, but something to consider ... hard to
troubleshoot from photos alone.