I have an extra-wide opening for a front door (42″) for which buying a standard entry door will be prohibitively expensive. I’d like to build one, but don’t have any stock that can be planed down to 1-3/4″ thick for the stiles and rails.
My thought was to take 5/4 stock, plane to 7/8″ and face laminate it. Get the pieces I need and then mill them to make the door. Does anybody see a problem doing it this way?
Replies
I am doing something very simmilar and was thinking along the same lines. I am thinking of using two pieces of 5/4 stock to get the thickness. 8/4 might work but often you can have trouble getting it flat enough before you run out of thickness. keep me posted as to how it works out.
Troy
It'll work and you have an easy job of making the mortices on the stiles by simply routing out mating dados across the insides surfaces of the "plies".
What do you think? About five ball-bearing hinges to hang that puppy? <G>
(Edit #3...damn, i wish i could spell.)
Edited 9/13/2006 5:28 pm ET by splintergroupie
Well, the initial thought was simply a pine door, well sealed. We need to get something in the opening in a hurry in order to move in. The door's well protected on a north wall, so no major damage should occur. I have the jamb already in and mortised for three BB hinges. Jamb is brazilian cherry, I expect that'll last a lifetime. A couple years down the road, if the door doesn't hold up, I'll put something better in.
That was one of the few things in the house that my wife would NOT budge on, and she's just recently figured out what a colossal pain in the butt it's been, finding an odd-size door.
There are a couple salvage yards in this area. I saw some gorgeous, thick, wide, oak doors a while back that had come out of a courthouse, it looked like, which appeared close to 8' tall as well. I don't know if you have the headroom...i hope so, or the proportions will look a bit squat...but you might try the salvage route to find your door.
If you are going to join up pieces to make the thickness anyway, you might want to consider laminating some nice wood over a core of a lesser species. I had an entry door on a house I owned once that had oak about 1/4" thick laminated over a pine core. The oak covered all 4 vertical sides of the pine. The panels were solid oak, but they are thinner, so lamination was not needed. The door was also lighter weight than it would have been if it was solid oak. That door was over 100 yrs old, and had held up well.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Many years ago before I had a shaper I took 3 pieces 3/4" thick to make a 2-1/4" door. It is a Redwood door in a commercial application and has been hanging there for the last 30 years. I used plastic resin glue to glue it together.
When you use three pieces there are no mortises to cut.
Just make sure that when you glue the door it will end up straight.
Why use the whole 42" opening for the door? Why not a 3-0 door with a 6" sidelight?
Blame my wife, she wanted a 42" door. Never mind that there's a 6-0 x 6-8 double french door on the other side of the house. Also that I did tell her that a 42" door would be difficult to get. Plus it will look funny. That's why I want to build a "temporary" door without spending the $900 or so I was qouted by a local millwork shop for a custom door. Either she will come to her senses and we can put a "normal" door in the opening, or I will build a custom door in a year or two that looks better. Who knows, she may decide that a knotty pine door in that size looks fantastic and I will have to figure out a way to preserve it. It is in a timber frame with pine all over the place, so the door shouldn't look too awful bad.
I built a door for a customer a few years back that was 2 1/4" thick. I actually re-built it for them. It was three layers of 3/4". the two outside layers were 3/4" tounge and v-groove oak, and the inside was hollow except for a 1/6 all the way around the edges and one peice running horizontally across the center. The oak was in bad shape becasue it was never cared for. When I pulled it apart and realized how it was built, I decided to re-build it differently. I made a frame out of 3/4" square steel tubing with 6" gussets in the corners that was about 1 1/2" in from the edges and it was channeled around where the handle set went. I ran 1 1/2" maple all the way around the edges and where the handle set went and screwed it to the fram from the inside. I then insulated it with 3/4" foam. Then I made new 3/4" x 6" tounge and v-groove maple, sealed the back and attached it to the door with nails in the tounge going into the maple edge and construction adhesive on the steel. Then I used a router the trim it to the exact size I needed. I routed a red oak inlay down the one side and across the bottom both about six inches from teh edge that stood proud of the door by about 1/16" and then urethaned the daylights out of it. It was a 42" x 7'-0" door, and it still looks great. The customer loves it. I was afraid that the steel would make it too heavy, but I think it was an even trade for the 1x6 frame that I yanked out. I re-used their solid brass handle set and knocker and I re-finished the faux barn door style hinges in black and applied a few more coats of urethane after they were installed. I had alot of fun with that project.
Edited 9/14/2006 7:14 pm ET by rnsykes
here are some pictures
Many times I've seen posters with much more experience than I suggest that any laminated member have an odd number of laminations - like plywood. When I was asking about fences (outdoor, fancy), someone stated that using only two plies guaranteed warp. I used a 2 ply laminate on the bottom rails of the fence and they warp badly in the winter (wet). The gate, made after seeking Knots wisdom, used three plies as did the workbench legs. Stability is almost as good as good solid stock.
As others have pointed out in this thread, if you use three plies, you can leave gaps in the middle ply and make a mortise the easy way. In doing this, I used through tenons and wedged them. To ensure the accuracy of the mortise, I put in a block shaped to the shape of the tenon when it had the wedges inserted. The tenon was wrapped in wax paper during glueup and I knocked it out later.
Please keep us informed about the door. I need one also and would like to make it.
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