I am finishing my basement and the wife decided she wants maple doors. We decided on a 4 panel door, fairly simple, but very nice. I got a quote for 8 doors ranging from 24″ to 36″ for a bit over 2k. 8 weeks from order to shipment. I assume that shipping will take about a week.
For 2k, I can buy a lot of Hard Maple (even at $4 bd.ft.). If I can get Frenchy’s price, I could reframe my house 🙂
I figure that for 2k I can get enough lumber and have $800-900 left to buy the jointer that I would need. The jointer is the only tool that I would need (have the planer, tablesaw, and router). I figure 1 good weekend to get all of the pieces surfaced for the doors, 1 weekend to get all the lumber cut, and then two nights per door to assemble and glue. I know that my time isn’t free, but it is pretty cheap. Is this a realistic project, or should I just order the new doors?
Replies
Hi Scott... Why not use contact cement to apply a Maple skin to a hollow core door. Take molding and apply it to the door to form the (false) four panels? Much less bother and you can get a real nice Compound sliding miter saw out of the deal. Yea, it may not be the most ellegant, but it's fast. The other option is to get a thin
(1 1/8") door and add a 3/8 maple face, cut to look like a paneled door. That way you get a CSMS and a planer for your shop along with some raised panel bits for your router. SawdustSteve
Sawdust and All!
I did that with so called 'QUALITY' hollow doors.. Long ago so quality was quality.
I covered the doors in fake leather and hardwood trim.. Leather they used in HOT RODS!.. They still look great and folks that see them just walk up and cry for the old COW!..
They still look great!
Is that $2000 for solid maple doors w/ raised panels? If so, it's a good price.
One thing to consider is warping issues in a basement. I'd use veneered solid core doors and buy myself an 8" jointer and take a short vacation ; )
My 2 cents, good luck!
P.S...doors would be pretty hard to do on a router, it can be done, but a shaper is safer.
The time frame for sufacing and demensioning is possibly close depending on the layout of your shop but the time for motise and tenoning is a little lite on time I think.
I would at least add one more weekend unless you have had the experience of making doors in the past.
Garry
WoodWorks by Garry
Since your time is a non-issue money wise, you can give it a try. Interior doors are generally 1 3/8" thick. Did the price on the doors include jambs and pre-hanging? If so, you need to add those costs and time to your estimate. By the way, I don't think you are even close but that doesn't matter.
Most door manufacturers don't use solid stock. Finding good stable material isn't easy and 8/4 lumber is more expensive than 4/4. Today, they use finger jointed stock covered with a veneer both for economy and stability. You will have to choose your lumber carefully. Instead of using bead and cope joinery, you could just make everything square edge and add moldings to frame the panels. Mortise and tenon joints would be the strongest but you could also use dowels of appropriate size. Getting and keeping everything flat, straight and 90° is the important part. You should have a jointer in the shop anyway. Most hardwood suppliers sell in random lengths and widths when you purchase rough stock. They may charge a premium if you want to select all 2x6x8 but that depends on the source.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
That $2000 looks pretty good. You're going to spend maybe $1000 to $1400 on lumber alone if you insist on solid maple, depending on yield, grade, and design. I suspect you're pretty well underestimating your time, too, unless you are exceptionally fast. For example, you didn't figure any time for ripping, glueing, planing and machining panels for your 4-panel door. And what about material handling, which gets to be pretty time consuming in a restricted space. I know 12 hours per door (100 hours total) sounds like a lot, and it would be for a production shop, but you lose SO much time in a home shop. Heck, some people take that long just to finish a door.
Try breaking down each operation on each component and estimating the time on each. Then triple your estimate if you haven't done the job before. One of the local guys here who does custom doors gets around $900 per door and he uses finger jointed lumber with 1/8" skins on the stiles and rails. When I was in the furniture manufacturing business, a prototyoe took over 10 times as long to build as the product eventually did in production.......
You also might want to try making just one door, to see what's really involved. I know that doesn't buy you a jointer, but it might save you a bunch of heartache.
I'm not saying don't do it. Just maybe do a little mor planning so you know what you are getting into. Underestimating jobs is the bane of woodworkers.
MIchael R
Happened through HD the other day and found 6 panel maple doors (36") for under $150 a door. They were solid maple, the jams were veneered particle board, but the door was not finger jointed looked very nice. They aren't exactly what we were hoping for, but for half the price I think I will go with them. A couple coats of danish oil and some shellac and they should look great. Thanks for all the suggestions, you're all right, I'm sure I underestimated the amount of work required.
Scott
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