Replies

1. 
   Seth_Frankel_ | Mar 02, 2002 05:30pm | #1

   *
   Jim,

   Awhile back I picked up John Birchard's
   i Doormaking: A Do-it Yourself Guide.
   It's rather mediocre and could be useful depending on your project and skill level, but remains rather uninspired.

   It shows a range of standard door styles and some unusual "California" looking doors. IMO, a book like this should be stuffed with details and sections showing how things go together but is lacking real substance. The areas that were selected to detail are either so obvious that anyone attempting to build a door would already know it or are so specific to one project that you'll never use it. There are parts dimension lists that are totally useless as they only work for one specific size and don't relate back to decent drawings. A small gripe is that the photos are not very good (and the bio says the author is also a photographer) and the book looks feels like it was published in 1978 (except for the cover) but was just released in 1999! I could go on but you probably get my point.

   If you have a specific style in mind I'd be happy to copy the pages in the book that relate. Just let me know.

   Best,
   Seth

1. 
   Bob_Lang | Mar 02, 2002 06:34pm | #2

   *http://www.awinet.org/TechnicalQuestions/QualityStandards.asp?s=0here's a link to the Architectural woodwork site that has some pdf documents regarding sizes, joints etc.Bob Langwww.craftsmanplans.com

1. 
   Jim_Markle | Mar 05, 2002 08:46pm | #3

   *I built a number of doors for my house....the house was built around 1815, and had a number of the original doors still hanging, but not all. I took down one of the originals and used it as a template to make four others, that were missing...only I changed the size, by making them a little wider, about 32" rather than the 29" they were. Original door was through mortise-tenon, floating panel, and pegged, no glue used. If this is the kind of door your looking for, you might try a architectural salvage yard, pick up an old door and drill out the pegs and dismantle, study the construction. Its fairly easy to do, but requires a bit of space to assemble. I also found a number of original thumb latches and hung the doors with them....painted them with MilkPaint, and you can't tell the originals from the new ones...good luck PS: the original doors were made of white pine, made mine from poplar, which takes paint very well.

1. 
   AJinNZ_ | Mar 06, 2002 03:33am | #4

   *Jim, I have a book on doors put out by Fine Homebuilding. It goes into consruction details of various types and also shows some pretty good alternative ones too. Well worth having.

1. 
   Getch_ | Mar 14, 2002 08:24pm | #5

   *Only one...designed it myself. Very simple design, just a very big window with hinges and a door knob!A mahogany storm door.I'd do another...actually, the wife wants the matching screen door I designed too!