Oak door

[czechsonofagun]

We need new door for the house and since I have some 2" thick oak boards I am toying with the idea to make them myself. The wife best of all would love it, but I know little bit about woodworking to have respect for a project like that.
Anybody built a main door himself - with joinery - the full nine yards? I have decent woodworking equipment, built some gates, tables, windows and such.
What do you think?

 

[crash325]

Go for it and have fun. At the worst you will still have to buy a door. And you may wind up with a great door.

If you build it solid, you will need to add through rods ( all thread - about 5) across the door.

Then you can have even more fun carving a design into it. Of course when you get that done you will "Get" to hand forge some hardware for it. :thumbsup:

 

[smstonypoint]

I haven't built an exterior door, but I do remember watching Norm build one in an episode of the New Yankee Workshop: New Yankee Workshop - New Yankee Workshop Collection - Entrance Door. It might be worth the $25 to obtain a measured drawing and the DVD to get some ideas for your door.


My memory is hazy about the project, but I don't remember it being extraordinarily difficult. If I remember correctly, he used a neat tool to fit a mortise lock to the door.

Before we use any power tools, let's take a moment to talk about shop safety. Be sure to read, understand, and follow all the safety rules that come with your power tools. Knowing how to use your power tools properly will greatly reduce the risk of personal injury. And remember this: there is no more important safety rule than to wear these ( safety glasses).

Steve

 

[HCJtractor]

It should be rather straightforward. But the biggest challenge is getting your 2" thick board straight and true. A 7' piece of oak will be heavy and it really needs to be dead flat and straight. Ideally you need a big jointer to first get a straight edge and face. Then a thickness planer to get uniform thickness. It will take a bigger than regular 6" jointer to do this, one with a nice long infeed and outfeed bed. Once you have your boards made for the frame, the rest is easier. The joinery must be mortise and tenon. These could easily be done with simple hand tools or a router. Yet they must be precise and well designed. It's just like building a raised panel door for a cabinet, but the size and weight is what makes it a challenge. THe final door must be dead flat and straight, so precision at each step is critical. The joinery must be strong to withstand the weight and movement of the door. Of course you will need some big clamps to use during glue up.

Lastly, chopping the mortisses for the lockset also will take some skill.

It is a project that is certainly doable and one that I have often dreamed of. I have all these tools, except my jointer would be overwhelmed by a board this size. I made a table out of 1.5" curly cherry 14" wide jointed together to make the table top. I just could not get a straight edge on my jointer because of the size and weight of the board. I ended up using a hand plane, but it was a 18" jointer plane that cost $300. So you need big tools for such a big heavy project. It's not a project for a beginner woodworker, so the result would depend on your skills. If you have never chopped mortisses and made tenons, I would start with some cabinet doors first to learn these necessary skills.

 

[TRR]

In addition to what HCJtractor said, your door design needs to account for seasonal wood movement. A rail and stile design is normally used for this reason. Also, locksets expect a particular door thickness so you will need to run it thru the thickness planer if the oak is a true 2" thickness.

 

[Cliff_Johns]

Red oak or White Oak? Quarter sawn or flat?

If you're doing a frame and panel you should be fine, but as others have said, your wood's going to expand and contract a bit. If you're comfortable with that, then you'll do fine. Do consider what the old door weighs and what the new door will weigh if you're using different wood or thickness. Door frames don't like to be over-stressed and will distort if loaded too heavily.

Note that with thick wood (say 1&5/8) the wood should not be mixed between quarter sawn and flat because they will shrink and expand in thickness differently. If the boards are 3/4 or so, this isn't noticable, but thick wood will form ridges at joints in deep winter and humid summer if they aren't matched -- it also looks better to be consistant.

I can also tell you from experience that old white oak is a bear to cut a mortice in unless you have a power mortiser, and you need to cut a bunch.

Cliff

 

[czechsonofagun]

Thank you, gentlemen, for summing up my worries ..

We have habitat for humanity store in Manassas, I will check there for available doors, but what I have seen in normal stores, even the expensive doors are often very ugly.

It is white oak, quarter sawn - at least enough for a door.

I have a big drill press, 12' dewalt planer, excellent table saw - 6.5HP (more power arr, arr, arr - Tim the Toolman) but my jointer is only 6" and the table is relatively short.

Thanks for the link, I may even buy the dvd, although I doubt there would be more than you guys already expressed here. I may start and try to make the two sides 6"x84" - and if I can get those straight and plumb, the rest can be done with some patience. If they turn out crooked, I will use it some place else.

HCJ - back in Maryland, I built pine table 38"x8' for the dining room and it is the center of our lives since. It was also to please the little woman - I bought legs and a router to mortise them, pipe clamps to clamp the top together. It turned out ok, but still that was a huge project for the townhouse we lived in

Few years back I milled with chain saw cedar logs and built a table for outside with top boards 1.5"x12"x8' finished size and the dewalt planer was pushed to the limit with those heavy and long boards.

 

[Lloyd_E]

Go for it. Make sure the wood is extremely dry. I would epoxy everything before assembly and epoxy/glue the joints but let the panels float. I would give the panels lots of room to expand and contract... would still epoxy & finish them before assembly.

Sound like an interesting project/problem.

Please keep us posted.

 

[Cliff_Johns]

If it's just the long 6" X 84" boards you're worried about, check out the local woodshops. They would likely S4S the boards for you for very little money. The rest are shorter and easier to work with.

Cliff

 

[lilranch2001]

It should be rather straightforward. But the biggest challenge is getting your 2" thick board straight and true. A 7' piece of oak will be heavy and it really needs to be dead flat and straight. Ideally you need a big jointer to first get a straight edge and face. Then a thickness planer to get uniform thickness. It will take a bigger than regular 6" jointer to do this, one with a nice long infeed and outfeed bed. Once you have your boards made for the frame, the rest is easier. The joinery must be mortise and tenon. These could easily be done with simple hand tools or a router. Yet they must be precise and well designed. It's just like building a raised panel door for a cabinet, but the size and weight is what makes it a challenge. THe final door must be dead flat and straight, so precision at each step is critical. The joinery must be strong to withstand the weight and movement of the door. Of course you will need some big clamps to use during glue up.

Lastly, chopping the mortisses for the lockset also will take some skill.

It is a project that is certainly doable and one that I have often dreamed of. I have all these tools, except my jointer would be overwhelmed by a board this size. I made a table out of 1.5" curly cherry 14" wide jointed together to make the table top. I just could not get a straight edge on my jointer because of the size and weight of the board. I ended up using a hand plane, but it was a 18" jointer plane that cost $300. So you need big tools for such a big heavy project. It's not a project for a beginner woodworker, so the result would depend on your skills. If you have never chopped mortisses and made tenons, I would start with some cabinet doors first to learn these necessary skills.

Then referring back to Norm, you will need a 40 inch thickness planer so you can send the door through it to have that perfectly flat and true door.

I doubt a 40 inch planer will run much more than 8 K
Your door project will be well worth that little expenditure
:laughing:

:thumbsup:

 

[HCJtractor]

If it's just the long 6" X 84" boards you're worried about, check out the local woodshops. They would likely S4S the boards for you for very little money. The rest are shorter and easier to work with.

Cliff

That's very true. If you could get the longer boards done, the others could be done on typical home shop sized tools. As far running the whole door through a thickness planer after assembly, i would have to ask why would you have to do that? If you start with straight flat stock of the same thickness, you end up with a straight flat door. The floating panels can be any thickness. The frame is what matters.

My point was you are not going to get good results trying to joint a 2" X 6" X 7' board on a normal 6" home shop jointer. And if those 2 boards are not true, your door is not going to function well.

We have a great Woodworkers Guild in my city where they have a shop equipped with top of the line commercial grade tools much larger than a hobbiest would have. Here you could easily make a door. It is available to members as long as they are trained. Volunteers are there to oversee and advise. Pretty cool set up.

 

[HCJtractor]

Then referring back to Norm, you will need a 40 inch thickness planer so you can send the door through it to have that perfectly flat and true door.

I doubt a 40 inch planer will run much more than 8 K
Your door project will be well worth that little expenditure
:laughing:

:thumbsup:

one more comment. A thickness planer doesn't make anything flat and true. All it does is make everything the same thickness. Send a bowed board through a thickness planer and it will come out the perfect thickness but still bowed. A jointer serves that role, not a planer.

 

[czechsonofagun]

one more comment. A thickness planer doesn't make anything flat and true. All it does is make everything the same thickness. Send a bowed board through a thickness planer and it will come out the perfect thickness but still bowed. A jointer serves that role, not a planer.

Same experience

 

[dlauffenburger]

As alluded to in other posts your door design is going to significantly effect your construction process. If you are building a solid door you are going to have to deal with quite a bit of expansion and contraction, but if it is going to have floating panels and glass the expansion/contraction will be minimal in comparison.

I disagree with using all thread, that is the worst thing you can do to a panel that you know will expand and contract, the all thread will prevent the wood from moving laterally so it will warp and bow at the joints. The wood is going to move with moisture and if you try to prevent it you will cause warping. You just need to design and build it to allow some movement. For a heavy door you need to ensure your tennons are significantly lager that what a Rail and Stile bit system will provide, so you will need to make floating tennors. i would use a heavy duty dowels, i would edge joint the boards and glue them together then drill 3/8 or 1/2 holes thru the board into the ajoining board and then glue and install dowels.

If you are building a flat door i highly recommend a glue joint bit for your router, the bit forms a interlocking profile with the board next to it so there will be more glue surface as well as forming a more air tight seam to prevent air infiltration.

If you have any questions please ask.
Dave

Dave's Woodworking Website Homepage

 

[hizoot]

I'm not sure where "Old Dominion" is.....so if its Texas,I have a 12" x 92" jointer I can help you with. I also have a 20" planer.

I believe the 40" Timesaver Norm used was a drum sander,not a planer. When you get to the finished project,you may find a cabinet shop with one of these that can do a final sanding/flattening. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[czechsonofagun]

Old Dominion is Virginia - thanks for the offer, but too far.



Dave, thanks for the suggestions. I remember doors my dad built - with help and machnery of professional furniture maker - tennons for corners were all the way through, but it was only a frame with three glass panes and made from frasier fir - the most common wood in Czech.

I have a pile of cedar for this weekend to make some shoe shelves and under the bed drowers but after that I will go through the pile of oak and see what I can find as far as cuts.

Will post pictures and ask for advice, the only thing surprising is that nobody on the whole TBN done something like that??

 

[Cliff_Johns]

Then referring back to Norm, you will need a 40 inch thickness planer so you can send the door through it to have that perfectly flat and true door.

I hope he didn't actually use a thickness planer on a frame and panel door! That makes no sense at all since the rails would be chipped to pieces going cross grain. Perhaps it was a wide belt sander? 36-42" belt sanders are pretty common and used for table tops etc. That or it was a slab type door.

Cliff

 

[PatasColo]

I recently found that there is a custom door shop near us. They were selling barrels of scrap wood (cutoffs) as firewood, so we picked up a couple barrels (that's how we came across them... looking for firewood on Craigslist).

You might see if there is such a place in your area, or alternatively a cabinetmaker/furniture maker, as you and others have alluded to. My guess is that if I called this local shop and told them I was making a door out of oak and needed suggestions on planing/jointing, there's at least an even chance they might offer to help me out. The more local the shop, the better. Might give you some other pointers on the process in any case. Most people enjoy doing a good deed, and helping others do something that they believe in.

 

[Depmandog]

I personally wouldn't be afraid to join boards of that length. After joining your first two boards, lay out the stock and if you have gaps - set the joiner for a super shallow pass and only run it halfway (or quarter way). The joints will close - it might take a few passes. Mark and number the boards to keep the orientation consistent until glue up. Basically you are matching each board to one another.

There is a slight chance doing this could get the overall door out of square, which can be corrected easily enough if you check your dimensions as you lay up your stock.

Oh yes, it would be nice to have the biggest and best tools out there, but we all learn to make do with what we have. Adapt and overcome (as long as we are safe - that's 2 points coming to me courtesy of the safety police)!!