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: