sal wrote:
Hi. woodies how hard would swinging louvered cafe doors be to make? I
have a router and the basic handtools chisels etc. I tried to buy
them local but they had to be custom made so I thought I would take a
crack at them.

Got a table or radial saw? If so it's not all that hard. If you don't, it
would be.

Forgetting the louvers for a moment, the door frames are made like any other
door frame. IIRC, the louvers are normally at 60 degrees. If you can live
with 45 degrees - I do - the louvers can be easy too. Here's what I do...

1. Make the door frames 1 1/4" thick.

2. Rout or saw a 1" wide by 1/2" deep rabbet on the back side of the stiles
where the louvers are going to go. The rabbet can be more than 1/2" if
desired but the width must be 1".

3. Take two pieces of wood 1" x the depth of the above rabbet and rout or
saw 1/4" X 1/4" kerfs across them at a 45 degree angle. Space the kerfs as
you want the louvers to be. Don't forget that you need a right hand and a
left hand strip for each door.

4. Rip off 1/4" strips from a board at 45 degrees. The board must be
exactly 3/4" thick; if it is, the strips will exactly fit in the kerfs made
in #3. The louver edges will be sharp, ease them slightly.

5. Mount the strips from #3 in the stile rabbets and insert the louvers.

6. Attach 1/4" x 5/8" +- molding on the back of the door to cover the pieces
from #3.




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dadiOH
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