wrote in message
My wife is wanting a stained front door. How hard would
it be to build a nice wood front door as well as a new
front jam/casing? How would you hang a door in a casing
you made yourself?
With hinges
Seriously, there is no difference in hanging a home made door on a home made
jamb than there is in hanging any door on any jamb.
I've never made an exterior door - will be later this year - but there is no
difference between that and an interior passage door save thickness and the
thickness isn't written on stone.
Wuld a wood door I made myself have opening/closing
problems with changes in the weather due to expansion and
contraction?
That depends on how you make it. If you use panels in the rails and stiles
and you leave room in the grooves for the panel to expand there should be no
problem.
Of course, there are other types of wood doors...vertical boards, for
example, either glued together with or without toingue and grooves and with
or without a "Z" frame. For something like that you would have to allow for
expansion/contraction of the entire door, not just a panel; neverheless,
they are not uncommon. There are some examples among the images here...
https://www.google.com/search?q=chur...&bih=602&dpr=1
I have a sawmill with kiln dryed white oak available and
that is what I was thinking of using.
It will be a heavy door, use good hinges...4" solid brass, at least 3, maybe
4 of them. And use brass, bronze or stainless screws with the oak, else it
will stain.
I appreciate any help. My wife is about to drive me crazy.
Making a door isn't all that hard. Refering to a frame and panel door, you
need...
1. A way to get the lumber straight, smooth and accurately sized in length,
width and thickness
2. A way to make accurately sized grooves in the stiles and rails to hold
the panel(s). A table or radial saw can do it - even without a dado blade -
so can a router. With a router, I think it easier to use the router hand
held rather than in a table (for this purpose).
3. A way to join the rails and stiles. The nicest, IMO, is mortices and
tenons; the nicest of those - again, IMO - is loose tenons. The tenons can
be made with most any kind of saw, power or hand; mortices can be cut by
hand, with a router, a mortiser or drilled and chopped. I usually make my
loose tenons about 4" long so there is 2" in both stile and rail.
I have also joined the parts with half laps. At the moment, I am looking at
a screen door I made about 18 years ago that is joined with what amounts to
half laps; they weren't cut, they were made by gluing together 2 - 3/4"
boards.
I also have two pairs of French screen doors (four doors) that I made 2-3
years ago...they were joined simply with epoxy and 1/2" stub tenons.
For what it's worth, these are the dimensions that I would use for a
standard size (80" x 36") exterior door...
stiles and top rail: 4-6"
lock rail: 4-6"
bottom rail: 7"-?? (NOTE: don't try to use one wide tenon, use two or more
smaller ones, 2-2 1/2" wide.
4. Enough clamps - pipe clamps are fine - to glue up the panels and to glue
the rails into the stiles after the panels are inserted. Three clamps would
be sufficient, six could be useful.
______________________
What you DON'T need are those special router bits for rails and stiles.
Nothing wrong with using them but you don't NEED them. Their only purposes
(besides cutting the groove which can be done in other ways) is to give
decorative and coped edges. If you want a decorative edge it can be done
with standard router bits either after the door is assembled or before.
True, there will be an arc at each right angle corner...doesn't bother me a
bit. For that matter, using chisel/knife/rasp/sand paper can make the
corners look coped.
Something else you don't need is a panel raising router bit...those bits
that skinny down the panel for an inch or two along the edges to fit the
rail and stile groove. The skinnying down can be done on the saw or with
standard router bits. For that matter, you don't have to skinny it if you
make the grooves the same width as the panel is thick.
--
dadiOH
____________________________
Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Taxes out of hand? Maybe just ready for a change?
Check it out...
http://www.floridaloghouse.net
---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com