Door making

[Krum]

I am expanding my carving and would like any information on making your own doors. I already have a project of bar doors to make so that I can carve a design on. I have asked my hubby to team up with me. He can do the doors, I'll carve them. He has made cupboard doors and have a general knowlegde but anything else on larger doors would be great. Any books out there that anyone knows that would help us out? We just bought a Grizzly saw and a good dust collector and getting the shop in order to add the rest of my Grizzly tools in order to start doing these doors. Iv'e looked on line and nothing what I am looking for comes up.
Thanks!
Krum

[Goody]

Well first off you cant go wrong with Grizzly tools. Good quality control for imports and the best service after the sale in the industry. Second Glad to see youre getting a dust collector. Try Sue Irish's site for caving patterns I Have almost the full set and refer back to them for Ideas alot. Try this book
http://www.cambiumbooks.com/blowups/...format=blowups
Goody

[Krum]

I LOVE my Grizzly tools. We search today but nothing beats the Grizzly as far as I am concerned. I have the Grizzly planer and the jointer also.
We have a building 30 x 40 that we had split when we built here a few years ago. His side, my side. LOL Well now it's our side! I don't usually power carve but had a system in on my side I use when needed. Well, with all the power tools now that will be on our side the dust collector is a must. I'll check out the book to. Thanks for the info. With my hubby retired and in the process of selling his remote control airplanes it will be a great way have some projects he can be involved in. He loves building things and having him measure & cut etc well things would turn out better then if I did it. hehe Besides I'd rather spend my time carving.
Krum

[wade clark]

Here's a door I did years ago. It was all small scraps of wood glued onto a sheet of plywood. A tree grows any way it wants to grow, so you can't really make a mistake. We use the door many times a day. If I was doing it again, I'd probably build the door out of 2x6 tongue and groove wood. Then, not only could I glue wood on, but I could carve the background as well.
Wade
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...91wooddoor.jpg

[Krum]

Beautiful door! I think this is going to be a great project. Interesting for both of us. I have already design the pattern for the swing doors. Just going to have to wait till we get things set up but that's ok I am still working on my blackwalnut mantel. The table saw won't be here until May but we can get other things ready till then.
Thanks for the pic!
Krum

[Paul_Guraedy]

Cathy, I had always thought that door making was difficult to the point of magic. We are now building our own place and I mentioned that I would like to find some doors that I could carve on. The contractor said, "Why not just make your own?"

Well, it turned out that I decided against the carving part, for now, because I will have 80 feet of relief carving to do on the beams. But, the doors were amazingly simple.

We went out to the lumber pile of contract grade pine, grabbed a bunch of 2x10s, ripped them to size on the band saw, planed them to thickness on the planer, and sanded the surface some. Because we are using the motif of a 1915 era farmhouse we butt jointed. Just glue and biscuits. Then decided to "fancy" them up a bit by putting in three cross pieces with random sanding for decoration. The screws on the cross pieces are more decoration. They were put on with enough glue to hold them.

The only thing that is a must is to make sure they stay square by measuring across from corner to corner. Even putting in the glass was simple. Just routed out a rabbet and used small pieces ripped down to frame it in. On one door we replaced the bottom glass with wood.

[squbrigg]

Check out the link attached, it's a studio that does doors, really nice doors. Good luck with your new venture. I hope we get to see some pics of your efforts.

http://www.redshift.com/~oakleaves/index.html

Bob

[Paul_Guraedy]

Cathy, I made a big error in my previous post. We did not rabbet for the glass. We used the black walnut framing to hold the glass in place on both sides. Glued it down on one side and then flipped it over and did the same.

The door with the wood insert was managed in the same fashion....except that it was not glued down. It is held in place by the frame around it. This will allow for expansion of the wood during seasonal changes.

[dutchmanmk3]

I would probably laminate the work onto premanufactured slab doors. Most production doors utilize stable plys, and or but not limited to particle board, and MDF. these are far less prone to warpage, and remain stable in a vertical plane. The Door, and the carving are two completely different entities with their own unique structural requirements. Done properly they WILL last a life time. Produce both pieces. Completely seal both pieces, and then laminate the two into one.

The one thing I will advise is to use an extremely high quality U.V. resistant finish, and make absolutely certain that all wood is completely sealed (Thoroughly & "Equally" ) ! Front and Back 360*, as I've seen some extraordinary carved doors ravaged by sun light, and seen laminations cup, hook, and delaminate in less than a month.

Also be Very Wary of Maple as it seems to be the most reactive to sudden weather changes, and reacts very poorly, if not violently to atmospheric changes.

The most important aspect is that if you put 3 coats of finish on one side you Must do the same for the other. Reason being that moisture can be absorbed at an unbalanced rate, and this WILL initiate the warpage, and perpetuate delamination.

I hate to sound like an alarmist, but it is truely heart breaking to see good work slough off on the floor, and the clientele can get fairly anxious, and animated.

[Krum]

Thanks for the great input! Today we cleaned the area up and wow we didn't have to take any walls down in order to have the space. (and he says I keep everything! LOL) Hung up some better lighting and way better then what we had. The dust collector is on it's way and that we are able to attach to one wall on my side and then we will figure out where the hoses will work the best. All the table top tools are on one side now, the planer and bandsaws are now on lockable rollers. Gosh it's looking like a real work shop! LOL
I feel better now that my most expensive equipment is in the shop instead of the garage. I am printing out the information on this subject and thanks for sharing. I'll post a picture once I get my first swing doors done.
Krum