Custom Door builders?

[getoverit]

I went looking recently at enterance doors and got the shock of my life when I saw what they wanted for entrance doors.  Is anybody on the forum building custom doors?

Got any tips, tricks, or pictures you want to share on how to build custom entrance doors??

[Texas Ranger]

I build custom doors, and windows, and transoms, and sidelights.  Where to start.  First, quality wood.  Getting harder to find wood that does not run on ya when ya try to work it.  Second, BIG flat table to build on. Third, lots of clamps, LOTS. Fourth, expect to be on the wrong side of the learning curve as the doors change.  I have been building doors for a couple of years for a stained glass man, and I am still learning all the tricks.

Start with an interior door and figure your plan, lay it out on paper, figure your design and think along the lines of splines and dowels to hold the thing together.

I realy don't know what to tell you, I am in the learning stage, and will have a picture of my current door when I get it together, or maybe a series as I have one pannel finished now.  It is a 4'x8' with glass insert (the other guy does the glass)  it is out of knotty pine (I know, but the customer wants "rough" doors)  We are building two sets of french doors, each door is 4'x8', so she will have an 8'x8' opening at front and back of house.  Be able to drive through, I guess.  I will try to post a shot tomorrow.

[mike_van]

I did my own after getting the "sticker shock" too -
It's built out of red oak sawn by me, the stiles & rails are 1 3/4" thick. The side lites have tempered thermopane glass. It works well, dosen't stick in July, much better than the prehung Morgan on the other side of the house. The yard wanted 1600.00 for this setup, not including the hardware.

[Patty]

This is the front door we made a few years back. First woodworking project we ever tried. Of course since the photo we have added the glass and hardware. 

IT is built from honey locust and walnut. I just used biscuits to join it. It is around 84" x 36" and about 2" thick. VERY heavy! Three years or so later and it is still hanging straight.  8)

[breese]

Don't know if you are familiar with the publication Fine Homebuilding.  They did a great article on building custom doors a couple of years ago.  I can find the issue number if you're interested.  Basically building the door in sandwich layers using pocket screws.  The doors in the article were real sharp looking, didn't seem too complicated.

[srt]

Yes, I build custom doors.  Probable average about one per year.  Due to the price of custom one - off doors the way I build them, there is a big sticker shock!!  Basically, I can't build a door for under a thousand.  That's about the bottom price for a very simple door with just a couple panels.  Therefore, all of my doors have been to replace ones in old houses that are no longer there, or for additions to the same where thay want an exact match.  As the other fellow said, the wood is a real big concern.  All of the companies I know of use what they call "stave core construction"  to minimize twist and warp.  Basically, it's a bunch of narrow finger jointed junk pine glued up and ripped and surfaced to a blank.  They then veneer the blank with a thick (1/8" or so) veneer.  You can buy these blanks if you wish.  I've used them once.  They're OK, but somehow I don't feel like I'm being a cabinetmaker when I use stock like that.  Here's what I look for:  I've been having a sawmiller quarter saw local lumber thick (2" +) and air drying it to build doors for a few years now.  This way I get as close as I can to how they were built years ago.  Gotta run - I'll continue this later

[Engineer]

Yeah the sticker shock is rude, ain't it.  I need a 42" x 80" door for my new house (owing to the dear wife INSISTING on a 42" door for some obscure reason) - I priced up just the slab and got prices from $800-$1700 depending on style and species. That was with no glass. 

I am going to laminate some QS white pine and build a "temporary door".  Probably good enough for 95% of the population but I want something better.  I have a nice big butternut log in my pile that I am going to quartersaw and use for the eventual "permanent door".

It's not hard to build a door, just takes time and good materials.

[ronwood]

What would happen if you used 4/4 or 5/4 lumber planed it and glued it together to make the thicker material. After glue up plane it down to the final thickness. I was thinking of doing that to make interior doors in my house. 

I would think you could  utilize material that might had a defect on one side that you might not be able to otherwise. Also it seems to me that it might be a bit more stable. Any thoughts.

Ron

[Texas Ranger]

The following are a couple of shots of a panel that will be one of two in the 4x8 door.

This is the panel, kinda hard to say laying on a plywood table top.

this is a detail of a corner where the spline holds it together.  The spline is 1/2 inch Russian birch plywood, absolutely stable.  The spline is 4 inches wide, the wider the spline the better the stability and straightness of the door.

Should have more done today and post some more.

[mike_van]

I don't know what takes more of a beating than an exterior door. You can get 20 below on one side, and 70 above on the other. Or the other side, 95 with a dp of 80, and dry air conditioned on the other.  If the sun beats on them, that hurts too, cause the other sides in the shade. People slam 'em, kick 'em, etc. Poor doors. 

[beenthere]

Building the doors isn't as much of the problem as keeping the doors from warping. The percentage of doors replaced after they warp (which for the one in the business of building them is important) is high enough that the initial price needs to cover that extra cost. Replacement has been a nightmare and a killer for many a custom door builder over the years.
Very satisfying to custom build a door and much better if the door stays straight (as mike points out, the conditions to keep wood straight are about as lousy as can be imagined for an exterior door). Keeping a finish on an exterior door, especially if the sun can reach it, is another nightmare.  Don't mean to sound so negative, but these are some reasons exterior entry doors are very expensive.
Good luck with the decision to build or buy.  Not an easy one, and can be very satisfying if one builds his own. It's a big accomplishment.

[srt]

Continuing on with building doors from above.  As I said before, my doors are built to match old doors, so all mortises are full mortis and tennon.  Although original doors haven't been glued, I do glue with a waterproof (titebond 3) glue, as well as pinning all with two square pegs in  round holes.  Something you may find handy is a winding stick. You can make one.  However, if you flatten all stock before planing to final thickness, check your saw/shaper for square cuts, do your work on a flat bench, and don't distort by uneven clamping, you shouldn't have a problem.  On flatening stock, I'll typically flaten and plane and rip to about 1/4" over in thickness and width, and let the wood sit over the weekend.  Then I'll re-flatten, plane and rip to final size after it's moved as much as it would over the weekend.  It's always a good idea to make a spare rail and style if you suspect some of the wood would be likely to move too much.  That way, you can replace the warped one before you go onto all of the rest of machining steps.  If you don't need the spare rail/style, you haven't spent too much time on it at this point, and it can go back into the wood pile for future use.  I could go on, and on, but I've probably already gabbed too long.  As you may be able to tell, making doors is one of my favorite things as a cabinetmaker!  If there's interest, I'll post some pics of doors in progress and finished over the weekend. 

[Stephen1]

Always an interest in pictures, insructions with pics, even better!

[getoverit]

The old saying about a picture being worth a thousand words is a true one :D


I'd love to see how you do it!

[Don_Papenburg]

Ronwood  , I have build doors exactly like that . However I made them twofaced  One is a curved door( 32"R.  ) Walnut outside ,oak on the inside.
One way to make a good straight door is to glue up a baltic birch /russian birch veneer core and build your door around that .
I cut a flat birch veneer door in half (the long thin way) and made it a two faced door with a catalpa raised panel inside/curly birch outside .

[Texas Ranger]

Here is a shot of the door with stiles in place.  You will note the clamp holding things flat while the glue drys.

[srt]

Third try to post
a pic of a door I built a few years ago......

[srt]

It looks like that worked - let's try the door completed and standing next to the one it was patterned after.

[Patty]

What kind of wood are you using on that door? It is very nice. 

[srt]

It looks like I was successful, but I don't want to boast yet.  If I only understood these computers better, it might make some sense!!!  Here's a few more pics of the original door, and another set of doors with sidelights and full jambs/sill after installation, but before trimming.  Note the vertical "stripes" at both sides of the door are before adding the mahogany trim.  This mahog door set, and it's smaller brother on the other side of the house are by far the most complex I've had the pleasure to work on.  They're hond. Mahog with beveled glass and custom panels and moldings and etc, and etc, and etc.  Took quite a while to build when you start from grinding molding knives and rough sawn stock. 

Here they are:

[srt]

Patty,   If you were asking me, that door was white pine if I remember correctly.  It was before I got connected with a sawmill that was willing and able to quartersaw me wood from local lumber. 

[Texas Ranger]

Very nice!

[getoverit]

Beautiful craftsmanship!

I see that you drill the tenons all the way through the doors and then trim them later. Is there an advantage to doing this rather than just drilling them 3/4 through the door?

Is titlebond 3 the glue of choice or is there a better one?

[Texas Ranger]

Shot of the inside corner of top panel, with end of bottom panel showing as raised.  There is a relief for shadow effect between the top panel and the stiles and rails.

Glue up of bottom stile, with bottom panel set on top.

Our doors at a trade days.

the pale door left of center is one of the knotty pine going to a house where we build 15 doors like this.  The 4x8x inch and three quarters will weight over 200 pound each when finished with glass.  Making the front door a massive 400 pounds or better.

Getoverit, I use Tightbond 3

[scsmith42]

TR - nice work!  I like the Texas star's in the glass too.

SRT - that mahogany double entry door is spectacular!

Scott