We’ve been gradually rehabbing our 1936 cape, and I thought I would try my hand at exterior door building. I’d built some cabinetry out of red birch (heart yellow birch)and really liked it, so I decided to do the doors with the same.
A small problem was that I could only get red birch stock in 4/4 thickness, so the door was going to have to be made of multiple plys. In the end, this will make for a stronger, more stable door, but I did have to spend some time thinking about and researching how to build it. I eventually settled on a hybrid design based primarily on a door construction article in an old FHB.
I actually built 2 doors, one for the side entry off the kitchen, and the front entry door. The idea was to refine my techniques on the simpler side door first, and then tackle the front door.
At the time, I hadn’t thought of posting about this, so I didn’t take as many pictures as I would have liked. Most of the process pictures I have are of the side door, but you’ll get the idea. The only thing I changed with the front door was the design.
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I started with kiln dried rough sawn stock, and tried to choose relatively straight and flat boards. Even so, they obviously weren't perfect and would need some jointing and planing.
My first problem was that I only had a 6" jointer, so I built this sled to run through my planer. I'd lay my rough sawn stock flat on it and slide thin shims under any gaps due to slight cupping or twisting. This kept the rollers from pushing the boards flat and allowed me to joint one side.
After dimensioning all of my stock and cutting / ripping it to size, I assembled each side of the door like a giant face frame with pocket screws and glue.
I made the lower door panels by sandwiching 3/4" foam between 2 layers of red birch plywood and glueing it all together with polyurethane adhesive.
The doors are constructed with 2) 3/4" sides made of red birch, with rails and stiles intersecting as you would expect, and a center core of solid 1/4" pine cross lapped fully across the joints. The window and lower panels are set into rabbits in the 2 frames. The whole kit and kaboodle is sandwiched together with generous amount of tite bond 3.My theory on the glue up was that if I made a dead flat assembly table, and then clamped the whole works evenly to it, my doors would end up nice and flat as well.
Before it was all assembled, I ran a bead of clear exterior silicone around the rabbits for the window and panels so they were well sealed.Hero or Goat day!
oops, I forgot to size these down...
Out of the clamps, square and true... time to clean up the edges
The finished front door! I know it's a little weird with all the process pictures of the side door and the final of the front, but it's the best I've got.
Excellent job And such a clean shop. I'm jealous. I haven't seen my shop floor in months, years, maybe.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
Very very nice.
How did you finish the doors?
Do you have stops for your glass? Not sure how you assemblied the glass in the door.
The finish is one of my favorites, it's a tung oil / poly blend by General Finishes. It's pretty clear, seems tough, and the tung oil adds a nice bit of warmth.The total door thickness is a standard 1 3/4". 3/4" for each side of red birch and 1/4" for the center. You can see the edge of the assembled door in one of the pictures where I'm planing the edges. You basically have a 1/4" thick through tenon at all the joints...not very thick but since it's the full height and width of the joint the total surface area is huge. I did a test of this with some scrap pieces of wood where the joint was only about 3" x 3", and it was almost impossible to break. My doors have 6 or more such joints and the bottom rail to side stile joint area is about 5 1/2" x 9"!The rabbits for the window glass and lower panels are in the birch frames only, and then the pine center pieces are just cut smaller to fit around the glass and panels. I went back and forth about how the window is installed...there are no stops. The window was installed as part of the glue up, so if it ever breaks, replacing it is going to be a bitch. But I figure if it ever happens, I can route out one side of the birch frame to the window edges, clean it out, install a new window, and then make some stops for the reinstall. Does that make sense? Maybe I'll regret it, but it gives me a cleaner look than using stops would have.Basically the glue up went like this...Place first frame face down the the assembly table...put bead of silicone around the rabbits for the window and panels...set in window and panels...roll glue onto entire backside of frame...place precut pine center pieces into place and pin nail with a few 5/8" brads so they don't slide around...roll glue onto entire surface of pine center pieces...put bead of silicone into rabbits of second birch frame...carefully lower frame into place...line up all the edges and place clamping culls (sp?) over door...clamp the heck out of the door.On the lower panels, I actually used 1/2" foam, so the total panel thickness is 1", this leaves a 3/8" depth from door face to panel face on each side. The window glass panel I had made was 3/4" thick.Here's a couple more pics of the window edges close up and the door edges...
Excellent work.
I have a few q's tho..
How long has this been in service?
And can you elaborate on the "Red Birch: plywood skins"
I just have a gut feeling, you've built a time bomb.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
The side door, about 1 year; the front door about 2 months. The only thing that is plywood are the lower recessed panels. You can see how they were made in one of the pictures...It's kind of like a panel for a rail and stile cabinet door, except that I needed them 1" thick. So I thought, why not use a rigid insulation filler so that they add a little efficiency? I know that with all of the rest of the parts being solid, it doesn't make much difference, but it seemed a reasonable solution.Is there anything else that gives you pause?
Yeah, I am concerned of the Ply wood not being an exterior type glue in it's layup..I feel you are relying on the finish applied to thwart delamination.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
PL to glue the skin to the foam and most hardwood plys us Resourcinol-type stuff as the glue...I bet he'll be fine.
Maybe just me, but the skins on Birch ply are face =really thin, back= thin.
I'd not ever consider it.
thats me, tho'..YMMV.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
I was a little concerned about that also, but both doors are underneath big overhangs and rarely see any moisture.
Hey, it's al cool..I build in repairabilty / replacement in everything I do.
I see issues. That's just an observation and not spoiling your craftsmanship.
Please. take it for that only.
I've been wrong before.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
Hey, I don't take it personally in the least. These were my first doors ever and I'm sure there are lessons to be learned from them that I don't even know about yet. You've got me wondering though...I'm thinking about calling my hardwood supplier and asking about the glue type in the plywood, but for these doors at least, I'm not sure I want to know. If it's not a resourcinol type glue, it's not like I'm going to take the doors apart now. Unless they start failing, I might be better off operating under the principle of ignorance is bliss...Are there any other things that you think might be problematic?
I think as long as you keep the finish up to snuff,and don't have a lot of nasty weathering, you'll be OK. For as long as ANY wood door would be lasting.
Very nice work, and I wish you the best with the long life span.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
maybe don't put a storm door on. I've seen the crappy plastic trim around the glass in steel doors break because of heat buildup
Sphere, timebomb?
What is your concern?
Are you concerned that the alternating grain between the birch door frame and the pine core and with shrinkage of the birch the frame will open up?
I have fears that the birch plywood panels are not layed up with ext glue. Not HIS laminations, the factory glue.
If a breach in the finish happens , or extreme exposure to sun ( as in behind a storm door) heating, I could see the plywood delaminating..because, it has happened to me when I made the same mistake.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
Duane,
I am with you on this one. Been there done that for me too.
If I am making an exterior door I glue up stock and bevel or shape the edges for the required thickness.
Chuck Slive, work, build, ...better with wood
Funny how some mistakes stay stuck in your mind and never are repeated..then the odd ball ones crop up more than once..LOL.
I had a complete ClusterF on a cedar basementwindow well cover because I used the right glue( Rescourcinal) but the wrong joint..Butts and biscuits..the glue never swelled the biscuits and the whole thing was a mess..
As to this issue, I made a windtrunk for an organ that was near sweating cold water pipes in a humid summer..the drips caused the ply wood to delam. and lose the miters..air leaks galore..and the organ would starve when the bellows couldn't catch up from the blower...all because I used interior grade plywood, and it was inside, but got wet.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
averagejoe, thank you very very much for your detailed response to my questions.
One more. You used silicone to set the windows. It seems to me people ahve mentioned using some kind of rubber spacers to insure that the window is centered and can expand properly. Did you just assume the silicone will allow for expansion?
I made the rabbits about 1/4" wider on each side than the window to allow for some expansion room, and then just carefully centered the glass when I set it into the bottom frame. I tried not to go crazy with the silicone, just enough to ensure a good seal but not so much as to inhibit movement.The muntins are just thin solid birch, carefully cut to fit. I hand cut half lap joints at the intersections and glued them together before putting them into the door. For the side door, where everything is straight, I used a clear, two sided adhesive tape that I got from the company that made my glass. For the front door, with the curved muntins, tape obviously wouldn't work (I couldn't get a roll wide enough to cut a curved piece out of) so I used a clear exterior adhesive (Ultima I think?)that is not supposed to yellow with UV exposure. I tried it first with a piece of wood on some scrap glass I had laying around, and boy does that stuff hold! Here's a lesson I learned the hard way though. Since I didn't plan well enough to have spacers put into the glass, you can see the backside of the muntins if you look at an angle through the glass. So for the front door I think, hey, I'll just finish the backside of the muntins before I put them on, and they'll look a little nicer. Well, for the adhesive to set, it needs some amount of air. And since it wasn't going to get it through the glass or through the wood with finish on it, it can only come from the edges. But the edges cure first, and so it can't come from there. Long story short, even though I had left the clamps on for 3 days after I set the muntins in the adhesive, (I was busy with other things), when I took the clamps off the muntins slid around when I pushed on them, and I was able to pull them right off. The adhesive was still very squishy. After cleaning the glass with a razor acraper, and removing the finish of the backside of the muntins with a cabinet scraper, I reset them in new adhesive and a day later they were rock solid.Not a catastrophic mistake, but kinda of a PITA.
Edited 3/10/2008 8:37 pm ET by averagejoe
averagejoe, not to scare you but on another thread I had asked about making your own fixed paned windows. Responders said sure, but don't use silicone as it distroys the seal on the glass. Have you ever heard such a thing? Secondly they recommended using rubber shims to keep the glass from rubbing at teh bottom. In your case I would think the chaulk is good enough (if it does not distory the seal) since the glass pane is relatively light weight.
Nicely done. Thanks for sharing.
"I never met a man who didn't owe somebody something."
thank you very much for sharing
Beautiful, thanks for sharing!!!!!!
average joe my a##,that is some fine work,my man
Very nice work - thanks for sharing!
I'd hoped you would do something after I saw the pics in the finger-jointed siding thread. As someone else said, far above average.
Now how about a thread on the front porch :-)
I'll try to do a front porch post soon...I just got the steel brackets I had made for the post bottoms and house connections last week. I'm actually hoping to put in the permanent posts today. I know in the picture you saw you must have thought that those temporary 2 x 6's holding the whole thing up looked sweet, but sorry to say they are getting replaced by some 7" x 7" doug fir posts. Here's a few teaser pics...
Ok a bit of step by step questioning, if you don't mind.
1. Did you add a layer of 1/4 pine to each of the two 3/4 inch thick sides, or just one layer in between the two?
2. So what is the over all thickness of the door?
3. You say you layed your panels and glass in rabbits. Were those rabbits basically cut into the pine? (THinking out loud here) But your panels were . . . what 1 & 1/4 inche thick (3/4 foam and two peices or 1/4 ply) so your rabbit was in both the pince and birch, right?
4. Still trying to figure out your glass stops?
very beautiful.
Hey, nice work! I need to build a new door for my shop and have been figuring on using the same method as you.
Mike
Averagejoe, any comments on how you built your muttons, if that is what you call your dividers to divide your glass? And did you glue them to the glass?