installing recessed pulls in pocket door
Megunticook
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
I have some metal recessed door pulls for some double pocket doors and am scratching my head a bit on the best approach to installing these. The doors are solid pine; the pulls are metal with an eighth-inch or so flange around the perimeter. Inset is probably about a half inch deep.
Obviously you’d first want to trace around the outside of this flange onto the wood with a pencil. But what tool is going to work best for creating the recess in the wood for the pull to be seated in? Router? Running a router “freehand” seems a bit dicey, especially as my router is fairly large. Chisel? Or am I missing something?
Thanks.
Replies
I guess you dont have a rotozip.
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What type of pulls do you have? Like the either of the ones attached?
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Use an adjustable auger. Irwin makes a good one. I have one that I cut the tine off of so that I can use it in a power drill [ on a low speed ].Or just pull out the bit brace.
Yeah, I don't trust freehanding a router either. I've made a template from MDF, and used a template guide in the router. Works like a champ. You can clamp the template to the door without ever removing the door from the opening. That's sometimes good because in some installations you must remove trim casings to get the door out.
The one time I installed these, I took a really simple approach. In fact, it never occurred to me that there might be a better way (although I'm sure there is).
I used a spade bit to create a hole big enough so that I could lay the door pull against the door edge. Then, I mortised a recess (using a chisel) for the door pull to set into. That's how I typically mortise locksets. Next, I operated the pull to determine where I needed to make a second hole with a spade bit. A utility knife and chisel cleaned up the deeper recesses so the door pull operated cleanly.
If I had a dozen of these to do, I would try and find a quicker technique, but 20 minutes each for 2 doors was pretty easy.
-Don
Put some tape on the door edge and draw a centerline. Turn the pull around, put the face flat against the door edge with the screw holes lined up on the center line. Mark the holes, poke the marks w/ an awl, drilll pilot holes.
Screw the pull to the door and carefully trace around it with a sharp utility knife.
Every pull I've ever installed had instructions for a drilling pattern, since you've never done this before, use the pattern to mark off a series of holes. I like to use brad point bit, but anything will work.
Take a chisel & mortise out in between the knife scores for the face plate.
Do a little chisel tweaking where the spring for the handle sticks up.
For the side pulls, there's usually no morticing, just a few holes with a forstner bit. Again, follow the pattern.