Replies

1. 
   Andrew_Kirk | Aug 31, 1999 07:54am | #1

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   Would it warp? Probably. If you could even get a flat piece of plywood to begin with. It sounds like you have skill enough to make cabinet doors, so why not do the frame-and-panel thing for your full size door, too? There was a great article in FHB a while back about door building. You can do it!

2. 
   Guest_ | Aug 31, 1999 07:55am | #2

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   Jay,

   I have made doors similar to what you describe. I took 3/8" plywood, cut it 3/16 less overall, than the door opening & edge banded. I then took 1 3/4" stock, and made a frame 3/4" larger than the panel. When the frame is layed over the panel and centered, I ended up with a door that appeared to have a 3/8" rabbet around the perimeter. It was easy, inexpensive, and used a hinge designed for a 3/8" door lip. Your method would result in a door that would be 1 1/8" thick, which would be pretty thick for a Shaker style design.

   Shaker style doors are about the easiest type of door to make in a traditional floating panel design, if you own a table saw and/or router table. Simply cut a 1/4" groove 3/8" deep on one side of your 1 3/4" or 2" stock(3/4" thick of course), on the table saw or router table. Calculate the length of your rails and stiles, remembering to add 3/4" to your rails to allow for the tenons.

   Now cut the tenons on the rail ends 3/8" x 1/4" deep on the table saw or router. Cut your panel a little undersized, so it floats in the groove you cut in the frame. Butter the tenons with glue, assemble the frame, being careful not to glue the panel in place, square the assembly up, and clamp.

   If your using 1/4" plywood for the panel, keep in mind that the paneling is slightly less than 1/4'. You can get router bits made specifically for this.

   The beauty of this method is that by making multiple passes you can do it with just a saw blade on the table saw, or the one router bit on the router table, and not have to invest in dado blades or more than one router bit.

   Hope this helps, John

1. 
   Guest_ | Aug 31, 1999 08:17am | #3

   *Jay, I just noticed I misunderstood your question. I was going to delete my answer, but since I am such a slow typist, I couldn't bear to see all that effort go to waste. Maybe it has a bit of info that could help someone searching this topic.Embarassingly, John

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 01, 1999 03:02am | #4

   *Andrew;Yeah I thought of building the door the good old fashioned way, but I've been put off by the quality of some lumber. A couple of years ago I was going to make a dutch door, so I bought a bunch of 5/4 pine for rails and stiles then let it dry for a month or so. Even though I started with enough lumber to make two doors, ultimately there was only enough good stuff to make one half of one door. The story has a happy ending, though. One of the high end home centers here was clearing out their floor samples and we got a $700 dutch door for $150 (my wife sure can haggle!) so I never got around to making the second half of the door I started.JRS: yes, I think you misunderstood what I wanted to do. This will be a full size, walk-through doorway to the pantry, and the door has to look good on both sides, so your method for making an overlay door wouldn't work here. 1-1/8 thick would actually be just about right.Let's see if I get any more suggestions before I start this one.Jay

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 01, 1999 05:02am | #5

   *Jay, Now that I understand the question, I would suggest using MDF(medium density fiberboard).It is available in a variety of veneers, or you can veneer it yourself. It is heavy, but stable. Just use it with the method you described.John

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 01, 1999 05:30am | #6

   *I've made a number of doors from pine and oak. I even made one that was oak on one side and walnut on the other. I have always glued up the frames out of 3/4" stock so that the doors are 1 1/2" thick at the frames. 3/4" is much easier to find in good quality than thicker stuff. I have pre-grooved the frames by rabitting the stock before lamination. You wouldn't blieve how easy mortise locks are to do when you cut for them before the stock is glued up. Panels can then be plywood or solid, raised panel or whatever.

2. 
   Guest_ | Sep 01, 1999 08:36am | #7

   *JRS;I've never worked with MDF. I've heard it makes troublesome dust and eats up carbide bits. Also, I'm only a 98-lb weakling, so a sheet of it probably weighs more than I do.Do you think I could trust MDF to hold the hinge screws? I have a feeling this will be a pretty heavy door if it's made with a 3/4 core of MDF, so I don't want the hinges to tear out.

3. 
   Mad_Dog | Sep 01, 1999 09:52am | #8

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   The MDF would be prohibitively heavy, not only for
   the finished product but also in the construction
   process. What about gluing up some poplar?

   MD (back hurts, carried some MDF recentl

4. 
   Guest_ | Sep 01, 1999 10:54am | #9

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   I made a basic door quite similar to the one you describe a few years back for my kids' playhouse. While it was paint grade, the technique could be similar.

   I took sufficient lengths of 2x6's and ran them through the table saw and planer to square the sides and bring them to uniform width and thickness. After marking them to length I layed out mortise/tenon joints. For the panel I used a dado blade to plow a 3/4inch square groove on the inside of the stiles and rails. The panel is made from 3/4" T-111. Since it was T-111 I glued the panel in place.

   Painted up, the door looks decent enough considering what it is. It's 32" wide and 6'6" tall. Been outside for 4 years, still dead-flat.

   I'd avoid using all-MDF doors. As Jay wrote, there is a history of hinge screw failures. The edges tend to get dinged up a bit too easily as well. Besides, this isn't a paint grade door, is it? Paint grade doors made using poplar stiles/rails and MDF panels are fairly common.

   I'll try posting a pic of the door. Haven't tried loading one before on Taunton's server, we'll see how many tries this takes...It worked!!

   Best of luck with your project.

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 02, 1999 12:27am | #10

   *Jay - If you can build cabinet doors, you can build walk through doors. Just enlarge all your dimensions. Probably want to use about 5" vertical rails (stiles?). I would suggest using kiln dried lumber or something that has gotton to at least 8% moisture content and stick with vertical grain stuff, it is much more stable. I have built many a door, and as long as you work with good material, and have a flat bench to glue it up on, you'll be OK. - jb

5. 
   Jeff_J._Buck | Sep 02, 1999 12:45am | #11

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   What kinda rent are ya askin' on the "play"house?

6. 
   Guest_ | Sep 02, 1999 03:54am | #12

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   Jay,

   This may not answer your question specifically but, it might help.

   Joseph Fusco

   View Image

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 02, 1999 04:47am | #13

   *Jay, the main advantage with MDF is its ability to stay flat and true. Solid core, full size doors usually have an MDF core with a pine outer frame, and a veneer cover. It's tough for a professional shop to make a large door like you describe, that doesn't warp. I've sent more than one back because it was warped.What kind of hinges will you be using? I usually use Blum style hinges. (I prefer the "clip" type, and they are available in 170 degree opening.) They are great, and work well with MDF, and are adjustable on all three axes, which can make a minor warpage disappear.You should be able to find a lumber yard that will cut your MDF(or plywood if you go that route) down to size for free, or a minimal amount. When you make your frame, make it from 1 1/8" stock and cut a 3/4x3/4 rabbit for the MDF. It will save you from edge banding, and create a solid wood perimeter if you need it for another type of hinge.John

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 02, 1999 05:43am | #14

   *Joe, I took a peek. The entire page is a bit messed up when I view it. Blame my browser if you'd like (IE4.0). I've got text overlapping text, pictures overlapping and obscuring text and other pictures.Looks like you went to a lot of trouble and put a lot of info there, though, nice effort.

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 02, 1999 05:57am | #15

   *You just want the first floor or the loft, too? It's amazing how quite my house can get when the kids are in their house.

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 02, 1999 07:32am | #16

   * Mongo,

   Sorry you had trouble reading the page. You will need IE5 but preferably Netscape 4.0 or better. Thanks for the comments.

   Joseph Fusco View Image

2. 
   Guest_ | Sep 03, 1999 06:37am | #17

   *JoeIt downloaded just fine for me. Looks like it might be very helpful. I'll have to print it out to keep it handy once I get to work on the doors.Honestly now, is your shop always that tidy?Jay

3. 
   Guest_ | Sep 03, 1999 06:42am | #18

   *MikeThanks; sounds like a good idea. Did you use any special glue to laminate the frame pieces back to back? Mine will be an interior door, so I guess regular water-based yellow glue will be ok.Pssst! Dont' tell anybody else I asked, but what exactly is a mortise lock?Jay

4. 
   Guest_ | Sep 03, 1999 03:22pm | #19

   *Jay I thind you are inviting a callback. I have had custom doors made for about 400$. I dont think i could build one for less. If the panels are your only problem buy a stock door. Carefully chisel out the moulding around the pannels on one side of the door and replace the panels with a flat plywood. and replace the moulding. I have done this to put glass in a door before. takes about 1 hour per panel.

5. 
   Guest_ | Sep 03, 1999 06:33pm | #20

   *Jay,I did this years ago using ordinary white or yellow glue. Mortise locks go into a mortised rather than a bored hole. I had a number of antique ones that I wanted to use. Normally you have to make the hole with a machine that is very costly or by hand. Doing this by hand involves drilling a series of holes and cleaning it up with a chisel. I was able to make the mortise with a dado head before the stiles were laminated. There is a special "goose neck" chisel for cleaning up the bottoms of the mortise. Mortise locks are still made as a very high end product.

7. 
   Guest_ | Sep 04, 1999 06:29am | #21

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   We're in the process of doing a complete kitchen renovation, and I'm planning to make the cabinet doors in a shaker style (flat panels, not raised panels) in pine.

   There will also be a full-size door to the pantry area. Our home centers here only have the standard raised panel doors, which are nice enough but will not match our shaker doors. I'm too cheap to order a custom door. I was wondering if I could make one, starting with a "core" of 3/4 knotty pine plywood, then applying an edge band and roughly 3/8 planks on both faces to simulate rails and stiles. The whole thing should end up with about the right thickness and heft of a real door.

   Has anyone else done something like this or have any suggestions or warnings? Might it warp? Will the plywood give me any grief when it comes time to drill for the lockset?

8. 
   Mike; | Sep 04, 1999 06:29am | #22

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   Mike:

   Oh, I get it. I thought maybe a mortise lock was a clever bit of wood joinery that I was supposed to know about.

   I can see what you mean about that kind of lock being a breeze to accommodate with your method of construction.

   Thanks again.