Last monday I started a fixout on a new house for a new boss. On Monday night my boss tells me that the owner wants me to hang all the doors without touching them with the plane..electric or handplane. This jarred me and I am now learning a new technique, which I probably won’t use again.
How do you guys feel about this technique? I personally don’t like it.
Replies
Tell them then that any discrepany is a result of un-level floors, settling, walls out of plumb, improper rough openings, etc.
On top of that, tell them that any door with a good, small-gap fit in the jamb will NOT be relieved/beveled at the opening edge with a plane.
Sounds like the homeowner thinks the tricks of a finishing carpenter are to cover thier own transgressions and not those of the folks that came before them or the natural discrepancies that can arise from working with wood.
It wouldnt set well with me .
Tell me what you want done . But how I go about it ???? I dont think so.
Tim Mooney
What !! no axe in the toolbox?
I am Not sure by the way your question is written, but are you hanginging Pre-hung doors in New construction?
"I was born in the country, razed in the city, I'm a natural born shaker from my hips to the ground"
I hope you don't have to plane a prehung door. LOL If you have to take any off the bottom use a circ.saw."I was born in the country, razed in the city, I'm a natural born shaker from my hips to the ground"
Be careful cutting too much off with a circ saw. If you're talking about needing to clear a large difference in finish floor heighth like a tile floor with backer or something you migh need to take quite a bit off. If that is the case, and it's a hollow core door, you may only have about 1 1/2" of solid wood at the bottom of the door. It is a pretty easy task to delaminate the finish skins and re-use the solid piece and use it again. Glue it in place, and if you need to hang it right away hold in place with a couple of small finish nails on the least viewed side.
Whenever I take out old doors that will be trashed I now cut the bottoms off of some of them and take the solid bottom piece out and hang on to it to save time down the road. Some modern 1 3/8" doors use a particle board piece at the bottom, others use solid fir or pine. Additionally many doors use a zig-zagging piece of 1/4" stock throughout the door to support the outter skins and give some rigidity. If you've ever wondered why modern doors are so light, you'll know once you open one up.
Yeah I agree with you on that. Good idea about the saving the bottoms. I have made new pieces to insert from stock on a table saw too. You can't really do that on the hinge side. Make sure you score the line before cutting with the circ. saw. Set your blade too or it will blow out the topside when your cutting
"I was born in the country, razed in the city, I'm a natural born shaker from my hips to the ground"
Right you are above setting the blade. On nicer solid core doors I will often put tape on both sides of the door and mark my cutting line right on the tape, and of course will use a straight edge also. The tape seems to eliminate poor cuts.
Edgar, next time you have to cut a door to height try this. Clamp straightedge , set blade for about 3/8" cut. PULL saw backwards against straightedge, then set blade for full depth and push saw as you normally would. Tape and or scoring is not neccessary, you have scored with the first pass.I have used this method for many years, always works. Especially good for plastic laminate doors.
So your making 2 passes, makes sense. i'll have to try it , ( on some scrap, not that i don't trust you LOL )
I use the straight edge the way I do it, and the tape is good too.
I think the point should be made if it is not obvious that this is an across the Grain cut, And that is the reason for all the fuss. "I was born in the country, razed in the city, I'm a natural born shaker from my hips to the ground"
Doesn't everybody here have a home made door cutting jig with them every where they go? I never have to pre-score a door skin. I just clamp at the cut line and cut.
How's about a pic there webtrooper?"I was born in the country, razed in the city, I'm a natural born shaker from my hips to the ground"
I ran across that tip a year os so ago...and have cut many doors since......works like a charm. For luan hollow core...I set the blade even shallower on the back/score pass.
Have done this on both solid and hollow.....worked great on either. Jeff.......Sometimes on the toll road of life.....a handful of change is good.......
If the DH customer doesn't want the door cut out of square at the top to accomadate a poorly hung frame i'm with him. If the stupid bastard thinks doors don't need beveled edges then he is a moron. I still maintain beveling the hinge edge of the door is the single best tip I've gleaned from BT. Every year i get paid to bevel p-lam veneered teller row gates that a cabinet guy always builds square edged. After said cabinet guy is gone the client figures out his gate doesn't work and hires me to fix it.
joe d
No, Edgar, these are not pre hung doors. They are hollow core doors with butt hinges on meranti jambs. We started off with craftwood jambs. but after a couple of doors, the owner decided he didn't like craftwood jambs, so we tore them out and started again with meranti.
Sounds like an office , or some type of commercial Installation. with that mahogany look.
Well just remember you have 2 sides to a door . One edge is tapered the hinge side is not. Generally speaking any time you. Take wood of the edge of a door, It comes off the hinge side.
I don't know what you need to take off. But remember , If your lucky you only have 2 1/2 of style on either side. I wood be reluctant to take of much more than 3/4" off the hinges side. you could compromise the structure
If you must, cut the bulk with a circular saw. Take it down to the line with your plane. If your not set up for this type of operation, Your biggest challange will be clamping the door on edge. without Damaging it.
I like to take a block plane an ease the corners. Just like factory. Make sure it is sharp, or you could splinter the meranti. it will also keep it from splintering later with use."I was born in the country, razed in the city, I'm a natural born shaker from my hips to the ground"
One other thing; the frames are steel.
Hollow core doors in steel frames?
Kinda like parking a rusted out Pinto in climate controlled garage!
TDo not try this at home!
I am a trained professional!
So since when does the homeowner tell you how to do your job?
Are you going down to his workplace and telling him how to do his job?
What's with your boss? Doesn't he have a handle on the homeowner?
Metal jambs inside with hollow core slab doors?
Just do as they ask. It's not worth the argument.
It's their bed, let them lie in it if there is any trouble with the doors closing or uneven reveals.
Most pre-made metal frames will accept a commercial grade door without needing any bevel.
Ed. Williams - GACC Dallas
I've hung dozens of pre-hung doors and never had to plane even one. However, the bottoms may need to be cut off. OTOH, fitting a blank door into an existing jamb... I'd say it likely won't be done without some edge trimming of some type unless the doors were custom ordered and measured REAL WELL ahead of time.
call your plane a "surfacer", yeah, that'll do it.
no turn left unstoned
geez, i hope the doors fit. it'll be a real joy to re-size the metal frames. if it makes you feel any better, next time you look at the homeowner think to yourself "why the hell does this jerk want metal frames in his house? is he putting a drop ceiling in his dining room? how about flourescent lights in the den?"
ditto everyone questioning this guy telling you how to do your job. if he knows so much, why is hiring a contractor? but i also agree that it's not worth the hassle of not doing what he wants.
> it'll be a real joy to re-size the metal frames....
Try one of those porta-power hydraulic sets from the body shop business. ;-)
-- J.S.