The Door Project

[Rick Gauthier]

Finally got it done and installed. Solid cedar, light stain and polyurethane. Pardon the lousy photography. The interior shot is the actual color of both sides.

[Charlie Jones]

Impressive. I need to tackle a door sometime.

[Jim Kountz]

Thats a mighty fine looking door unit!! Looks great!!

[Bruce Page]

I love the style.

[John Keeton]

Rick, the door came out great. I really like the color and finish. When you say cedar, I assume that is something different from our eastern or western cedar. It really finished out nicely - good design as well.

[Neal Clayton]

I love the style.


i'm thinking the same thing.

the spikes are just the right touch of gothic to an otherwise spanish mission type style, which when you think about it from a art history standpoint and look at rick's location, is perfect.


very well done.

[Jarrod McGehee]

wow that's a hefty sucker. Beautiful door though.

[John Thompson]

Agree with John K. on the finish. I have never seen cedar as I know it come out like that. Fantastic IMO really. Nicely done on build and finish.

How did you pull off the finish if I may ask?

Sarge..

[Rick Gauthier]

Thanks all for the compliments.
The wood is 'cedro amargo' AKA "Cedrela odorata L.

It is heavier than eastern or western US cedar. There is an even heavier cedar here called cedro maria, which I hardly ever use, my planer blades hate it.

I bought the tree near Paso Canoas and had it sawn into planks 15" wide (would have gone wider but my planer is only 15"), in 1 3/4" and 2 1/2" thickness, then took it to the kiln in San Isidro (150 miles) after three weeks in the kiln, back to my shop (70 miles), where we stickered it for a month with fans to equalize with our local humidity. Three of us, (me, Arsenio and Rudy) worked on the door for about a month, well we did other stuff as well, but there's about 400 man hours in it. The detail sanding was difficult and exasperating. I fussed with the stain mixture for a few days finally getting what I wanted, then we shot it with four or five coats of clear 2 part polyurethane. 280 grit sanding between coats. We could only shoot in the morning before 7AM for the heat and hunidity.

[Neal Clayton]

that's more motivation than i have ;).

i only get up before 8 when i have equipment rented that needs to be used and returned in the same day, heh.

[Dewey Torres]

Doors are not easy. Very fine job and I hope it serves you for many years to come.

[scott spencer]

Wow! That's incredible! Beautiful job!

[Mark Valsi]

Exceptional ! Job well done !!