Advice needed on building entry doors

[Paul Steiner]

I am completing first set of projects on my fixer upper house and I am planning my next endeavors. I would like to replace all the interior doors with solid core 4 or 6 panel doors. The house needs 10 interior doors of various sizes and before I proceed I need some advice.
1. Can anyone recommend a bit set? I have looked at the freud sets and amana sets. Do I need the freud set with the panel cutter?
2. Everything is interior and will be painted so I was thinking of using pine. WIth pine how big of a problem will warpage and shrinkage be? Do I need to laminate the pine to an inner layer of mdf or hdf to keep things straight?
3. If I use the cope and stick method do I need mortise and tenons?
Thanks for the advice.

[Gary Redden]

If I was in you shoes I would probably get this set http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/rail_and_stile_router_bits2.html#entry_door_cutter s_anchor . I would also use poplar over pine as it has a straighter grain takes paint really well without shows too much of the grain pattern through like pine would. If you get the above mentioned bit set, it will make the mortise and tenons for you. This all of course assumes you also have a router table.

Good luck with your project and post some pictures of your project as you move along with it.

Gary

[lowell holmes]

Check Infinity as well.

I purchased Norm's tape for building an entry door.

I suggest you view that tape. He changed my mind on a couple of things. The primary thing is about the use of loose tenons and also 1/2" panel grooves.

I am still going to use cope and stick techniques. I can do that and use loose tenons.

I have a shaper. I bought the Infinity cutters.

[Paul Steiner]

Gary thanks for the tip on the mlcs bits. FYI I have a pc 7518 (3hp) router in a NYW router table. I have an over arm router so loose rounded tenons will probably be the way I go. If you were going to go with poplar would laminate a substrate in the middle of the rails, stiles, and panels?

[scott vroom]

I've never made interior doors so I'm not qualified on giving you advice on how to do it. I would have 2 concerns:

1) Keeping the finished doors perfectly square and flat (a concern you expressed in the original post)

2) I would be hesitant to profile 1-3/8" rails and stiles on a table mounter router; this is a job better suited to a HD shaper that is designed to remove large volumes of wood and that has a heavy duty hold down/power feed feature.


For $200-300 you can buy a quality solid wood 5 panel pre-hung door. Depending on the material you select, you're going to be >$100/door on material cost. Is it worth your time/tooling expense to make vs buy?

[Gordon Eyre]

I can understand building a quality solid core exterior door, especially one that is varnished but not sure I understand putting your efforts into interior doors. Especially when very good pre-hung interior doors are readily available at a reasonable price. Sorry I appear as a wet blanket. I use high quality Jesada bits for my raised panel work.

[David Kumm]

I have made lots of entry doors and would hesitate to use a router table. Profiling a double sided cut needs a pretty stout machine and holddowns. It is cost effective to make hardwood quality doors but painted pine will cost you in tooling and labor for something you can buy fairly cheaply. I use floating mortises- 2.5 to 3" with double where possible. Most purchased doors will be dowel construction. Not great but better than cope and stick which aren't good enough to handle the weight and stress. There is a lot of labor in a door. I would only spend the time and money to make something special. Dave

[Paul Steiner]

I knew there would be nay-sayers when I posted this thread and I completely understand your concerns. I think equally there are woodworkers that want to build their own doors. Here is my rationale for doing this:
First for material my initial estimates are less than $50 a door for white pine and I am fine paying more than that. You can throw out any labor costs its my hobby I enjoy the work.
Next I live in the land of suburban cookie cutter houses with all features furnished from the local BORG. I want my house to be different I want it to have accents that POP! Building my own doors will let me add those accents. I have seen door designs with arched panels, or T&G panels that look great even if painted.
Most important my wife has said no more furniture until further notice. Our house needs doors, she wants doors, I am making doors.
My plan is to start in the kitchen with 2 18" pantry doors. They see the most use in the house. I am going to build those out of poplar or pine and see how they perform over a period of time. If I am happy with the doors I will move on to the rest of the house.

[David Kumm]

I hear you Paul. Make sure the pine is kilned down to 10-12% at least. What you buy in the home center is likely to be higher and that will really screw up the door after you hang it. Given your determination, I would get cutters that work face down so you can do each side separately and reference off the table leaving the tongue and groove as the adjustment point. Make a really good sled and be sure to maintain perpendicular as the cutter will want to move the cope part. Just a little error makes for a door out of square more than you think and the error always seems to compound rather than nullify. Most cutters will allow for a 3/8 tenon. I would try to find a 5/8 or use the table saw to deepen the groove. The panel will move- especially pine and a 5/8 groove with a few pieces of 1/4 OD tubing stuck in the grooves will center the panel and still allow for a 3/8+ tongue on the panel and allow for expansion. You need to decide on the rail stile attachment. There are bits that allow for the cope cut to be made with a long tongue so you can mortise and fit. For paint grade poplar is better, soft maple is better yet. Good luck. You will appreciate the doors everytime you use them- of course you will be the only one. Dave

[John TenEyck]

Good on you. Build them yourself. You'll learn a lot and can take pride in the result. I'd recommend poplar as well as it machines and finishes much nicer than pine, and MDF is beautiful for flat or raised panels that will be painted, and is really cheap (and stable) compared to solid stock. I'd use loose tenons for the joinery as it's strong and easily cut with nothing more than a router and a shop built jig. You don't need cope and stick cutters to have the look either, if you don't want to spend the money. Just use whatever router bit you like then cut 45's where the routed profiles meet at the stile/rail joints. Good luck.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

I live in the land of suburban cookie cutter houses with all features furnished from the local BORG. I want my house to be different I want it to have accents that POP!

$100 solid 6 panel from HD will give you the time to make something REALLY special for the entry.

[Peter Scoma]

I've made many doors. The most challenging, and the first doors I actually made were 2, 6 panel, carriage doors for my shop to replace the overhead door. I think its great that you want to make some doors. Here is some solid advice.

#1) buy the set of Freud cutters. Initially I was hesitant to lay out 200$ but they are worth every cent. The cutters disassemble to make the tenons and chopping the mortises are easy. They also come with a thorough DVD to explain how to use them as well as some tricks/techniques to use to for optimal performance.

#2) Use poplar over pine. Takes paint better and is an easier wood to work for this application.

#3) You can use a router table but you must build some serious work support. If the piece you are working jumps 1/8 of an inch you can go ahead and scrap it as the profile will be seriously off (on both sides obviously). I didn't have the option of purchasing a shaper for my small shop but did waste a good bit of lumber before learning the importance of good outfeed support for doormaking.

Other than that, best of luck to you,

Peter

[Paul Steiner]

Mike I already made something special for the entry. This is an inlay that is in the center of our foyer, I painted the door this past spring it will last for at least another 5 years. I love the inlay it looks great, guests love it, then they get to hang their coats in a closet with a flimsy hollow core door. I figure I will give the interior doors a try and may be the front door down the line.

205787

[Clarence Miller]

call me old fashioned but I always used 1/2 dowels instead of loose tenons.

[David Kumm]

The problem with dowel construction for doors is the actual glue area on a 1/2 inch dowel is about 3/8 and the door is hanging off the ones on the hinge side. Three dowels are more work than one loose tenon and still less than half as effective. If using tenons make life easier and oversize the length a little to make squaring up the door and adjusting the stiles go better. Particularly when using a center rail it is easy to get all done and realize the vertical middle pieces don't quite line up. You will see that for the rest of your life. I generally don't mortise and tenon the middle rail as the a good structure on the outside ones provide the strength. Dave