Anyone made a custom front door???

[Jim VanBramer]

I'm toying with the idea of making a custom designed door for the front of my house. Has anyone out there done this, and do you have any pics/pointers for someone who hasn't???

Thanks.
Jim V

[Christopher Pine]

I have never done this but have allways thought it would be fun.. I bet it would be challenging for sure..

Look at these doors

http://www.doorwayswest.com/

Chris

[Jerry Clark]

WOW, Chris, those are beautiful doors! :) Thanks for the link, not ready to do anything like that!

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Beautiful doors! I have seen some nice work where I used to live in NM....another great door builder worked near the square in Santa Fe....beautiful hand carved creations.

[Mark Singer]

I have made many....and Ryan, my son, has designed several recently for homes he is designing...

[Scott Coffelt]

I've not yet, but have been really thinking about it for my house build.

[Jim VanBramer]

I have made many....and Ryan, my son, has designed several recently for homes he is designing...

Mark ... I truly admire the work you turn out. Do you have any pictures of the ones you've made, along with a process that you follow(I'd love to see a thread like you've done for your bed, etc.! ;) )?

Thanks.

[Frank Pellow]

I made one for the door of my workshop (and that's more important than my house). :D :D

See the thread: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=12565&page=1&pp=15

[Todd Burch]

I made this interior door a few months ago. It's for the john out in the shop. Home Depot (birdseye) pine. 3/4" pine fcae glued to make the frame, and planed to 1 3/8". The floating panel is 3/4" pine, beveled on both corners and splined together. It will eventually get a amber shellac finish. I haven't even sanded it yet. 26" wide and 7' 8" tall. An odd size, for an odd guy.

[Roger Barga]

I've been considering the same thing, especially since a buddy just bought a shaper and offered to let me use it. A couple suggestions...

Taunton press has a couple of books on the subject, which are really just a collection of papers from back issues. Still they are informative and you should be able to check these out through your local public library (if I could recommend them more highly then I'd suggest you buy them, but I think you would be better off just borrowing them for a quick read).

Try googling the topic "custom wood doors", etc. I found a website in which the woodworker details the construction of two or three door projects, each of which provided a fair bit of detail (step by step photos and explanations). If you can't find it, send me a PM and I'll dig through my notes to find the URL.

Mark, I second the request to see photos of your door projects. I really like your designs and craftsmanship.

Cheers,
Roger

[Brad Knabel]

The Feb. 05 issue of Woodwork magazine had a nice entry door made of mahogany. It looked like a really interesting project and might be worth a look if you can get your hands on a copy.

[Corvin Alstot]

I have seen the entry doors to the St. Agnatius Chapel in Seattle by Steven Holl and was very impressed by the design and execution. http://www.seattleu.edu/chapel/tour/procession/01.html
A custom front door can really create a powerful entry.

[Mike Cutler]

Jim. This isn't a front door, it's an interior door that I made a few years back. The door is made with 1 1/2" thick poplar, with the straightest grain I could find. All the joints are full length tongue and groove that are glued and screwed. the tongues were 3/4" thick. The stained glass panel floats inside of the door in a seperate frame.
For an exterior door I would think some allowance for shrink and swell would have to be made. Mark Singer had a post once on this, but I couldn't find it when I searched.
One thing that has to be factored in though is the door knob. The standard off the shelf door knob kit has specific dimensions associated with it. If you put in a glass panel remember to leave enough material between it and the jam for the door knob mechanism. In my case I was bound by the size of the panel and the size of the door opening. We had to find a "smaller" kit, and it still needed to be finessed.

[Dan Gill]

There is a WoodWorks episode about making a door. It looked like an interesting project to me.

[Kevin Post]

Fine Homebuilding had an article on constructing doors in the Dec. 2004 - Jan. 2005 Issue (168) that you might find helpful. The author sandwiched materials together rather than using thick stock to create a more stable door. I imagine it costs less to do it this way too.

See if you can find it at the library or you can buy the back issue from their website.

-Kevin

[James Miller]

I Have built doors using a book by John Birchard the book is called "Doormaking Patterns & Ideas" This is a very comepleat book on door making. It gives you 50 different patterns with dozens of modifiactions. It has step by step instructions with hundreds of illustrations. A color gallery of spectaculaar doors. This book covers every aspect of door making ,Instalation ,and some wardware The instructions for the door are rated level one level two and level three.The instructions are so good that it's not hard to work your way to level three.

The Book is by Sterling Publishing co of New York.

Did I say I love this book ? Great book

Jim

It turns out the book is out of print "1990" I just checked Barns & noble.com And thay have it used.

[Garry Smith]

Jim,

I made a paneled/glass door for my wife's garden shed not long ago and even though it is not the door you would make for your house the following pages will give you an idea of the construction. I took some pictures of the construction process along the way.

http://www.superwoodworks.com/Projects/Shed.htm and
http://www.superwoodworks.com/Projects/BiFoldDoors.htm
scroll down to the bottom of the pages to see the door constrution.

Garry

[Doug Cowan]

Here is a link to a site by a fellow named C. John Herbert, he has a very good walkthrough on building an entry door. I found it helpful when I built a 6 panel entry door for a storage shed a few years back. Good luck and don't forget to post pictures of the successful project!

http://www.cjohnhebert.com/index.htm

[James Miller]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[John Gregory]

Here is the door that David Marks did. The show will air again on April 16 on DIY network

[Mike Rachocki]

Long time lurker, first time posting.

Using quality material and tight joinery, building an entry door is not as daunting as one might expect. Honduran mahogany and white oak are my preference for exterior doors. Laminate stock for your thickness, don't rely on 8/4 & 12/4 material. I'll use quarter sawn material when I can get it. Quarter sawn mahogany is very cool looking.

A quality spar urathane or varnish is a must. My first choice is Waterlox, Zar exterior urathane is also very good. (Not their water base!)

I've gained a lot from lurking on this forum and now it's my opportunity to give something back. Let me know what specific questions you have and I'll do my best to answer them.

Here is a link to some of the doors we have built, hope that's o.k.
scobiscompany/doors.htm (http://scobiscompany.com/doors.htm)

Regards,

Mike Rachocki

[John A Jones]

My brother is a professional custom door & window maker for homes like John Grisham, Lionel Richie, etc.

Take a look at his website for ideas (pictures)!

http://www.DoorsByDecora.com

[Doug Cowan]

Mike and John J1, thanks for posting those links, I saved both for when I get around to doing a new front door. All I can say is, WOW!

[James Carmichael]

Long time lurker, first time posting.

Using quality material and tight joinery, building an entry door is not as daunting as one might expect. Honduran mahogany and white oak are my preference for exterior doors. Laminate stock for your thickness, don't rely on 8/4 & 12/4 material. I'll use quarter sawn material when I can get it. Quarter sawn mahogany is very cool looking.

A quality spar urathane or varnish is a must. My first choice is Waterlox, Zar exterior urathane is also very good. (Not their water base!)

I've gained a lot from lurking on htis forum and now it's my opportunity to give something back. Let me know what specific questions you have and I'll do my best to answer them.

Here is a link to some of the doors we have built, hope that's o.k.
scobiscompany/doors.htm (http://scobiscompany.com/doors.htm)

Regards,

Mike Rachocki


Mike,

LOML and I have been talking about building a custom entry door. I mentioned White Oak, but she wants it to match the pergola by the front porch, which is Western Red Cedar. Is WRC an acceptable exterior door material? I know it's decay-resistant, but how is it for stability?

Thanks,

James

[Jim VanBramer]

Thanks for all the great advice, information and website referrals. As always on this forum you guys have come through far better than I ever expected. (altho I must say I'm surprised Jim Becker doesn't have any example for us! ;) )

Thanks again and have a great weekend of woodworking!

Jim V

[Bob Worrel Jr.]

This was my first attemt at M&T jointery. It's a 6'x7' door between my shop and garage. I used barn door hardware to slide it. It allows me to open it enough to get in and out of the shop or open it all the way to bring larger projects into the garage for finishing. I included a shot from each side. I made it out of common pine 2x6's and AC plywood.:p

[Mike Parzych]

Mike.....

Also a Mike here...

I've been doing considerable research over the past year, as I would also like to build doors/entryway units. There are few if any people doing this is my area - the only source people have is the big box stores.

One thing I've noticed is that most suppliers have only 3 or 4 wood species that they offer. I'd like to offer more options, including exotics. I'd be offering them only based on stability of particular species, not across the board.

I haven't been able to find anything that would preclude many of the exotics. What are your thoughts on this?

[Mark Stutz]

Not to hijack this thread...but Welcome Mike Rachocki! :D What took you so long to jump in? :confused: :D Seriously, guys, I have seen his work and it is fantastic.

Mark