Second batch of doors

[mreza Salav]

I started my second batch of interior doors, this batch is 12 doors (32" wide). The first run was a set of 5:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?205854-Building-a-few-interior-doors&highlight=

The details are the same as the previous ones, but I have found ways to speed up the process.
The first photo shows the stack of wood for doors and a bunch of other projects I have planned. Most of these have been moved
to my shop already. These photos are from back in Sept.

First milled all the rails/stiles and also have made the grooves for panels. I installed my power feeder on my Jointer/Planer and I tested tried it for the first time in this project. It worked wonderfully. I made joining those 8/4 long boards such a breeze I wish I had done it earlier. Here are a couple of short videos of it in action (sorry for bad quality, couldn't do better using my cell phone):


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy-A-hiPn1Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRTWM637bFM

And here it is mounted on the router table.:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZVh9I5VDgo


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Each door gets sixteen 1/2" dowels on each side (4 at the top, 5 middle, and 7 at the bottom rail).

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Glue up of each door was done in two stages as I don't have a helper and can't do it in one shot with 16 dowels in each side.
As with the previous batch, the 3/4" panels are also glued in the 1/2" deep grooves. Glue up of each door took about 2-2.5 hours.

[mreza Salav]

Here are all the 11 others glued up:

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Made all the moulding pieces (a couple of hundred) and started sanding the doors, cutting to size, and applying the mouldings.
Today I managed to finished 3 of them.

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Because of a small error in my calculations, all these doors are about 1/16" shy of 32". But that's Ok as I will be building the jambs myself. At least they are dead square (or I should say the difference of diagonals is less than 1mm as far as my tape measure can measure). So can make them to size these.

Hopefully I'll be done with these by next week and will start the final batch, which will be 14 more of various sizes (including 3 french doors).

[Charles Coolidge]

Are these for your own home or did someone order them? Love the power feed and nice work!

[J.R. Rutter]

Nicely done! Looks like a cozy shop space. How are you doing the doweling?

[mreza Salav]

Are these for your own home or did someone order them? Love the power feed and nice work!

Our own house that is being built. I am doing the interior doors, built the entry door, will do the cabinets, stair railing, trim/finish work, etc...


Nicely done! Looks like a cozy shop space. How are you doing the doweling?

by hand and a jig! :o If I started all over I'd buy the DF700. It's a no brainer for that many doors but I've passed the halfway mark already...

[Bill ThompsonNM]

I think if you are half way through you've earned the DF700 for the second half

[mreza Salav]

Well, this batch of 12 doors are all finished (and packed). I am really really running out of space.
I will start the 3rd batch (14 more, including 3 french doors) after I come back from holidays (in about a month!).

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[Mel Fulks]

Well done ,you are rolling ! Nicely stored ,too

[mreza Salav]

Thanks Mel. They are wrapped in poly at the end (not shown in the photos).

[Bob Falk]

mreza,
I have had the same thought about building doors for an addition to our historic home. I have about the same shop setup as you (shaper, jointer, powerfeeder, etc), so tools aren't the question. I am wondering, given all the other things to do on an addition/remodel if this is the place to handcraft?

Given all the effort and material costs, storage requirements, ete.....would you do this again? Do you have a sense of many hours you have put in each door? While I understand a door you build yourself will always be higher quality (and more special) than a factory built door, at what point does the effort exceed the outcome? I ask all this because I realize I can not handcraft every aspect of my house (unless I can somehow live to 120 years old) and need to strike a balance between putting in the detail work and actually finishing the project.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.

Cheers, bob

[mreza Salav]

Very good question Bob. They have been taking more time than I wanted (mostly because I've been busy with other things).
I have been a bit faster making these. I think it's about 10 hours (or less) per door now from rough lumber to finish sanded slabs.
It still needs more work (hinges, door handle, jambs). To be honest if I was going to start over I may or may not do it (I would give it serious thoughts).
Main reason is I'm not sure if I am delaying things because of this. I would like to do a whole bunch of things for the house, including cabinets for the kitchen + 5.5 baths + laundry room + closet built ins, and stair railings, and trim work. I have already built the entry door as well. The house is at the framing stage right now, so if I was not doing the doors I wouldn't be working on anything (cabinets can't be measured until drywall is up). So I am in a stage that have to rush things on my part so that the house isn't waiting for me.
It all comes down to whether you think you have the time and energy to do it. For me the difference in price vs buying would be around $15-20k. Is it worth all the efforts? Probably and I don't regret doing it (yet! :-)
Oh, if I was going to do it all over again I'd by the DF700.

[Victor Robinson]

Great stuff, these are looking great! I posted an interior doors thread a while ago, and I remember at that time you were planning for this. I still haven't started on my door project, but we're getting closer.

I just refinished a one panel door for our renovated bathroom, and boy stripping/sanding and replacing the molding was such a pain. I could have easily built a new door in the same amount of time, and it would look better.

What did you choose for the hardware?

[mreza Salav]

Great stuff, these are looking great! I posted an interior doors thread a while ago, and I remember at that time you were planning for this. I still haven't started on my door project, but we're getting closer.

I just refinished a one panel door for our renovated bathroom, and boy stripping/sanding and replacing the molding was such a pain. I could have easily built a new door in the same amount of time, and it would look better.

What did you choose for the hardware?

Not sure yet but probably these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004T3KF8G/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

[Bob Falk]

Very good question Bob. They have been taking more time than I wanted (mostly because I've been busy with other things).
I have been a bit faster making these. I think it's about 10 hours (or less) per door now from rough lumber to finish sanded slabs.
It still needs more work (hinges, door handle, jambs). To be honest if I was going to start over I may or may not do it (I would give it serious thoughts).
Main reason is I'm not sure if I am delaying things because of this. I would like to do a whole bunch of things for the house, including cabinets for the kitchen + 5.5 baths + laundry room + closet built ins, and stair railings, and trim work. I have already built the entry door as well. The house is at the framing stage right now, so if I was not doing the doors I wouldn't be working on anything (cabinets can't be measured until drywall is up). So I am in a stage that have to rush things on my part so that the house isn't waiting for me.
It all comes down to whether you think you have the time and energy to do it. For me the difference in price vs buying would be around $15-20k. Is it worth all the efforts? Probably and I don't regret doing it (yet! :-)
Oh, if I was going to do it all over again I'd by the DF700.

Thanks for the honest appraisal and for sharing your beautiful work. I have also thought about kitchen cabinets, but have decided to purchase (I did contemplate having all the drawers and boxes built and only doing the fronts). I will do the trim in our house which has some detailing I can only duplicate with custom knives. I use a my Woodmaster, which is great, but already that is a big job. I will likely focus on getting the kitchen and baths finished first, so my marriage stays intact. bob