Advice on making a door

[Jay Jolliffe]

I've made maybe 40 doors in the past but never had to make one for under a stairway where the angle of the stairs clipped off the corner. It will be a 6'6x 2'6 door with the top rail that will go out 12" then it's cut at a 52degree angle....any Idea how to end the rail in the stile ? If I knew how to use sketch up I'd draw it but having a hard time figuring it out.

[Peter Quinn]

Run two parts for top rail, half lap the middle at the intersecting angle. (Bisect the angle). Glue that up. If lay it out full size on 1/4" MDF or cardboard. Then cut to length and cope the rail as normal, except one side will ride the fence at an angle, the other at 90 degrees as normal.

[lowell holmes]

Is this what your trying to do? If so, I would loft it full size on a sheet of plywood.286360


I would join the pieces with loose tenons.

I left out the mid rail and bottom rail

Actually, it is the same thing that Peter said.

[jack forsberg]

what i do is make a square door then fit a rail in your case at 52 degrees in the corner. Do what you do for your joints on a rail to stile for this angled one. glue up the door and cut the corner off even with 52 degree rail after glue up. Your top rail become the stile for the the 52 degree rail. Very strong scarf type joint that is just fine for an interior door with more than 2 rails under a stair.

[Jay Jolliffe]

I finished this about a month ago...Made from VGF. I wish I could say it was easy but it wasn't. First I had trouble with the router bits. Take care when you take them apart & keep track where all the shims go. I made a full size template of the opening & drew it all out on that. I used floating tenons & epoxy to put it together.
293492Details of the panels293493293494Little door beside it.293495

I'd like to know how you post bigger pics as I see in some of the posts...Least these didn't come out sideways as the first time I tried to do this.

[Mel Fulks]

Well, the router bits ARE more trouble to use than shaper type stuff but it is a nice looking job. I like to see the vertical casing taking all of the two vertical stile spaces, but I've seen them done your way too. The VGF can require a lot of tape and glue as it is prone to peeling ....but it is appealing !

[Peter Quinn]

Beautiful work, end result is great. The angles complicate everything. Holding parts that small can be a challenge too. Nice solution at the top rail. Bravo!

[Huck Schwee]

Very funny that you mentioned this. Here is a conversation on that subject on one of the YouTube channels I subscribe to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k_0eDjfqeA

[mreza Salav]

Looks great!

[John T Barker]

Bridle joint?

[Jay Jolliffe]

No Bridle joint. But joint with floating tenons & epoxy

[ed vitanovec]

Nice job! Are these just glued together or are there dowels used as well?

[Jim Mackell]

Nive work Jay! What is VGF?

[Peter Kelly]

Vertical Grain Fir.

Nice work on the doors btw.