Beveling interior doors without a planer? Festool saw?

[Steve Carbone]

I will be installing 20 interior doors in existing jambs this month. I was wondering if there is an alternative to a power planer for putting the 3 degree bevel on the latch edge of the doors? Will a straight edge and circular saw set at 3 degrees do the trick? Tru Grip makes an 8 foot self clamping straight edge I,ve had my eye on. Also, someone on the Festool Owners Group over at Yahoo said they saw Tom Silva cutting and beveling doors with the Festool plunge cut saw and guide rail setup on Ask This Old House. Any Festool owners have care to weigh in? I,m open to any and all suggestions. Thanks.

[Matt Tawes]

Hey Steve,

This sounds like an excuse to purchase a new tool:D
Yes, the Festool will do this perfectly and chip free as will the EZ smart guide and a circular saw (I have a Festool TS55 and use it for a multitude of tasks though mostly for working with sheet goods). But thats a pretty expensive tool nonetheless. However, as you mentioned the clamp guide or any straightedge for that matter and circular saw with good blade will do the trick fine.

[Steve Carbone]

Thanks Matt. And you,re right by the way. I'm always looking for a good excuse to buy a new tool.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

20 is not to many to do with a hand plane.
It'll be a tad more work but not much. You will carry a lighter tool than a power tool and in either case you still have to run it across the edges of all the doors. It'll also leave a better edge than a saw blade.
Of course the doorsshould pay for the FesterTool kit so it may be a wash on the effort side with an up side on the tool purchase unless you 'd prefer to hold on to the money.

[Mark Singer]

I use a hand plane , more control and with the LV you can angle the fence

[Frank Pellow]

I have a Festool circular saw and rail and it could be used, but I would probably use a hand plane for this job.

[Todd Davidson]

Hi Steve ~

Welcome to the Creek!

Some form of guided circular saw will work, but this is what I use to fit doors. Porter Cable sells them as the Porta-Plane

[Dan Clark]

I will be installing 20 interior doors in existing jambs this month. I was wondering if there is an alternative to a power planer for putting the 3 degree bevel on the latch edge of the doors? Will a straight edge and circular saw set at 3 degrees do the trick? Tru Grip makes an 8 foot self clamping straight edge I,ve had my eye on. Also, someone on the Festool Owners Group over at Yahoo said they saw Tom Silva cutting and beveling doors with the Festool plunge cut saw and guide rail setup on Ask This Old House. Any Festool owners have care to weigh in? I,m open to any and all suggestions. Thanks.

I have the TS55. It's a great saw. That plus the Guide Rail should work well for beveling the door.

OTOH, you will probably still have to hand plane anyway. So that's a consideration.

Finally, what will you do about dust control? With the TS55 plus a Festool DC, you can probably do the work indoors. If the DC doesn't work well (DC is an issue with some other products), you may be forced to drag the door in an out of the house to trim it.

One thing... If this project is a good excuse to get some new tools, you probably won't find a better long-term choice than Festool. (Just my heavily biased opinion.)

Good luck with your decision.

Regards,

Dan.

[chester stidham]

Hi, Todd was right the best tool for this is the Porter cable Porta plane most door hangers use them as they well put the right angle on the door the first time. and are great for trimming for a perfict fit. But they are costly new but I do see them on Ebay from time to time, that's the tool I would get if I had 20 doors to hang.

[Mike Parzych]

Why not the table saw set a 3 degrees with a 120 tooth blade? Quickest way I can think of. The stiles are soft enough lumber that a quick sand should remove any saw blade marks.

[Burt Waddell]

Why don't you use the best of both worlds -

- An EZ Smart or Festool Rail

- An EZ Smart SRK (Festool version for Festool Rail)

- A hand held planer

That would be quick, precise and give an excellent finish.

Burt

Here is a photo.

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