Door material

[Tom Jones III]

This is a followup to a thread I posted about making a new walnut entry door for my house. The door will be pretty standard, 6'8", 6 panels. I really like the construction method from
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=42498
and I'm thinking hard about using it for my door.

Since I'm making the door out of walnut I was wondering if it would be better to use a cheaper material for the non-exposed core. Walnut is running something like $5.75, red oak is $2.10. I assume that I wouldn't want to go with the cheapest option, poplar at $1.20 since it is so much softer than walnut? Switching to red oak for the interior saves roughly $160.

Second question, where can I get really high quality door knobs and dead bolts? The 25 year guarantee Schlage I got from Home Depot is starting to look bad after only a few years.

[Jamie Buxton]

Lumber core material (that is, completely hidden stuff) is generally low-grade inexpensive material. It doesn't even have to be hardwood, but it should be kiln-dried like the show wood. Use pine or poplar or lauan or whatever.

[Derek Stevens]

I agree with a stable secondary wood for doors interior core, though a solid door, with floating panels should hold up as well as any historic door from the last century. As for hardware, good looking and not a bank breaker, though miles above what is available at the big boxes would be look at Emtek. they make some nice stuff that looks and feels solid, yet still works with standard offsets.