I took an early retirement from my job, and on a whim called up a guy who has a high-end custom Millwork shop to see if he needed help. Well, I am now doing what I love full-time and I could not be happier. This shop has some amazing equipment, and finally I have the tools and space to actually make stuff. My first job has been making 28 arched doors with matching screen doors and arched jambs, all out of mahogany. It all starts with rough sawn 8/4 mahogany in 16’ lengths, and I resaw, plane, and shape it to make all the parts. I am very proud to say that the first set of doors fit perfectly.
To those watching my boat build- it has been on hold due to many things happening, but now that I have access to all these tools, things are about to get real.
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For or those that have followed my posts over the years, you know I have a very small shop at home, and this has been a real dream come true to play with these machines all day. I’m really proud of the doors, and they fit exactly perfect as per plans with 1/8” gap all around and all measurements finished out exactly to plans, which was a bit of work with an arched door. Working with mahogany, that’s a real challenge because it has so much stored tension. I have had it literally audibly pop and split when it was being sawn. I make all pieces 1/4” oversized, sticker it for a few days, then finish to final dimension.
14 sets of doors, each set containing two entry and two screen doors. I put some boatbuilding skills to use steam bending and laminating the arches.