Entry Door Construction Methods

[Scott Clausen]

I see a lot of TBIII and epoxy but does anyone use drawbore on door construction? Asking for a friend.

I have gone down the rabbit hole of traditional window making and the old school used no glue for two reasons 1) I would fail with any moisture and 2) They needed the ability to do repairs to individual components so driving the peg out was easy. Door making is probably next on to list.

[Tom M King]

I build exact reproductions, and don't use glue either. The most important thing is stable wood. A lot of the 200+ year old doors I've worked on, including replacing parts, are typically 42" wide by 7 feet tall, and never over 1-3/8" thick. Around here, house doors started getting thicker around 1850. One 1850 entrance door I repaired had Beaver fur stuffed around the wide flat panel.

I never use drawbores for sash or doors, but always fit tenons when the wood is as dry as possible. Most of the failures I see on old sash are from drawbored pins, but I don't know how many decades, or centuries that took.

Every such old door around here that still exists was built from Southern Longleaf Heart Pine, from back when they had Very Large trees with good heart.

I built a few exterior doors when I was building new houses. I never had one fail, and always used Resorcinol glue. I didn't build any after the early '80's though. It took me too long to source the wood for any benefit I could get from making them. That was before the internet though.

[Jim Dwight]

I've only made interior doors so far but may make one for my current house (which is about 55 years old) and have been thinking about making a new front door for my house. It is protected by a storm door and about 2 feet, maybe 3, of overhang. But it still gets a lot of afternoon sun. I think if I do it, I will still paint the exterior just because of the upkeep on a stained or clear finish door exposed to sunlight. I have not heard yet of a finish that will last more than a few years. I don't think it will be a problem to paint the outside with latex and clear finish the inside but if others have experience and disagree I am willing to learn. I raise this in case the OP's parents have not experienced or thought about the maintenance required for a clear finish exterior door.

[John TenEyck]

Jim, if you do build a new front door, I strongly advise you to vent the storm door if it gets much direct sun. Adding 3M's reflective and heat absorbing film is a good addition, too.

John

[Thomas McCurnin]

In 1946, I suspect that they were solid wood, mortise and tenoned. They lasted over 70 years. That would be good enough for me.

I would consider looking at the Dec-January 2016 copy of Fine Homebuilding wherein there is an article on building a custom cherry entry door which uses an insulated sandwich method which would be too complicated for me, but a solid M&T door, yeah, I've built those.

Edit: I have the FHB and FWW articles with instructions and plans, and I can email you the pdf articles if you send me your email

[Mel Fulks]

In one of my first woodworking jobs I managed to get a long standing door making practice changed. It was getting management to
decree that the doors must be GLUED. They had been using the fat headless steel “ pins” with NO glue. How did I do that? Just showed
them that all of the building’s doors were racked and dragged on the floors, all three floors , of the old building. But change is tough for
some . Several of the old guys were irate….Yes I got the standard “ I’ve been working here for 40 years thing and NEVER put glue in a
door!! ”

[Mitch schiffer]

I first noticed TBIII and heat 7-8 years ago when i made end grain cutting boards to pay for shop tools. I took a cutting board to the office with me, which was closer to the buyer. After sitting in my hatchback's trunk in the summer heat, i saw some of the gluelines separate ever so slightly on the edges of the board. I still use a bunch of TBIII, but i know its not ideal in exterior conditions involving the sun. I have no experience with weldwood or similar unibond. I avoided them in the past due to health risks. Ill have to break that rule this time around.

I ordered the book last night and look forward to the read. I dont think there is a problem going thicker than 1.75". Why would you not use stave core with utile/sapele? Are you saying the lumber itself is stable enough on its own to not require the effort of ripping and gluing? Im very inclined to stick to solid wood, if i can. To the point where i will buy extra lumber to allow me the chance to mill and let it sticker for awhile to see if it moves much before constructing the door. Thanks for the advice on Utile. It looks very similar to Sapele to me, but if its more stable outside then im all for it. I think the price is very similar.

I have three different sets of steel body insert cabinet cope/stick profiles. Two ogees and a shaker set. I then have a couple panel raisers. Has anyone used cabinet sets before for entry doors? Was it acceptable or was the profile underwhelming looking? Anything less than the $2500 Rangate set that you would recommend? I have a Felder 700 class shaper, so i dont want to spin absolutely massive tooling. Also, ill use floating M&T, so i dont need to make integral tenons.

The Freeborn entry door sets are nice they run about 900$

[Mike Goetzke]

This reminds me when I took on the challenge of an entrance door. Wow 13 years ago - time flies!

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....=entrance+door

I was fortunate to have a professional door maker on a forum mentor me. I used LVL for the core and a white oak skin. To me the door was simple compared to the framing. I think I made some of the framing cuts with my eyes closed on the TS.

Good Luck!