rabbeted french doors, and the hardware therefrom

[Neal Clayton]

i need to build two sets of french doors, and am familiar with the old practice of rabetting the opposing stiles and then using a rabbeted lock, but i've never seen it in person. even my other original french doors from ~80 to 100 years ago aren't rabbeted, they just used a wooden astragal to seal them. unfortunately my one set of existing french doors lost their wooden astragal to the paint stripping shop, it didn't survive the hot chemical bath, so i need to retrofit those doors as well.

the rabbets in the doors are easy enough, the locks are proving difficult to find, though.

from perusing the aussie woodworking forums it seems that some of the manufacturers who sell hardware there sell replacement face plate kits that turn a regular mortise lock into a rabbeted one. i haven't seen such a thing in the US, though.

house of antique hardware sells one rabbeted type lock, but only in polished brass, i need the lock plate and strike plate to be black to match the other aged hardware around this room.

at this point since the hardware seems to be rare i think it would probably be better to source the locks first and build the doors to accommodate said locks, rather than the other way around.

anyone else know of a wider selection of rabbeted mortise locks and strikes somewhere?

[Josiah Bartlett]

i need to build two sets of french doors, and am familiar with the old practice of rabetting the opposing stiles and then using a rabbeted lock, but i've never seen it in person. even my other original french doors from ~80 to 100 years ago aren't rabbeted, they just used a wooden astragal to seal them. unfortunately my one set of existing french doors lost their wooden astragal to the paint stripping shop, it didn't survive the hot chemical bath, so i need to retrofit those doors as well.

the rabbets in the doors are easy enough, the locks are proving difficult to find, though.

from perusing the aussie woodworking forums it seems that some of the manufacturers who sell hardware there sell replacement face plate kits that turn a regular mortise lock into a rabbeted one. i haven't seen such a thing in the US, though.



house of antique hardware sells one rabbeted type lock, but only in polished brass, i need the lock plate and strike plate to be black to match the other aged hardware around this room.

at this point since the hardware seems to be rare i think it would probably be better to source the locks first and build the doors to accommodate said locks, rather than the other way around.

anyone else know of a wider selection of rabbeted mortise locks and strikes somewhere?

You could strip the lacquer off the polished brass lock and then antique the strike plate yourself. Its a lot easier than going the other way around.

I found an apparent stock of unused antique originals here:
http://www.wmjrigby.com/?cat_id=84&nav_tree=,9,12,31,84

[Neal Clayton]

You could strip the lacquer off the polished brass lock and then antique the strike plate yourself. Its a lot easier than going the other way around.

I found an apparent stock of unused antique originals here:
http://www.wmjrigby.com/?cat_id=84&nav_tree=,9,12,31,84

that was what i was thinking. the well aged one there appears to only be a 1" backset. not sure about a door with 2" stiles, sounds kinda flimsy .

[Victor Ortega]

I've made my own astragals on table saw. trying to upload drawing

[William Schmitz]

Baldwin made a rabbeted door strike, but not sure if it is still available. 6897.xxx.

Another option is the cremone bolt, paricularly if you want stiles more narrow the 3".

Narrow does not mean flimsy if you make the 1-3/4 thick.