Building an entry door (work in progress...)

[brett gallmeyer]

looking good! I used to do this on a daily basis. I used to build custom interior and exterior doors andentryways for a local shop.

[mreza Salav]

Cut all the mortises and the tenons. Fine tuned two of them (hand planes) as well to get a snug and nice fit. The rest have to be fine tuned to fit.
Initially I was hoping to make 4.5" deep tenons but cutting mortises that deep turned out difficult. So I guess 3.5" deep would be OK. They are 3.5"x4.5" (at the top), 3.5"x5" (middle), and two 3.5"x3" at the bottom.

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[Charles Musgrave]

I just popped into this thread and looked through your pictures. Wow! I'm impressed and excited to see what great work you're producing. I'm a novice, but I can recognize that this is excellent work. Good luck finishing it all up (take that meaning both ways!).

best,
Charles

[mreza Salav]

Here is a dry fit of the door and one of the side-lites. Have to make the panels and cut the jambs for weather-seals. Now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...

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[Peter Quinn]

Here is a dry fit of the door and one of the side-lites. Have to make the panels and cut the jambs for weather-seals. Now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...

Beautiful work. Last time I saw that light so early in the trip it turned out to be a train......

[mreza Salav]

Beautiful work. Last time I saw that light so early in the trip it turned out to be a train......

LOL you are probably right, though I like to think I have passed the half way mark or more. My goal is to get it done by the end of this month which might turn difficult with only weekends and an hour or two each evening that I put into this.

[Glenn Bird]

Beautiful job! Thanks for posting your progress as it is amazing to watch with all the work you are doing. The door is definitely going to be a piece of art.

[mreza Salav]

Thank you for all the comments.

The side lites rails and stiles didn't have those long M/T. Probably I didn't need any as they will be fixed and guled between the large posts and the jambs but I decided to add a bunch of 1/2" dowels at those joints just for the sake of it. Will post progress pics later...

[mreza Salav]

Cut all the jamb/post rabbets and weahterstrip kerf cuts. But it didn't go without a screw up (explained below).
This is a combination of 3 different cuts to get the shape required (at different faces of the posts):

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For one of the cuts I made a mistake and started the 1/2" deep cut on the wrong face of the post

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Fortunately I noticed early in the cut and stopped. The fix was easy, a small piece of inlay glued in place. Is barely visible even if you look closely and look for it:

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Here is how the posts look now:

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[mreza Salav]

The difficult one was to cut this at the header as it will have to be cut only at the middle of the header where the door is and not to the sides (where the side lites will be).
To make these cuts safely built a jig; a tall fence that rides on the fence of the table saw, the piece to be cut is then clamped to this, and the saw is started. Then you have to raise the blade to exactly 3", push the piece to exactly where the cut has to be and stop.

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Repeat this for the 2 5/8" deep cut as well. To find exactly how many rotations you have to make to the handwheel to raise it exactly 3" you mark it:


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And here is the cut made:

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Then you clean the rest of material with a router and chisel:

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[mreza Salav]

Next was making the panels. The panels are made of a single 13"x13' two inch thick board (resawn) plus another 4/4 that was 14" wide.


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Panels are almost 7/8" thick (maybe 1/32" thinner) and there will be a rigid 1/2" foam in between. Also, there will be a 1.125" wide and 1/4" thick
closed cell foam tape that will be wrapped around the 3-ply of panel/foam that will make the whole thing air tight even with seasonal expansion/contraction.
That foam is not shown in this dry fit test:

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These are all dry fit. The final glue-up will be done on-site as it is much easier to transport these pieces.

[mreza Salav]

Cut the jambs, header, and fitted all including the threshold. As I don't have enough room in my shop moved them to garage to do a dry fit test.

Here is the tricky cut that would be fitted into a stopped rabbeted area in the header (that too was tricky to make):

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And here is where the threshold would be attached. Dowels are for alignment only.

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All pieces are almost ready. There are a few brick mould to make and then keep all of them until the time comes (in spring) where they will be glued and the door installed (all onsite).

I can now put this project aside and move on to the next...

[mreza Salav]

I have come back to this project to put it in its final place. I am posting progress pics in the following thread:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ing&highlight=

[rudy de haas]

Sometime this fall (Nov, I think) I'll be in Edmt. Can I come and admire this up close and personal?

[mreza Salav]

Rudy, you are welcome to see.