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Good start, Steven.
How do you keep a screen door from developing
twist, or racking?
All the modern doors in my 1970's house are visibly
racked, down and away from their hinges.
Your door is clearly better made.
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I had a home depot door that sagged within a year, they were heavy pressure treated type about 1 1/8 thick. I want to make my own from some light, but strong wood, but have not decided on how to go about it. Only easy to get light wood around me is cedar, but that is very soft.
I recently found some really light, but hard wood on the curb, it seems to be from some sort of old furniture, very tight grain, lightweight like pine, but rather hard. Does anyone know if old pine is like that?
Wood like that would be perfect for a screen door.
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That old wood could be case hardened. Old pine definitely had tighter growth rings in general than new pine, and you'd need to know the type to determine how much tighter they are than typical.
Pine is OK if the door is painted or sealed and kept after. Mahogany and white oak are decent (mahogany is probably better) choices, as is teak. Genuine mahogany and teak are expensive, and if white oak is too heavy, then design the door so that less wood is used and panels are thinner, etc.
Poplar is bad, and alder is probably bad, too, even though they are both light, cheap and easy to work.
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I have a plastic screen door. PVC,I suppose.
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Spruce, very light weight, stable and more durable than pine. Takes a sharp edge and a fine feel for tolerances to make joinery in it but certainly workable wood.
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I had built another sceen door back in the 89s, out of redwood. Straight grained type. Still on the house since the door was built. That was about 10 moves ago....
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Redwood is another good choice. harder to find around here now, but a lot of porches were built with redwood for everything but the posts - including mine (probably 40 years old now and was in good shape). It pained me a little bit to have the back porch converted to a room and see that redwood stripped out and replaced with SPF.
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Were it for a protected door opening, say, porched, not exposed or something like that I wouldn't hesitate using regular old black or canadian poplar for a screen door, nope not at all.
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Well, assemble has about been completed...IMAG0203.jpg
Upper half, where the screen will go. Lock rail. Tops of the raised panels
IMAG0202.jpg
And the bottom half. Just ain't a lot of room down here....
As for them pins and wedgesIMAG0191.jpg
Meh...maybe it could have been better in a hardwood. Pins led to a few blowouts, had to fix them. IMAG0196.jpg
Had a few rebate to mill up, first. Well there WAS this homemade rebate plane to try out
IMAG0197.jpg
Nice curlie things appeared. 1/2" wide, by 3/16" deep rebates. Also tried out an iron plane
IMAG0198.jpg
Hmmm, Noodles, anyone? Since the Wards #78 has a depth stop, I could check the depth left by the other plane.
Primer and some filler, then maybe hang this door?
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Door has been sanded down with two grits, and the first coat of Kilz Exterior Primer brushed on.
Depending on how it looks this morning, AND the weather, MIGHT try an install into the existing opening. Will need LONGER screws to hit some good wood behind the hinges
New door weighs about twice ( at the least) more than the old metal "thing" that is there now.
Still have to make a frame for the screen.
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