Next time you work on a door...

[Walt Pater]

Every time I make these door jacks (they're what's holding up the barn doors), I get at least one "wheredya thinka that?", even from veteran carpenters. Very simple to make, and great for planing stiles, since the harder you push, the tighter they hold. Don't know who first showed them to me, but they're certainly nothing new.
Many of you may have seen these before. Just thought I'd pass along a very handy jig which is neither extruded, expensive nor phenolic.
I'm not crazy about the doors, but they are flat, straight and square. Paint grade Mahogany, panel insets are pre-primed.

[Jeff Horton]

Good timing, I am building some garage doors right now. Can you show me an end view? I can't quite understand what you have and I think I could use a set once I finish and start to install them.

[Mike Henderson]

Walt, I can't understand how these door jacks work. I'm familiar with a different style that uses a padded wedge in a jig to hold a door upright and tight. Could you add some detail on how these work? Maybe show a picture of one without a door in it so that we can see them better. Or give some additional explanation. Thanks. (Maybe I'm just dense.)

Mike

[Walt Pater]

Hey, you guys are quick. For some reason, the good shots of the doors are too big to import. Here's something in sketchup (only 1 1/2 hours left on the demo).
HTH Walt

[Vaughn McMillan]

Cool...makes perfect sense after seeing the PDF version. I'll definitely log that one in the Handy Tricks file.

- Vaughn

[Jeff Horton]

DITTO! I was looking for wedges or something. Yes, I will make a pair of these for when I install my doors. Got the frames cut out and all the the mortises made and dry fitted tonight.

[Norman Hitt]

I have seen a couple Similar to yours Walt, and the only thing different about theirs, was that they cut the bottom piece in the middle of the space between the uprights, and installed a door hinge to hold the two together. They did have to lift the jack slightly to keep the top open to put the door into it, but as soon as the door sat down on the hinge, it automatically tightened up from the weight of the door alone. Same principle, and both should work well.