Shaper Door Cutters

[lowell holmes]

I am looking for shaper cutters to make an entrance door. The Eagle America cutters have my interest.

http://www.eagleamerica.com/product/...shaper_cutters



I'm not familiar with the company, but it seems they have been around for a while.

Have any of you used their products?

[Damon Stathatos]

You might want to check out Infinity Cutting Tools. I'm going through the same research now and their selection and prices seem pretty good.

http://www.infinitytools.com/

[lowell holmes]

Thanks,

I like the looks of their kit. I really want the panel groove to be 1/2". Their kit addesses that issue.

I'm thinking about rift sawn white oak. The only issue is that door will really be heavy for an old man to install.

[Ken Garlock]

Hi Lowell.

I have never bought a shaper bit. But, I have bought several router bits from Eagle America, and I always have been happy with my purchase. There router bits are relabeled Whiteside bits. I try to buy Whiteside when possible. Their "price Cutter" bits are far east imports.

[lowell holmes]

Where is Collin County Texas?

One of my grandsons is named Collin.

[Ken Garlock]

Collin County was named after the early settler Collin McKinney. McKinney is the county seat. Collin county's south side abuts Dallas county's north side. Its biggest city is Plano with a population of over 250,000. McKinney is a little over 100,000. North of us is Grayson County that borders the Red River and Oklahoma.

Hope this helps.

[Peter Quinn]

Lowell, I make doors for a living, or used to before the present recession, and I use Freeborn or Schmidt or LRH at work, but these are pretty expensive sets to absorb on a single entry way. I recently bought an Infinity set for the home shop where the budget is much tighter, and I'm pretty impressed with the cut quality. I haven't actually made a door with it yet but I have set up both cope and mold sets for test pieces to get a sample approved by a client for a side job. Its a nice set for short money. I got the 1/2" cutter and the plywood cutter (5.5MM) so I can stack this thing a number of ways.

I can't speak to the Eagle America sets, but Infinity is definitely worth a look. For what its worth I have glued up blanks to make a rear entry door of 1 3/4" thick rift sawn white oak, and its a heavy door for a younger man too!

[lowell holmes]

Thanks for the responses guys. I think I will go with the Infinity.

Peter, I've considered laminating the stiles and rails as factory doors are often done. Maybe it would be a 3/4" X 4 1/2" core wrapped with a 1/2" veneer. This allows good control of the grain pattern. This would not be a cross lamination as in plywood.

I also remenber that back in the 70's, there was a quality door maker that cross laminated the panels with 3 plys. This prevented the panels from splitting due to weathering.

Have you done this, and if so, is it wrth the effort?

[Sam Layton]

Lowell,

I have a set of the Infinity door cutters, and have made one door with them. I am happy with the cutters. I am sure the others that Peter mentioned are better, but the price is a lot better as well.

Sam

[lowell holmes]

Sam,

Peter spoke highly of the Infinity cutters. Three of you have recommended them.

I haven't used my shaper recently. I'm going to check it out tomorrow and if it is running (pretty sure it is), I'll order the Infinity cutters.

My old shaper is a 1970's Rockwell. It hasn't had a lot of use, but it was made when Rockwell was a good brand.

[Peter Quinn]

[QUOTE=lowell holmes;1495040

Peter, I've considered laminating the stiles and rails as factory doors are often done. Maybe it would be a 3/4" X 4 1/2" core wrapped with a 1/2" veneer. This allows good control of the grain pattern. This would not be a cross lamination as in plywood.

I also remember that back in the 70's, there was a quality door maker that cross laminated the panels with 3 plys. This prevented the panels from splitting due to weathering.

Have you done this, and if so, is it wrth the effort?[/QUOTE]

I haven't done this or seen it done in the shop where I work. It sounds dicey to cross laminate solid lumber on a door? A cross grain tug of war scares me. No telling which layer wins. My laminates are for rails and stiles, and they are three pieces milled to .600" and face glued in a big stack between cauls. Its basically just like using solid lumber, but a bit more stable.

I have seen a thinner veneer, like 3/16" skinned on to an exterior plywood and used as a panel. You can even wrap the panel with a solid edge band about 1 1/4" then skin it and raise it! I have seen two floating panels of 3/4" thickness placed back to back with a dab of silicone between them (this allows the interior panel to move separately from the exterior, and it allows you to use 4/4 stock with only one A face for panel stock). Some species like walnut can be hard to source with two clear faces, and some species like white oak can be perfect rift sawn on one face and highly figured quartered on the other. If you want perfect rift sawn oak or no ray fleck on either face, this can be helpful.

For rails and stiles on laminate doors with an engineered core I think the core is usually something like timberstrand, and the skins are more like 3/16" each, or you can buy pine stave blanks (like a narrow pine butcher bock made for door stiles). I haven't made any doors this way personally, but its known to be a very stable way to do it. Its also a lot of work. There are some real good posts from William O'Connel on building laminate doors with engineered cores if you search the creek archives. The doors I make are all solid stock and I find this performs well if the stock is well seasoned and the doors have some natural protection.

[lowell holmes]

Peter,

Thanks for the response. I may go that route for the stiles and rails.

The only cross lamination I was talking about was for panels. It amounted to a three ply lamination with the surface laminations being vertical. The middle laminate stabilized the panel against splitting from exposure to the sun and or moisture.

I put them in a couple of houses I built. I never had a call back on them.

It may be more than I want to do though.

[Peter Quinn]

I understood the cross laminate idea was for panels but it still scares me. A half inch of thickness still moves like wood in my mind, and trying to control wood by limiting its movement can get unpredictable. Of course quarter sawn white oak is relatively stable stuff so thats a good thing. Most of the laminate panels I've seen have involved a top skin that behaves like veneer which limits you to about 3/16". Even solid panels work fine as long as they are not bound. Problem is some times they get glued in if too much glue is used, sometimes they get bound by finish. But generally 1 3/4" panels don't split easily.

I find the twin panel construction interesting because the panel inside in conditioned space can move independent of the outer panel facing the weather. Thats how I'll be building my own back door, but mainly because I have a bunch of beautiful 4/4 QSWO cut offs to make use of!

[lowell holmes]

I understood the cross laminate idea was for panels but it still scares me. A half inch of thickness still moves like wood in my mind, and trying to control wood by limiting its movement can get unpredictable. Of course quarter sawn white oak is relatively stable stuff so thats a good thing. Most of the laminate panels I've seen have involved a top skin that behaves like veneer which limits you to about 3/16". Even solid panels work fine as long as they are not bound. Problem is some times they get glued in if too much glue is used, sometimes they get bound by finish. But generally 1 3/4" panels don't split easily.

I find the twin panel construction interesting because the panel inside in conditioned space can move independent of the outer panel facing the weather. Thats how I'll be building my own back door, but mainly because I have a bunch of beautiful 4/4 QSWO cut offs to make use of!

I like the twin panel concept. I will probably use it. You convinced me.