making a traditional front door.

[johnnyb]

on Wednesday I went to remove a front door for refurb and painting. anyway I removed the ply that was nailed on the back and it became obvious the door was in a terrible condition and it would not be possible to return this in any decent condition. both bottom tenons had rotted all panels had huge chunks missing. 2 letterboxes? holes for nightlatches etc etc.been through a caustic tank and to top it all was made of (100% knot free) quebec yellow pine
anyway me and the client decided to make a new front door in the original style.
its called a four panel bead and butt door. but it could easily have become a bead and flush.
most enjoyable to make. I used the lost art window and door making book as a guide. the beads I made using a nice 5/8ths moulder. ill try and post some photos but my new phone takes heic which the forum doesn't support.

 

[johnnyb]

managed it using luma

 

[akirk]

sounds great and would love to see it - you can convert HEIC format photos to jpeg on your phone: How to Convert HEIC Photos to JPG on iPhone and iPad

cross-posted! - looks great!

 

[AndyT]

I'd be interested in more photos if you have them. Can you even buy this style off the peg any more? Not easily I expect, so nice to see the old patterns kept alive.

 

[Inspector]

Looks good. Any worries about the knots loosening up and falling out or letting the wind blow in?

Pete

 

[johnnyb]

my friend helped me this afternoon and he showed a couple of things I hadn't seen before(he was trained by an old school guy when he left school)
1. cutting wedges from the wood between the twin tenons. this was clever because they are the correct length.
2. inserting them with the square bit parallel with the tenon stops it snapping.
3. cutting the mortices with a wedge space. done by cutting the outside bits of the mortice 2-3mm wider then operating the traverse.
4.a 5/8 beading plane is the perfect tool to cut those beads to make it look traditional. our spindle/router tools wouldnt do it due to interfering profiles or being to small.
5 a bead and flush door would be a bit more work as you would need to not rebate the end grain then mitre the beads(on the panel edges) then router the rebate stopping before the mitres. then make a bead, mitre and nail it on.
these doors would be effective in shedding rain from the door face and not letting it enter the upward facing 1/2 inch panel groove.
6 the panels were 28mm thick. we rebated them by having the spindle rebate cutter over the panel.

 

[johnnyb]

although the original was made of quebec yellow pine mine was made of redwood and the panels were made of quebec yellow pine(hence a single12 inch board 11/2 inch thick when rough)

 

[johnnyb]

these doors were always made in softwood. softwood =knots. im giving it the high gloss treatment.....in pink!Little greene Dorchester pink.

 

[johnnyb]

I can take more photos and post them Monday as I'm saving the photos in jpeg again! heres the setting out guide its a bit confusing as there's a lot going on but makes perfect sense.

 

[Torx]

Nice work. I think the HEIC format is about file compression, didn’t make much difference when I turned it off.

 

[johnnyb]

a few more pics of how I made it and completing the inside panel moulded section.

 

[johnnyb]

ill also do some description of achieving a high gloss finish the traditional way next.

 

[AndyT]

Very nice! And proper trad beading.

 

[johnnyb]

I cleaned the door up using a traditional.....belt sander! sanded off all sharp edges by hand. filled all holes and knots with 2 pack filler.sanded that back. then put bin sealer on all the knots. then I put aluminium primer on both sides. this seals all the resin in the wood. it means I can carry on and not ever worry about bleeding through.

 

[johnnyb]

next ill put at a coat of white primer mixed with a bit of the dorchester pink gloss. hopefully this will mean one coat of gloss when the doors hung.

 

[Doug71]

Looking good. I use aluminium primer on everything, love the stuff.

 

[owen]

Looks lovely. I made one very similar a couple of years back out of accoya, apart from the top two panels on mine were glazed. Nice work

 

[johnnyb]

ill be honest its not my favourite stuff! its really thick and heavy. and its a beggar to get the aluminium flakes out of the brushes! but it does reassure that any nasties remain inside. I went to Sheffield today to pick up 2 interior doors. on the way back I visited Kelham Island. unfortuneatly most of the interesting bits have been demolished since I was last there. I then visited Walkley where I lived 30 years ago. then went to carracks paint shop.
I phoned them saying do you do little greene paint. they said yes we do. I called in told them what i wanted. they went out the back come back with a tin. it then dawned on me they had mixed up the little greene colour in Johnstone pro gloss! It was half the price of little greene. let's hope its not half as good.

 

[AJB Temple]

Johnny - there is a distinct sheen difference between LG and Johnstones.

This bloke is an LG fan and does decent work: Little Greene Intelligent Matt Emulsion | Best Designer Paint UK

I wil be amazed if you manage to get away with one finish coat. Very interested to see the final result. I am growing to like painting.

 

[johnnyb]

I found LG to go a long way be very glossy and have a lot of pigment.be very slow drying( thats why I don't want to gloss then travel) I prefer sandtex flexigloss. its dead easy to get a luvverly shine and its really durable and easy and cheap to get.