- Thread starter robgil
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Mine were 6 boards 20mm thick T&G with stress relief cuts in the back and three ledges. One has bowed (bathroom door so no surprise) - the rest are OK. I used rose head nails from PPUK to hold them together which worked well (apart from the duff batch of nails I got).
stuart45
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I've made our doors from French oak. The last one I did for the front door I used diagonal braces as well, as I have noticed that the boards have dropped slightly over the years with just the 3 ledges. They are all nailed with roseheads.
stuart45
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I used kiln dried, but I did leave it in the house for a month before using it.robgil said:
Having diagonal braces on the front door did make it quite a bit heavier when I came to hang it.
Penners
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Rob, is this an internal door? If so, then I don't think T'n'T will cause you many problems. But if it's an external door, I would definitely use quarter-sawn if you can afford it.robgil said:
If you do use T'n'T, see if you can select your boards yourself, and avoid any sapwood.
Yes, rosehead nails, clenched over. I seem to remember someone (MdB?) posting a photo of his clenching, a while back. It was beautifully done.
Beautifully done in a wonky sort of way. Using floorboards isn't to everybody's taste due to the stress relief grooves but I'm rather proud of them. I've never made a door (x4 now) before.
There are others here (Biff / Andrew + more) who can do a better job.
biffvernon
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Internal or external is a bit important. If it's external there's no point kiln drying - you'll be leaving it out in the rain.
American is liable to be less durable so French or English would be better for external doors.
Less inclination to cup with quarter sawn if you can find it.
American is liable to be less durable so French or English would be better for external doors.
Less inclination to cup with quarter sawn if you can find it.
biffvernon
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Ok so if it's internal, don't worry about quarter sawn, just pick the prettiest piece. Quarter sawn shows off the typical oak 'figure' but other features may be even nicer. Ask if the have any 'pippy' oak, the stuff with lots of 'cat's paws', small knots created by the sideways growing twigs found in hedgerow rather than forest grown trees.
Air dried or kiln? I'd always go for air dried and then try to store it in the house for as long as possible before making up the door. Kilning sometimes does funny things to oak.
I think you mean quartersawn oak dot co dot uk not dot com - that's in Carolina not Derbyshire.
The prices quoted on their website appear to be about double what I pay at Nelson Butler of Horncastle!!!
Air dried or kiln? I'd always go for air dried and then try to store it in the house for as long as possible before making up the door. Kilning sometimes does funny things to oak.
I think you mean quartersawn oak dot co dot uk not dot com - that's in Carolina not Derbyshire.
The prices quoted on their website appear to be about double what I pay at Nelson Butler of Horncastle!!!
I shall give them a try then Biff , thanks. Is there any best way to store air dried? It will be planks 400mm wide at most. I had awful trouble with some green oak a while back doing it's own thing, it's up on the cottage now though and looking good.
biffvernon
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robgil said:
Yes. Start with some hefty blocks of wood to raise the bottom board a few inches off the ground and then lay the boards horizontally on top of each other but separated with 'sticks', pieces of wood maybe half inch to an inch square, laid crosswise every yard or so, to allow the air to pass freely between the boards. It's best to do this in an open shed so the rain can't get on it. If that's not possible, and it rarely is since most folk have better things to do with their sheds, then cover the stack with something waterproof to keep the rain off but allow the wind to blow through.
interesting thought - I have got some "well acclimatised" boards in my cottage - they have been acclimatising by being used as the upstairs floorboard for about 200 years. Sadly they've been knackered by various lazy tradesmen in mostly recent history so there's not enough to salvage a usable floor from but if they could be re-used to make doors, particularly if they could look half as good as the pictures above then that would appeal to my sense of re-use and passes a nod to keeping as much of the original material as possible - the other option we thought about was making furniture like a dining table from them.
boards are about a foot wide and 3/4 inch thick and of an indeterminate wood - does this sound like a realistic use for these and is it a possible DIY job with time and care (presumably I'd need to tool up with a router and a T&G or biscuit type cutter) or should I really be getting a time served carpenter to knock them up?
Thanks
-Steve
boards are about a foot wide and 3/4 inch thick and of an indeterminate wood - does this sound like a realistic use for these and is it a possible DIY job with time and care (presumably I'd need to tool up with a router and a T&G or biscuit type cutter) or should I really be getting a time served carpenter to knock them up?
Thanks
-Steve
biffvernon
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robgil said:Cheers Biff, and finallywhat would happen if I just bought air dried and made the door straight away? It should be OK shouldn't it?
Probably. Do you live in a centrally heated house with de-humidifiers? Thought not.
biffvernon
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steveb said:
If you've a saw bench you can use that with the boards edge on to cut a groove in both edges and then fill the groove with a thin strip of wood, a 'loose tongue'. Or cut a groove in one edge and cut a tongue in the other edge with the board flat on the saw table from both sides. If you've a router you could cut the grooves and the tongue with that. If you've neither, don't bother with tongue and groove but just place the planed edges together edges and apply a strip of wood over the crack, fixed firmly to one side only. The ledges and braces (if any) go on the other face of the door.
Remember, before electricity folk did woodwork without electricity. It wasn't very long ago.
Penners
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If Biff's suggestions sound a bit too challenging, another alternative is to cut a half-lap on each edge of each board, and the other-handed half-lap on each neighbouring board. Like this:
biffvernon said:
lol. next you'll be telling me that they got their information from books and speaking to people rather than looking on t'internet. crazy talk
i'll experiment with some "offcuts" first (and it gives me an excuse to buy/beg/borow/steal some woodworking gadgets)
Thanks
-Steve