Custom Panel Entry Doors

[Russell Hudson]

They wanted two, custom panel entry doors with matching storm doors for their country home. He had taken photos of a very old Dutch (2-part) door that had an interesting panel layout.  We looked at it together and amended the panel sizes a bit for a single piece door and I began planning.
Their house could see three feet of snow in winter and reach the high 90s in summer, so I needed a species of wood that was strong, would remain stable through the seasons and looked great. I chose an African mahogany known as Sepele. Below you can see the two inch thick, rough sawn planks from the mill and what they looked like after I planed the boards and exposed the faces.



We had to machine all the parts perfectly square and to the exact sizes so when assembled, all the joints would meet perfectly flush and the doors would be dead flat (‘on plane’). Here we are doing a dry fit (without glue) to see if it will come together as planned.



We ended up creating three hundred and thirty-six pieces of this square molding to hold all the panels in place. 



The door’s top half was fitted with tempered glass and the bottom, with wood panels.



Both storm doors and the main doors were mounted with very good hardware.



They wanted brass box door latches and completely hidden scissor hinges that were made in Germany. All of these had to be deeply mortised into all the door’s edges. We had to do the same for the corresponding places on the jambs (door surrounds). We constructed them of thick Sepele and made saddles (the floor pieces), as well. This is referred to as ‘pre-hung’ doors.



Although the painter’s tape is on the glass (they are applying the finish themselves) AND it was snowing outside,  I managed to get this photo from the interior. In a few years the patina will look even better. I know they are very happy.



russell hudson

[hcbph]

Nice!  Never made a full door from scratch but I have repaired a couple of them, one that was a cherry raised panel door that the fire department had chopped their way through to deal with a house fire.  That was a bear trying to match all the molding and curves which I expect would be as time consuming and difficult as yours was.

[jasfrank]

Excellent looking doors, Russell. What joints did you use? I am assuming tenons and mortise, or were they splines?