solid core doors

[Halfathumb]

I'm wanting to replace all hollow core doors with solid. I'm not opposed to making them myself, but looking for anyone with experience doing this.

I'm thinking I can save big $$ making them myself. 11 32" and 2 sets of french doors.

I'd probably want to make 6 panel doors.

Comments & suggestions please

Thanks

Jim

[DieselDennis]

Sounds like a lot of work.

Do you have a shaper & bits?

[Halfathumb]

Sounds like a lot of work.

Do you have a shaper & bits?

I have time. No shaper but router table.

[brianwelch]

Are you painting or staining/sealing?

[Halfathumb]

Are you painting or staining/sealing?

Not going to paint RO, stain & poly

[jteneyck]

It's pretty simple to build interior doors, especially if you use Shaker style stiles and rails.  Loose tenons makes it even easier, or large Dominos if you are fortunate enough to own one.  Here's what the guts of a simple two panel door looks like before glue up.  



The dados for the panels are plowed on the stiles and rails with a dado blade on the TS.  I plugged the ends of the dados and used butt joints with the rails, but a better approach would be to use stub tenons (and also the loose tenons) on the ends of the rails.  That would add more glue surface area and automatically fill the dado in the stile.  A slightly more involved alternative would be to use haunched integral tenons with the rails.  If you wanted to use pinned or draw board joints this would be the preferred approach.  

A step up from this basic style door is to use flat panels with bolection moldings.  Again, no cope and stick bits needed.  The basic door is even simpler than the one above because you don't need to plow any dados. 



The panels are held in with moldings on both sides.  



The moldings get glued to one side and are nailed on the other side to capture the panel.  





The advantage of using moldings to capture the panels is you can remove the moldings to replace or repair the panels, if needed.  It also makes finishing and installation easier.  

There are other options for construction, including cope and stick joinery with captured panels.  I mostly use stave core construction, but solid stock is easier and and fine as long as you start with well conditioned straight quarter or rift sawn stock.  We've talked a little about traditional integral tenons; can't go wrong as long as you keep everything square as you cut the joints.  I use loose tenon joinery but dowels are plenty good, too, if you have a doweling jig you like.  And of course the Domino.  

I hope some of this helps.  

John

[Halfathumb]

It's pretty simple to build interior doors, especially if you use Shaker style stiles and rails.  Loose tenons makes it even easier, or large Dominos if you are fortunate enough to own one.  Here's what the guts of a simple two panel door looks like before glue up.  



The dados for the panels are plowed on the stiles and rails with a dado blade on the TS.  I plugged the ends of the dados and used butt joints with the rails, but a better approach would be to use stub tenons (and also the loose tenons) on the ends of the rails.  That would add more glue surface area and automatically fill the dado in the stile.  A slightly more involved alternative would be to use haunched integral tenons with the rails.  If you wanted to use pinned or draw board joints this would be the preferred approach.  

A step up from this basic style door is to use flat panels with bolection moldings.  Again, no cope and stick bits needed.  The basic door is even simpler than the one above because you don't need to plow any dados. 



The panels are held in with moldings on both sides.  



The moldings get glued to one side and are nailed on the other side to capture the panel.  





The advantage of using moldings to capture the panels is you can remove the moldings to replace or repair the panels, if needed.  It also makes finishing and installation easier.  

There are other options for construction, including cope and stick joinery with captured panels.  I mostly use stave core construction, but solid stock is easier and and fine as long as you start with well conditioned straight quarter or rift sawn stock.  We've talked a little about traditional integral tenons; can't go wrong as long as you keep everything square as you cut the joints.  I use loose tenon joinery but dowels are plenty good, too, if you have a doweling jig you like.  And of course the Domino.  

I hope some of this helps.  

John

Thanks John,

Big help with some great ideas. Did you cut the mortise with a router or on the drill press? I really like using moulding to hold the panels in place. Makes a lot of sense. 1/2" panels?

[jteneyck]

Thanks John,

Big help with some great ideas. Did you cut the mortise with a router or on the drill press? I really like using moulding to hold the panels in place. Makes a lot of sense. 1/2" panels?

With my horizontal router mortiser, but it's not hard to do with a plunge router and two edge guides to straddle the workpiece.  Use a 1/2" spiral upcut router bit, and try to get at least 2" deep.  The ones in that first photo were only 1-1/2" deep, and the door holds at least 100 lbs of canned goods on wire racks on the backside, and it's still doing fine after almost 10 years.  The panels were glued into the dados, however.  However, deeper is better, especially with floating panels.  

Yes, those are 1/2" panels in 1-3/8" doors on my shed, which are the same as an interior door.  The 1/2" panel has plenty of beef to it but is still thin enough that the molding can have some nice depth to it.  What I really like about doors with applied moldings to hold the panels is how elegant they look for the low amount of work involved.  The door is easier to build and you can finish the panels completely before installing them.  

John

[Halfathumb]

My shop adrenaline is running but other priorities first. My doors will be exclusively for in the house use so not to much will hang on them.

Jim

[MstrCarpenter]

John, I don't foresee making door slabs in the near future, but replies like yours are exactly why I love this forum. Thank-you for being an active part of it!