Interior Divided Light Doors Build Along - Part 3

[jteneyck]

Here's a link to Part 2.  With the frame done it was time to begin making the mullions/muntins.  The process I'm using I read about in a FWW article by Steve Latta a few years ago.  I used it when I built a set of Shaker style divided light doors and it worked very well.  This time, however, I'm used molded sections, so it will be a little harder.               

To begin, you make a grid that is mortised into the frame of the door.  I laid out the mortise locations and then drilled 1/2" diameter holes, 5/16" deep.  Then I used a 1/2" mortising chisel to square the holes.



The grid was made of 1/2" thick stock to match the existing door.  The pieces are 1-1/8" wide.  You have to cut two stepped rabbets on the ends, so that the pieces step over the molded edge and into the mortise. 



You also cut half laps where the grid intersects.  When that was done I had this:



And assembled into the door it looked like this:



Nice - but wrong!  Good grief.  Only then did I check the size of the openings and saw that they were not the same, and they weren't the same in both the length and width direction.  And then it dawned on me why.  I had taken the opening dimensions and divided those numbers by the number of panes of glass in each direction.  That would be fine if that rabbat wasn't there, but it is.  The correct way of calculating the spacing so that all the glass pieces are the same size is to subtract the total thickness of the grid pieces from the opening width and then divide that by the number of panes of glass.  That dimensions is the distance between each grid member.  So if I had an opening 28" wide with 2, 1/2" thick grid members, the distance between them would be 27/3 = 9".

OK, do I order so many of one size piece of glass, and so many of another, actually about 4 different sizes, or do I redo it.  I redid it.  I plugged the mortises so I could re drill them and made a grid.  Busted one of those pieces putting it together and had to make another.  Not my morning.  Oh well, eventually I got it done. 

At this point I could glue up the door.  I know Joe uses Titebond to glue up his doors and I have no issues with it being strong enough.  My concern was being able to get the door assembled fast enough before the glue set up.  I know there is TB II Extend but I don't have any, so I decided to use Weldwood Plastic Resin Glue.  I've used it before for this application and it has at least twice the open time of Titebond II or III.  I thought about epoxy, too, but frankly have never liked using it.  I also thought about using Gorilla Glue after reading about it in FWW this month, but ruled it out, too, because I just hate the stuff too much.  So I taped off the edges of the seams and mixed up some PRG glue.  I used a little wooden spatula to spread it in the mortises and on the tenons.  It still seemed a bit frantic getting it together but it went fine.  And here it is:



I'll put a heating blanket over both ends to make sure it stays warm enough to cure properly, and leave it in the clamps overnight. 

This is a photo of how the grid looks on the molded side of the door:



Note that it overlaps the molded edge by 1/8".  The molded sections of the mullions and muntins have a dado in their bottom side that fits over that raised portion of the grid.  I'll show you how that works next time, after I get them made.  


John

[fredhargis]

You're really moving along quickly. Nice!

[Ken Vick]

You are on a role.  If I had made a mistake like that ( not saying that I ever make mistakes, mind you ) I would have been in a fudge for a couple days at least before I would be able to get back in the shop.  It is going to be a beautiful door unless you keep screwing it up.  Ken