Interior Divided Light Doors Build Along - Part 12

[jteneyck]

Here's a link to Part 11.

Home stretch on the doors now; just have to install the molded muntins and cut off the bottoms.  I fit the horizontal muntins first.



Then I fit the vertical ones, starting at the bottom.  I glued in the two vertical muntins and the horizontal one on top, one row at a time.  When I had the last horizontal muntin installed all that was left was to fit the two vertical ones to the arched top rail.  I debated how to use the arch template I had made earlier, but as I held the muntin in place over the arch rail I realized it was nearly a straight line over such a short distance.  So I marked on both sides where the muntin would meet the rail.  



Then I adjusted my miter saw until it lined up with those marks, cut off the muntin and also made a plywood push block to guide it through the router coping bit.



I glued a piece of sandpaper to the edge of the push block, then coped the end of the muntin.



And it fit pretty darned well.  



I did the identical, mirror image one on the other door, then repeated the process for the other pair. 

All that was left with the doors themselves was to cut them off to final (I hope) length.  To do that I made a template while I visited my clients a few days ago. 
I cut the template with a jigsaw, planed and sanded it smooth, and then clamped it to the doors. You can probably see that the doors are about 3/8" shorter at the center than at the hinge stiles.  I used a collet and mortising bit with a router to start the cut.



Then I flipped the doors over, trimmed off most of the waste with a jigsaw, switched to a bottom bearing flush trim bit in the router, and finished the process.





I have to make the glass stop material and that's it for the doors.  I also need to make the trim moldings.  Looking at how much stock I have left it looks like I'm going to be one board short.  I calculated I would need 80 BF of finished stock.  I bought 101 BF of rough stock.  I had very little waste, but I should have bought 110 BF. 

Thanks for following along.

John

[Ken Vick]

John, they are beautiful.  I am looking forward to seeing them with the glass.  Where do you stand on getting the glass?  Ken

[Bill Holt]

Outstanding craftsmanship!

[fredhargis]

They really are nice, well done!

[jteneyck]

John, they are beautiful.  I am looking forward to seeing them with the glass.  Where do you stand on getting the glass?  Ken

Thanks all.  The glass has turned into a real saga, and isn't over yet.  At first my clients wanted frosted glass, then changed their mind to obsure.  I got a very good quote from Paragon Tempered Glass in Indiana for the both of those glasses, less than $1000 delivered.  Then my client decided they wanted Delta Frost.  Paragon doesn't carry that glass and referred me to a company in Chicago.  It took more than two weeks to get in touch with a live person there.  Finally I got a quote from them; over $3000.  OK, customers, how do you like that price?  Of course, not so much.  Oh, how about rain glass?  Good grief.  Paragon doesn't do that one either but referred me to two other companies, one of which quoted about $1300; still trying to make contact with the other one.  It will take about 3 weeks to get the glass after it's finally ordered, so we're looking at February I think before the install is going to happen.  

It really makes no difference to me, but it is getting annoying.

John

[fredhargis]

Is rain glass the same as seeded glass? I had a hell of a time getting some of that a few years back for a case I was building.

[jteneyck]

Is rain glass the same as seeded glass? I had a hell of a time getting some of that a few years back for a case I was building.

No, Google both of them and you will see they are quite different.  Rain patterned glass is done on the exterior of the glass and looks like rain running down a window.  Seeded glass has no real exterior pattern but has interior bubbles, much like the antique glass my FIL used to make at a factory in Germany.  Both are available from a good glass shop - until you start asking for tempered glass.  Then the options go down - and the price goes up, quickly.

In my search I quickly found out there are not that many shops that temper glass themselves.  That shouldn't be a surprise because it takes specialized furnaces and a fair bit of knowledge to do it.  So the companies that don't temper farm it out to those who do when a customer asks for tempered glass, and then marks it up so they make something on it.  But I found out they mark it up a lot, like at least 2X, and when we're talking about $30 a piece that turns into a lot of money.  That motivated me to find and deal only with those places that temper in house.  Of those companies they seem to only temper a small group of patterns, so you have to look from one company to the next to try to find one that works with the pattern you want.  And some patterns can't be tempered.  It can get frustrating.

John

[Ken Vick]

Yes, and all the time you are waiting, the doors are sitting in the shop--the most dangerous place in the world for inadvertently damaging them.  I hate to have finished things in the shop and try to move it out as soon as possible.  Ken

[jteneyck]

Yes, and all the time you are waiting, the doors are sitting in the shop--the most dangerous place in the world for inadvertently damaging them.  I hate to have finished things in the shop and try to move it out as soon as possible.  Ken

Hallalujah, my clients decided to go with the quote I got for the rain glass they wanted.

Assuming I can pick up another Sapele board this week, I will finish the moldings and glass stops next week.  As soon as the dye and finish are done the doors will go out into the front part of the basement where they will be a lot less likely to get damaged.  But I'll have to bring the doors back into the shop to install the glass, then back out one more time.  You're right, there are lots of opportunities to damage a project before it finally gets installed. 

John

[H_B]

It'll be great to see those hanging in place, glass and all.   Thanks for the series...