Replies

1. 
   theRev | May 06, 2004 02:34am | #1

   Hard to give an exact answer. Exterior doors are usually 1"3/4 aren't they? I would venture to say that you would need a 3hp router mounted in a table to do that, (barely).

   The loose tenons are no problem, but with 18 doors, would be very tedious with a hand held router.

   18 doors, in my opinion, would warrant the purchase of an inexpensive shaper, and by the looks of the price of the latest offereing of a horiz. slot mortiser by grizzly, that should be included as well.

   Good luck.

   scott

2. 
   MBL | May 06, 2004 02:38am | #2

   Dear Wid,

   First, will point out that in 1810 they wouldn't have had neither router nor table saw as you have.

   So you are ahead already toolswise. To start on catch-up with the elders, you probably need to study how the doors are made and would have to fill-in the details by careful observation and trial.

   They probably used hand planes and chissels a lot for those things. But you can raise panels with the table saw and use routers for details.

   Best wishes.

   -mbl-

3. 
   JMartinsky | May 06, 2004 03:23am | #3

   Buy a shaper & get a stock feeder.

   John

4. 
   joinerswork | May 06, 2004 06:22am | #4

   Wid,

   My suggestion would be to run the stuck mold on stiles and rails with your router,  chop the mold off square at the mortises, and cut the cope on the ends of the rails with an in-cannel gouge that matches the profile of your mold (I'm assuming it's a quarter round).  This is in keeping with early practice, and lets you cut tenons with square shoulders.  The cope only needs to be slightly deeper than the mold is wide.

    If you're following pattern of an early door, think about thru tenons on the rails.  This will help keep stiles and rails in plane with one another, and will prevent things from sagging, even should the glue fail.  Of course if you will be hand-chopping all those mortises, because you don't have a mortiser...Good chance to develop those skills!

   Cheers,

   Ray

5. 
   ian | May 06, 2004 02:09pm | #5

   Wid

   I'm with Ray.  Through tennons, almost certainly wedged.  All the old doors in my place have this construction.  BTW if the centre and bottom rail are appreciably wider than the top rail they should have double tennons.

   Ian

6. 
   fdampier5 | May 07, 2004 06:17am | #6

   It's a simple matter of math,  figure out how fast you can make one door with the tools you have and then mutiply times 18.  Now figure out how fast you can make them with the proper equipment. 

     One final point.. you will be making stuff with the shaper in the future. So evan if it's a break evan proposition you'd still be ahead!

7. 
   bburke | Jun 03, 2004 09:29pm | #7

   Wid,

   I recently completed a couple of doors for my 1865 home.  Along with the profile and joint issues, please put some thought into the construction and stability requirements. 

   I believe doors are more than 1 3/4" thick material joined together.  They need to withstand the tendancies to distort, especially over time.  To accomplish this you may want to consider the following rail and style construction method:

   - edge glue 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" x (length of rail or style) pieces together to a width slightly greater than your rail and style widths

   - the outer edges of this lamination will be visible so use good material there

   - the inner core of this lamination will not be visible so lesser grade material is sufficient

   - once cured, plane the lamination to 1 1/2" thick

   - laminate a 3/16" thick vaneer of the pine onto the front and back 

   - once cured, dimension the rail or style to finished dimensions

   This construction method should provide you with a solid and stable rail and style. 

   Good luck,

   Bill