Bespoke Doors
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I made a couple doors for my house here in Phoenix and thought I would share them with you. The neat thing is they are three plys of plywood. If anyone is interested we can discuss any tricks involved in getting good results. You know, stuff like not applying varnish out doors in a dust storm.
The black dots are Mexican "clavos." The strip inside the post and styles is an embossed bass wood trim. Not exactly the Ghiberti doors but I was short on gold.
Notice the arch next to the pantry door. That is made of strips of saltillo tile. Grouting the bottom side of horizontal surfaces is like nailing jello to a tree. My tip there is wear goggles and a shower cap.
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Roger,
Great tips, those on the construction.
You mention grouting the tile pieces, what did you use to cut the saltillo? When I installed some of that on my front porch, it fairly ate my abrasive blade on the handheld circular saw I used.also, construction adhesive for glueing the tiles to the backing? Upside down application of mortar could have been fun.
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Cut the saltillo with one of those little $100 diamond bladed tile saws from home depot. I cheated several ways on setting the tile upside down. I used little dabs of construction adhesive to get a temporary grip and then surrounded that with mortar. Also used some special nails with soft washers that pinned the tiles in place while the mess set. Then I tore off the washers and could grab the nail heads with vice grips and twist them out. The grout was a case of putting plastic on the floor and picking up fallen grout and sticking it back in until it stuck.
If I had been in sketchUp, I could have just turned the house upside down until the project was finished.
I even cut the middle tile as a keystone but I think that might be more vanity than structural reality.
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That's plywood?!?
It looks like Oak.
Or is it plywood with Oak veneer?
They're lovely anyway. -
Furniture grade oak plywood. I pencil everything out on the center sheet. Then I apply the stain so it just goes slightly over the pencil marks. That way there is a lot of raw wood to make a good bond with the glue. If you glue first the squeeze out will seal the wood so it will not take stain at the joints.
Also you need to support the door evenly during glue up because the individual sheets will not resist bending and if they bend during glue up the door will be permanently ruined. I framed the pantry door nicely. The frame on the bathroom door is warped because I forced it. Somethime in hte next decade I need to tear it out and try again.
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