we all had our favorite doors lyrics back in those days. but the ones that resonated the most withme went something like, "come on baby, light my..."
essential tools home woodworking shop, microjig, maker of the grr-ripper work safer, work smarter. and this episode is also sponsored by harry's. this garden tool shed connected to my garage
was probably built 30 or 35 years ago, and it's holding up really well except for the doors. i've repaired them a number of times, but i think it's finally time to just makesome new doors. i fixed these panels before but at this point, there's nothing left to fix because the wood it just rotting away. at one point the latches came off the door
and there was no way of repairing it the wayit was so i just attached this board to keep these two doors together and then i used a pvc pipe as a latch. all of the boards for the doors are going to be the same width. the first thing i need to do is cut off all of these rounded edges to square them up.
since these boards are so big, i've stacked up a bunch of stuff here to support that end while i make all my cuts. first, i always like to cut a little off theends just to square it up. the i can measure the lengths. i'll use that first board to measure out therest so i don't have to use the tape measure. each door has four horizontal pieces.
to cut those all to the same length, i've set up a stop block and an extensionfence on my miter saw. joining this all together using pocket screws will make it strong and really speed up the assembly process. i only need to drill the pocket holes in the short pieces. i'll start with the top and the bottom pieces.
the important thing about pocket screws itto clamp the pieces together tightly before you put the screws in. otherwise the two pieces can mis-align and slide apart. what i like to do in situations like this rather than measure and mark off where all of the cross pieces are going togo, is cut a couple of spacers
that i can use to line them up. that way i can make sure they are all evenly spaced. i'm going to use my router to cut a rabbet along the inside of the frames that i can drop the panels into. i need to replace this base plate though. the hole is too small. my rabbeting bit won't fit through.
so i made this thing which is just a board with a bigger hole. that first pass is enough to set the panelsin, but i'd like the panels to be a little deeper. so i'm going to raise my router bit up justa bit. and make a second pass. i think i'm going to put an extra fancy profileon the front. i'll replace that rabbeting bit with an ogeebit. actually, this is a roman ogee bit.
and really, what could be more fancy thanthat? i need to round over the corners of thesepanels so that they'll fit into the rabbets. i'm gluing and tacking these panels into place. i'll see if i can reuse these hinges fromthe old door. here i'm cutting out some really shallow mortises for the hinges. i've got some shims that i cut to raise thedoor up just a little off the ground.
then i can mark where the hinges will go. the hinges have removable pins so my strategy is to attach the bottom hinge, drop the pin in, this one i already have the pin in and i'll try to screw it into place. now i'll see if i can do this without bendingor breaking that lower hinge. with one screw in, i can carefully
check to see that it works alright. wow. i love it when things work out on the firsttry, because i really wasn't expecting that towork that easily not exactly perfect up here, but whatya gonna do! i found this old sliding bolt in my shop. i'll use it to keep the right door closed. i'm going to try to bend one of these
l-brackets into shape for the other latch. this little board will be the latch. i'm going to paint it before i attach it. what i'm going to do is thread this screw through a washer then through that, and through the door. the on this back side i'll put another washer and this is a lock nut. { advertisement }
and i'd like to thank you for joining me this week on woodworking for mere mortals. for some follow up information on this project, be sure to watch my mere minutes episode thisweekend. seems like this is the time of the year to start doing home improvement projects, and if you've got a lot of them to do, likei do, i'd like for you to check out my sister channel,
home & garden for mere mortals. if you're not already aware, i'm pleased to announce two new contributorsto hgmm. chris, from the idaho painter, and lindsay from the frugal crafter. chris is a professional house painter and will be sharing his years of experiencewith you. and lindsay will be sharing lots of cool home decorating tips designed to save youmoney.
please check out and subscribe to both of their individual channels. thank you so much for watching. i'll see you next week.
