My wife wants me to make a screen door for our cabin. One with a wood frame, and some turned decorative pieces, like an old one. We can't find an old one of the right size, so it looks like I get to make one.
I have seen old ones that are still looking good and straight after a lot of years. What kind of wood is that? I am thinking of doweling it together, or countersinking screws with cover pegs.
And where can I buy some antique looking hinges and latches on the Net?
Tips?
Steve
google is your friend.
I did a quick Google search and came up with:
snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net
Steve - Where are you located. I'll be glad to show you one I built a couple of years ago for an 1887 cabin. I used mortise and tennon joinery. Had a top, middle and bottom rail plus the styles. Mine was painted. I used Douglas fir if I remember correctly. Key for me was a nice straight grain and no knots. I didn't do anything special for the hardware. Do a Google search for Lee Valley. They have some great hardware. Get their catalogs, makes nice reading in the john! I didn't use applied gingerbread or turned decorative pieces. I did have sort of a dog boned shape in the middle rail and a 1/2 dog bone shape on top and bottom. I did a quick check on my PC and I cant find any pictures. Not sure if I took any of my door, I did have some photos of a really neat door I saw in St. John that I used for inspiration but I cant find them at the moment. The hardest part for me was because of my curved rails I also wanted curved screen molding. I had to make that myself. It was quire a challenge. The curved screen molding was attached with brass screws. Door was painted a pre-mixed color from Benjamin Moore called Essex Green. Good luck and let me know if you want more information, details or whatever. You may also want to post in rec.woodworking for more/better discussion of wood and joinery.
Oh, one more thing. being outdoors my door expands and contracts quite a bit with the seasons and with humidity. You will need to figure that out when making your door so it works properly during all seasons. Mine even expands and contracts in just the summer depending on rain and humidity! Moves as much a 3/16-1/4" over a 30" width!
Thanks. Especially for the type of wood. Hardware is a no brainer, and someone told me about this thing called "Google". ;-)
Duh, why didn't I think of that?
Well, I guess my most important question was what kind of wood to use, and you put in two pennies on that.
This shouldn't be too difficult a project, as I will make the door oversized, and to fit OVER the door frame, instead of inside. So that moisture and weather won't affect it to the point it will pinch or grab. It will be subject to rain, snow, and below zero temps, so, I may just take it off at the end of each season and lay it flat on the floor inside the cabin with a brick on every corner. It will be under the porch deck roof, but weather gets really narly, and snow and rain blows in from time to time.
Thanks again.
Steve
Steve
Good luck. FWIW mine has held up fine attached in its frame, no warping. My cottage is in south central PA. It also gets rain, snow, heat humidity. It doesn't get much direct sun due to trees and the direction it faces. I too built it a bit oversized and planed it to fit my opening. Always better to have it a bit bigger versus too small. My inperation piece was a tropical hardwood (Teak?) with a varnish finish. Think high end boats but on a house. If I come across a picture I'll post it to the net.
If you can do it without upsetting the auxiliary decision making module, put hardware mesh on the outside of the openings, and screening on the inside.
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