Casing doors

[Bill]

You are ABSOLUTELY CORRECT that you want to predrill for that nail! DAMHIKT %-) I removed the first nail with the help of a box cutter. I added a nail from the side too. I exclaimed to my wife who happen to be standing nearby, and had no idea what I was talking about--"How did I forget to predrill for that nail?!" And, if one can somehow predrill it BEFORE the casing is tacked up, one may be able to avoid sanding and repainting the adjacent wall surface. In retrospect, maybe a "barrier" should be used.

I think I cut my casing at 45-degrees. I took your advise (all of it) and hung up the "horns" first. I had to hack off a little off of one of the verticals with my hand miter saw and I had to had to cut two or three times on the other vertical to get them to meet the horns properly. For the first one I stuck a paint stick in the miter saw to create the bit of deflection. Due to the nature of the miter saw, and a little impatience I ended up eye-balling and holding the workpiece with my hand for the second one. It was nice that this worked pretty well as it did as I had already cut the pieces to length (and cutting them to length seems forced on you, at least up to 1/2" or so at the floor).

Using nail sets to set all of the 4d and 6d nails was tedius work (at least one of the boards was quite hard) Are the folks who use pneumatic tools able to shoot them below the the surface? I will put some EZ-Sand on the insets tomorrow.

I bought a quart of "Airy Mint" semi-gloss paint today for the door. I expect it to look pleasant against everything else, which is WHITE. The door has a panel window which should look pretty, though the exterior or it is in need of repair (it will require me to create some new pieces. I have designate that as a *future* project). Until I started to paint recently, it's always been covered up wth a make-shift curtain. I'll enjoy it a bit before I consider covering it up again. Pictures later.

It's nice to have a "cased door" (just wait until it's painted!) Thanks to all of the folks that helped!

You know what's even better than having a "cased door"? -- Having a hunch about how to do it! : )

Bill

[Bill]

Robert,

I just wanted to thank you again for the guidance above. I surely helped the appearance of my work and made the work much less aggravating then it would have otherwise been. Without your suggestions I confess I probably would have worked out 45-degree miters on the ground, and then struggled from there... probably clockwise (LOL!)

Bill

Anyone reading this who may encase a door, take note of the technique--especially concerning the top piece.

[nailshooter41]

Certainly glad to help. Someone showed me that about 35 years ago when it wasn't considered a trick, it was the way to do it! Precut trim was unhear d of, and there were no "motorized miter boxes". We cut trim with a miter saw and it wasn't always dialed in for perfect miters after going from job to job, so we went for the best fit. I must say I am surprised that no tri m carpenters I see these days do that.

After we all got "motorized miter boxes" we inched our game up a bit. Stai ned or natural finished wood was still in vogue, so that meant the trim fin ish matched.

To amp up your Jedi training on door casing, follow the first part of the t ip for the side, but make your reveal mark with a tri square or something e lse that you can use to make your perfectly spaced mark on the jamb, top an d sides. Cut the side to fit, again not nailing the last 8 inches at the t op.

Cut the trim about 1/4" longer than the outside measurement of the horns. Drop the trim in the space where it will go, overhanging each side of the m itered cuts by 1/8". If the miter joints look good on both sides and they are closed, simply cut the trim to length and nail it in. However, with th e same 1/8" overhanging the points of the sides, you can also trim the top piece to fit if you are careful to allow for out of square doors. Just rem ember, if you trim a side a bit out off of 45 degrees, you MUST cut the ent ire width of the trim each time (heel to point or point to heel) or you wil l have a double angled end. When fitting, to get that last bit out of the trim to get the joint closed you can also move the side trims a tiny bit ba ck and forth to make sure your miters are closed.

That method takes some practice, but once you get the hang of it the key is patience and you can get great joints with some patience. This method wor ks great on problem doors when you don't want to caulk our miters. It won' t fix anything that is really out of square, but hopefully when you won't r un into too much of that when you hang the door yourself.

Robert

[Bill]

If it improves your spirits, I used a motor-less miter box that was at least 35 years old! But I'm pretty sure the miter box was more dialed-in than the door frame. I will be up to the challenge when my next door comes around.

Cheers, Bill

[nailshooter41]

After cutting rough cornice work for a while on the old rock maple boxes wi th a back saw ( I was allowed to cut base and shoe mold with some practice) the company I worked for acquired one of these after landing some large tr im contracts.

Man I hated that saw. Just hated it. It had the singular distinction of b eing out of accuracy after about two weeks of job use and there was no way to adjust it. Hard to carry, hard to transport, it was not made for anythi ng but stationary shop use. When sent to trim out a job by myself I used t o take my shop made miter box and a belt sander and got much better results . The guys sure liked using that old monster, though. It made them feel l ike real pros.

I have no idea who buys those things these days, and never see anyone use t hem.

Robert

[Bill]

Very interesting to see. The one I have is avery early-predecessor of that one. Much lighter, with probably a bit more wobble in it. It encases the saw blade though, like yours, just not to the same degree of precision (I'm sure). I haven't looked around the back for a hex-nut adjustment mechanism to set angles other than those with detents! : ) But the saw was a gift, and I'm glad to have it.

Bill

[Bill]

Interesting tools.