anyone know where I can find a 3-0 x 9-0 walnut door? or walnut veneer in 9 ft or greater lengths?

[Amigo108]

I need to make some solid core walnut slab doors 3-0 by 9-0 to match some existing doors (width is 1 3/4" by the way). I couldn't find anyone who sells a solid core walnut slab door or solid core door in walnut veneer so I thought I might try and make one. My problem is that I don't have a planer that can accept a 3-0 wide door and 2. I can't find anyone who sells a 3-0 by 9-0 slab door to apply a veneer to, and even if I could, I could only find walnut veneer in 8' lengths. I need to make 4 doors along with frames and some other walnut molding, The doors are what is giving me a problem as I don't really know what to do.

I'm not sure whether my concerns are valid but the size of these doors is daunting to me. That's why I was looking to buy the doors. I can glue up a nine foot door but I'm worried about planing it. Also, I haven't checked the price of walnut stock but my gut tells me it'd be cheaper to make out of poplar then apply a veneer but I can't find a veneer that is long enough. Actually, even if I did glue it up, I don't know how temerature change and humidity would affect such a huge slab (I've never made anything this big, the only doors I've ever made are raised panel cabinet doors!) Any advice is MUCH appreciated. Thanks.

David

[whit3rd]

Well, a 10 foot walnut plank can be resawed to make your long veneers, and don't worry about flattening a whole door like it was a rough board to be thicknessed. Get it flat or nearly so, and you're done.

I hope this is an interior door problem, slab doors are (IMHO) ugly and I distrust their stability when compared to frame-and-panel doors. I'd expect a 3-0 by 9-0 slab to be a wood skin over a steel fire door, in a commercial building of some sort.

[DanG]

You might try these folks:

doors are fairly expensive, but the show is worth the price of admission. I've had their products on several projects.

[Amigo108]

Yeah, it's in a commercial building. The doors need to be routed out to attach/insert hidden closers as well as the lockset, Not sure I could do that with a steel door. It is an interior door and I too was worried about the stability which is another reason I didn't want to try and make them. These things are like dining room tables on hinges!

[Mike O.]

If you're not going to build them I think you're looking at a custom door. Check with the guy at your lumber yard and see what door manufacturers he carries. Most of the larger manufacturers can custom build about anything you want. It will be expensive and you'll need some lead time. We've done a few jobs with custom doors from Simpson and they build a good door.

Mike O.

[krw]

Are there any issues with fire codes? Often commercial doors need to be fire rated, which would seem to be a difficult proposition for such custom doors.

[Amigo108]

I think I found a supplier to custom build the doors for me.

There's no issue with fire rating. I think as a rule, solid core doors are at least 1 hour fire rated.

[krw]

I don't know the rules, but I thought they had to be rated and listed by a fire underwriter's organization, sorta like UL lists electrical devices. I ran into this problem when I built my garage (stupid building inspector).