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