I am intending to trim 1/2" from the bottom of a solid oak panel door using a skil saw. Do I have to take any precautions to avoid tear-out of the ends of the stiles? Thanks.
- posted
17 years ago
Trimming a door
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- posted
17 years ago
Score the door with a sharp knife just a hair north of your cut and you should be good to go even with a poor blade.
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17 years ago
Jimmy has the answer, score the door first. Also make sure you don't have any burrs on the bottom of you skill saw table or use cardboard or tape under it to be safe. You don't want to scratch your door with the skill saw.
Mike O.
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- posted
17 years ago
Scoring with a knife would help.
I'd also try to figure out if there is enough wood there to take a 1/2" off without destroying the door. I recall trimming a wood paneled storm door as a kid only to find that the bottom of the tennons then showed. Apparently the door had been trimmed before or the tennons were quite wide. ;~)
John
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17 years ago
How would the bottom of the door show? You'd have to be about 1/8" tall to see anything.
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17 years ago
This month's (January 2007) Fine Home Bouilding magazine has a short how-to on trimming doors. I glanced at it. There was a picture of making measurments while the door is still hung, there was tape involved in the cutting and I think I saw a scoring knife......
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17 years ago
I could have used that how-to when I cut a door down to accommodate carpet and ended up taking 3/4 inch off the TOP...
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17 years ago
They would show after cutting but that wasn't the problem. The problem is that if you cut the bottom side off the mortise there isn't anything to support and hold the bottom rail and panels in place... though the mortise and tennon is nailed (not glued) everything eventually falls due to gravity.
John