Interior Barn Door

[Jonathan McCully]

Thank you all for joining me. I’m hopeful that this will be my first “full” project journal, and unlike some previous projects, I will remember to take pictures and carry this one through to completion.

This project is also the first major project in my new home and the first major project that I’ve done most of the design work for. That has led to a few challenges along the way, which I’ll discuss in a minute. 

So, in our brand new home, the entrance to my office, right off the front door, was supposed to have a barn door, however, the builder scrapped it at the end as he felt the project was going over budget (and was right). My wife would still like said barn door, and I wouldn’t mind a bit of privacy when I’m on regular Zoom/Teams calls in the office. I’ll need to extend my header as well as building a door. I’ve got the hardware currently on order from Rustica, a somewhat local barn door hardware company up near Salt Lake City.

After looking at lots of pictures of doors, I came up with the following plan:

I really like cherry as does my bride, and so, we decided upon a cherry door. Thanks to @Coop as well as a few others for suggestions on the design and joinery for the door. I purchased a nice stack of 4/4 and 6/4 cherry from a local hardwood dealer and set about breaking down into rough lengths. I found some really beautiful boards as you’ll hopefully be able to appreciate more as I go along. Because I don’t yet have my shop set up, I am building this door in my co-worker’s shop, so tried to get all of the boards broken down into rough length early. This became problematic however…

Got everything milled up in one day, thanks in part to my co-workers 5HP, 12” jointer along with his other amazing machines. Really puts my 6” Jet jointer to shame. Today, we got the frame laid out and half lap joints cut. Still need to do a bit of clean-up on those, but was pleased with the result. 

At this point, I laid my center stile across the frame and realized that somewhere along the way I’d made a miscalculation on the length of my panel boards. I still can’t figure out where I came up with that number. The inside length from the frame to the center stile was around 40 1/4” and I had rough cut all of my panels to 36” for a planned 33 3/8” length. This was a lesson in how relative dimensioning is definitely the way to go when it comes to a build, and had I had my shop ready to go and wasn’t toting wood to a friends, I’m hopeful, I would’ve used it. It also has motivated me to get working on learning Sketch-up as I’m hopeful that it would have demonstrated the error of my calculation much earlier. 

So, I went back to the drawing board and came up with an adapted design that my wife seems to be pleased with. 

This design adds and additional central stile and will allow me to use all of the panel boards I’ve already cut, adding a section of short panels through the middle. I may be able to use some of my off-cuts for the smaller boards as it is and am hopeful that this error won’t cost me a significant amount of money more. Thanks for following along. I’ll do my best to keep this updated as I get work done.

 

[wtnhighlander]

Good save! Seems like adapting to unexpected changes is par for the course in most of my projects, good to see it isn't just me! 

[treeslayer]

yep, good save, and that's some nice looking cherry, good choice

[Chestnut]

I really like the adjusted design, so I'll agree good save.

I adjust my design to fit the lumber i have on hand quite often. In your case it's due to a miscalculation, i have to admit I've done the same miscalculation MANY times. Mine is most often cutting a piece an inch short. I"ll measure 27 - 7/8 and cut at 26 - 7/8 because for some reason my brain thinks it's too difficult to move my hand the extra inch tot the right measurement.

[Jonathan McCully]

I really appreciate the encouragement from you all regarding my error. I often have the tendency to really beat myself up when it comes to some of these errors, particularly if it results in having to spend additional money on a project. It’s nice to know that I’ll not the only one who makes them, and hopefully, I’ll learn and not make them again.

[Chestnut]

Oh you'll make them again. I guarantee it.

[JohnG]

The only way you can avoid all woodworking mistakes is by quitting. 

[Coop]

Jonathan, will the diagonal pieces overlay the panel boards or are they the same thickness as your two center rails? 

[wtnhighlander]

7 hours ago, JohnG said:

The only way you can avoid all woodworking mistakes is by quitting. knitting.

... according to the Woodtalk podcast crew...

[Coop]

Apparently you’re not within arm reach of knitters! 

[Jonathan McCully]

1 hour ago, Coop said:

Jonathan, will the diagonal pieces overlay the panel boards or are they the same thickness as your two center rails? 

The diagonals will overly the panel boards on one side. They are just decorative, not structural. I was planning to just join them to the rails with dominos.

[Coop]

I’m not sure you will have enough mass (thickness) of the diagonals for dominos and if not, you may consider using pins/dowels to attach them. 

[Mark J]

Good point.  The diagonals will have to be much thinner stock than the cross pieces or they will stand proud.  

Are you going to put diagonal on the inside of the door, as well?  

[Jonathan McCully]

2 hours ago, Mark J said:

Good point.  The diagonals will have to be much thinner stock than the cross pieces or they will stand proud.  

Are you going to put diagonal on the inside of the door, as well?  

I had initially planned to put a diagonal on the inside as well, but scrapped that so that the panels and outer diagonal could be a bit larger. My final thickness for the frame came out to 1 1/4,” so I’m planning 5/8” for the panel boards with 1/2” for the diagonal. That will allow the panels to be inset 1/8” on the inside face of the door rather than being flush with the frame.

[Jonathan McCully]

Got my hardware in the mail today. Excited to see it. Just need to get the door ready for it. Purchased from a local company up north and quality seems fantastic.

[Coop]

Have you decided how you will treat the edge of your panel boards. Tongue and groove, ship lap, etc.? 

Also, how will you attach the diagonal boards? I was thinking maybe using 1/4” - 3/8” dowels of a contrasting color like walnut or maybe even stick with cherry? 

[Jonathan McCully]

27 minutes ago, Coop said:

Have you decided how you will treat the edge of your panel boards. Tongue and groove, ship lap, etc.? 

Also, how will you attach the diagonal boards? I was thinking maybe using 1/4” - 3/8” dowels of a contrasting color like walnut or maybe even stick with cherry? 

Planning to tongue and groove the panel boards and will domino them into the stiles. 

Haven’t made any decisions on the diagonals yet. I hadn’t thought of doing a dowel into the panel board with a contrasting color. This comment actually reminds me that you’d mentioned doing a dowel through my half-laps in the corners in a contrasting wood color. I think I’d prefer to do the dowel there as that would be symmetrical on both sides of the door, whereas a dowel through the diagonals would show up as a random dot in the panel on the backside, unless I decided to cut it short. May still do a dowel through the end of the diagonal into the rail or stile to join that into the frame, but that wouldn’t be visible. 

[Jonathan McCully]

Finally got back to this after another stretch of days on service in the hospital and having family for Thanksgiving.

This was my first attempt at making mortises, so I did a fair amount of practice before working on the actual workpiece. Marc’s new book was really helpful to me in setting this up and getting it cut. Laid out the mortises on both boards simultaneously to limit errors. 

The mortises are 1.5” deep, 3” long, and 1/2” wide. The center rails of the barn door will join into the stiles in these mortises. Only have a 1/4” spiral up cut, so had to take two passes. Feel like the result was acceptable for my first time and left just a small amount to be chiseled out to compete the mortises. Pretty happy overall, but would definitely take any tips you all have for the future.

[Coop]

If those cuts could be improved, it wouldn’t be me that could do it! Nice job! 

[treeslayer]

I agree with @Coop, I wish my first ones looked that good, well done

[wtnhighlander]

I'd call that a great start. You are off to the races, now!

[Jonathan McCully]

Been awhile since I’ve gotten back to this. Now that I’ve got a table saw, I don’t have to rely on finding time with my co-worker to get this done.

Made the initial dado cuts at the table saw and finessed the fit with a block plane. Considering it’s my first tenon I’ve made, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. Three more to go for the project. 
 

[Coop]

Sweet connection! 

[Jonathan McCully]

Finished up the tenons today and did a dry fit just to see how it all looks and to make sure that my distances for the inner panel boards are accurate. I laid the door handle on there just so my wife could see. 
 

The lower of the two central rails seems to be just a touch long so will need to adjust that but I’m otherwise happy with how it has come together.

[Coop]

Jonathan, something I did on my door build and am happy that I did. On your final dry fit, when you are really satisfied that all rails are square to the stiles, that the distance between rails are correct and that your diagonal measurements from corner to corner are equal, use blue tape to mark the locations where each center rail meets the stiles. This can be done at the center of each rail with a single piece of tape on both the rail and stile with corresponding fine pencil lines or a piece of tape on the stiles at the top and bottom location of the rails. In your haste In glueing this up, it will come in handy, especially if there is any slop between your mortises and tenons. Oh, and number your pieces using blue tape.