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robert_pritchard4

Can you make a door from 2x2 lumber? I mean the whole door

Margaret Richard
9 months ago

Long time reader, first time question-asker... I recently made a table where the top surface was a rectangle about 5 feet by 3, the perimeter formed by 6x6 beams, and in the central space was filled with a panel made from 2x2 lumber, 53 inches by 23, diagonal relative to the outer beams, alternating red and white wood. The 2x2 are glued together, and after seeing how strong the bond is, even without dowels or biscuits or anything like that, I started thinking about other applications. The one I'd like to do is a new front door, with the 2x2s horizontal, all the same color, stained and polyurethaned to a medium-dark, water-resistant exterior. Maybe put a little "speakeasy hatch" in it later, as those are something I've always wanted to have.


The guides I see online and in books about how to make a door involve the rails and the stiles and the panels and just do not appeal to me at all. Anyway, the thickness of the lumber is very close to that of my current front door, and with sanding I'm sure it would match. It's very strong, but I'm concerned about the panel bowing, either at the time of the gluing or later. There's been a little of that on the table but we were able to negate it by sanding down that section a little more, so it's thinner in that area but you can't tell unless you measured, cuz it's concealed by the 6x6s. But there'd be no such option on a door. Anybody have any experience with something like this and know you can do it without bowing, or know a way to counter it? Maybe two angle irons screwed to the back?


Thanks.



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