How to build a door out of REAL wood - DIY woodworking project

I have a small woodworking shop in my garage with limited tools, but I still like to make cool stuff and in this video I build an interior door out of real wood from scratch! I show you how to mill rough cut lumber lumber, how to use a jointer, how to install panels and how to put it all together. I also show you how to install a door knob, how to install door hinges and how to install a door. This DIY door / diy woodworking project was a challenge, but I am really happy with the results. It is a great way to top off the DIY remodel of my office.
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#DIYwithDave #Woodworking #woodwork #carpentry #DIYhomeimprovement #DIY #howtobuildadoor #diylife #diywoodworking #woodworkingprojects

[@donbailey1970]

so this was the best video on building your own doors!!😀

[@DIYwithDave]

Very kind words, thank you so much!

[@olddawgdreaming5715]

Great job Dave, your door turned out super ! You got the jig you made and it did a great job also. Keep up the good work and videos. Thanks for sharing with us.

[@DIYwithDave]

Yeah, that was a fun one. I am looking forward to making more doors in the future now that I have the hang of it.

[@robbeverly1980]

Dave, thanks for this video! I am completing the reno of my kitchen and built the cabinets myself. I have a door in the kitchen that goes to the basement. I wanted to raise the height of that door 6", but for some reason have been scared to death to do it and make a door to fit... even though I just built all the cabinets. Watching your video helped with ideas and confidence to tackle it. Excellent video and thanks!!

[@DIYwithDave]

Thank you so much. I am glad that I could be helpful!

[@MannsWoodlandPerspective]

Might be my future. I'll probably need a 75-76in tall door for a basement remodel for under a centerline house beam.

[@frankennedy1562]

Excellent ideas Dave! You definitely think out of the box. That, I really like. Thanks

[@DIYwithDave]

Thanks! I'm glad you found it useful!

[@achilles1373]

Good job man. Earned a sub. I'm sure you already know but they make kits that make cutting the accessories of the door super easy. If you have to do a lot of these I would recommend investing in some. Have a good day!

[@DIYwithDave]

Thanks for the sub! I have looked into those kits. They really do simplify things. Thanks for the tip!

[@achilles1373]

Good job man. Earned a sub. I'm sure you already know but they make kits that make cutting the accessories of the door super easy. If you have to do a lot of these I would recommend investing in some. Have a good day! Time to bust that door trim off and install some one bys on there. It would really make that door pop.

[@KStewart-th4sk]

I have to admit that i am amazed that you were able to drill the latch bolt free-hand. I certainly am not a carpenter or woodworker but any time i use a drill i am always worried about drilling a STRAIGHT hole. Any advice? Considering you seem to have thousands of dollars in tools, i was expecting to see one of those kits i have seen in hardware stores for installing locksets. Then i watched you do an excellent job without!

[@jbb5470]

Nice job, I really like your method of building this door. I need to make one for our home and with your help I think I can give it a try! Thanks for your post!

[@DIYwithDave]

My pleasure. I'm glad that you found it useful.

[@sergiobecerrill8291]

Great video! When I build doors, I leave the panels floating in the channels to allow for the expansion and contraction of the frame of the door. LMK how your door went with any exp/con. If you plan to build more doors I suggest getting a festool domino joiner, makes making multiple doors a snap.

[@GHI-ii1tk]

Thanks!

[@DIYwithDave]

No problem!

[@Bart-dg6qv]

Truly great looking door. Personally I wouldn't paint it because of awesome natural wood color.

[@DIYwithDave]

Natural wood would look great, but. If it were going to be natural, I would need to use different panels.

[@TheJsaffle]

Good call on the dowel. If you look at actual dowel pins, they are fluted. If you're going to cut your own dowels to save money, what I have done in the past I set at my table saw about 1/16 high and rip a groove on four sides of the dowel. Obviously it's a little tricky ripping down round material on a table saw, but it doesn't have to be perfectly straight you're just looking for some relief grooves.

[@DIYwithDave]

That is a great idea. I'm planning on building more doors and so I will have to give that a shot. My only problem now is that my table saw is terrible and so I may have to wait until I upgrade.

[@squeekhobby4571]

Best door making video! Great job

[@christopherperisho4819]

Great video! Looking forward to watching the door frame video

[@DIYwithDave]

Thanks! I posted a door frame video when I installed my vintage door and I built this frame in much the same way. Check it out here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIS6fmdqrbt4fJI

[@EricMeyerMaker]

Looking good! I liked the edit on the video.

[@DIYwithDave]

Thanks!

[@3csrescueranch]

This is totally awesome, but you have tools I only dream of having. I have a skill saw, a drill and some chizzles. How do I make a solid door with that?

[@ChannelStonie]

Thank you for that Dave. Liked how you talk about whet you was doing... Great video and nice door.

[@DIYwithDave]

Thank you so much for the great feedback! I'm glad you found it useful.

[@zayedantonio6932]

Amazing and beautiful door. Good job!

[@DIYwithDave]

Thank you so much! You are too kind.

[@sukaboy00]

Nice work Dave. I wanted to build a modern interior door with 3 large lights and pencil thin intermediate rails. This video was really great. I was thinking to build a door like yours with a single big window panel and then add 2 trim pieces in the middle to divide the window into 3. I thought that'd be simplest. But i wasn't sure how flexible it would be. Or is it better to have wider cross pieces like you did and have glass inserts.

[@DIYwithDave]

t all depends upon the design of your door. A single large window with cross pieces would be easiest so long as your stiles are super straight. If you did it that way then your cross pieces over the window could be as big or as small as you like. The cross pieces add structure and strength, but are not entirely necessary. Good luck! I hope my video helps!

[@BronkBuilt]

Nice work.

[@DIYwithDave]

Thanks!

[@DIYwithDave]

Thanks for watching! Please consider subscribing. 😀 kzbin.info/door/IPMP_hV7LAeO4zMlBAOnrA?view_as=subscriber?sub_confirmation=1

[@benjaminbunny99]

So wait, did you cut tongues into the ends of the rails to fit into the grooves on the stiles?

[@brettleisy356]

honestly I would stick with the doweling over dominos or other fancy styles, they are finding testing to be on par and in some cases better than the dominos. the reason why is those are subject to humidity as well and the grain structure is almost exclusively in the other direction, meaning when they swell the other wood isn't traveling with it and cause it to start splitting, more wood, more travel it has, specially the softer woods they are typically made out of. the other use is for easy take down if used on interior shelves of a shelving unit. the main reason for having structures like these is during glue up and setting period. there are a lot of extremely durable structures that don't use any joinery things and are highly durable just from the glue bond. as a test years ago I built a small table using just wood glue and clamping pressure, then set it in the barn where its been used a lot by my nephew, step father, and myself, I didn't seal it or do a lot of work to the wood, cause I didn't think it would last this long. its slowly getting wonky but its the wood that is failing and not the glue.

[@uslanja]

Very nice door and excellent video!

[@DIYwithDave]

Thank you!! I'm glad you found it useful.

[@SuperMrMiniman]

How did you make the square spline that you mentioned in your article? Do you just route a slot either side and cut a chunk of the panel material to bridge them?

[@matthew-PointBreakProperties]

+1 subscriber from this video. Good stuff.

[@DIYwithDave]

I appreciate it. Thanks for watching!

[@TheDradge]

Why did you groove the rails on the ends? The ends butt up to the stiles so it seems like you've just removed a lot of gluing surface.

[@DIYwithDave]

Great question. You can't just butt the rails to the stiles and glue because over time with repeated use the door would fall apart. I used 2 kinds of joinery to join the rails and stiles. First, I drilled 1/2 inch dowels with the jig I built and second, I drilled the groove and used loose tennons. The loose tenons add strength and glue surface. It has been a while since I made that video and so I don't remember if I featured that very well, but I think that if you look closely at the glue-up you can see the loose tenons.

[@TheDradge]

@@DIYwithDave I'm a time-served carpenter so I know about the use of tenons whether real tenons or dowels, but the panel grooving on the ends is superfluous. You only need grooves for the panels on the inside stile edges and the top and bottom of the rails. Grooving the ends of the rails is what I was commenting on. Overall good job though!

[@fbpliegorrivero8869]

Great job!

[@DIYwithDave]

Thanks!

[@iraqresitance9663]

My greeting from iraq well done

[@DIYwithDave]

Thank you very much! A pleasure to have a friend from Iraq.

[@iraqresitance9663]

@@DIYwithDave 👑

[@seankreynolds]

Great job, and very informative, thank you!

[@DIYwithDave]

I'm glad you found it useful!

[@dariusrh.8507]

great looking door....but limited tools? :)

[@DIYwithDave]

Yeah... I get that I have more tools than the average Dave, but I have acquired them for cheap over a long period. There are certainly other, more expensive tools that would make the job much easier.

[@oldporkchops]

Very informative video. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. You sure earned a subscriber. Are the panels that go in between the rails and stiles made of MDF? It wasn't mentioned in the video, that's why I asked.

[@DIYwithDave]

Thanks for the compliment. I'm glad you found the video useful. I used half inch mdf, but you could also use plywood or some other stable material that won't expand or conract too much. If you were to use real wood panels for say a stained door rather than a painted door you would have to modify it slightly to leave room for expansion and contraction.

[@oldporkchops]

@@DIYwithDave Thanks, Dave. This helps.

[@OMGWTFLOLSMH]

Very nice job but way overkill for a tiny closet door and way too much work for me. I would have just ordered one.

[@DIYwithDave]

Lol. You are absolutely right that it is overkill. The real reason that I made it was as a proof of concept as I was planning on making other doors.

[@martinlobb3815]

Clever guy and done a great job, but not many people have a whole workshop at there disposal, just the sash clamps alone would be over £100 , just my opinion but a moulded door for £20 cut and shut would be be so much easier. But good informative video 👍

[@DIYwithDave]

Thanks! You are correct, not everyone has all the fanciest tools, but the great thing about woodworking is that you can work with just about anything. While I have a good space and some nice tools nearly every tool (with only a few exceptions) is second-hand. I think that is the best way to get started in woodworking until you learn what you like and save your pennies to buy it. Thanks again for watching!

[@wengerj05]

What router bit was that? Striking out finding one but maybe I don’t know what I’m looking for

[@Cfish613]

Wow what an amazing video! Just curious how does the paint look with that foam roller? And how does it compare to spray

[@DIYwithDave]

Thanks! The paint looks great - nice and smooth. I did two coats and sanded between. I have a homeright sprayer, but don't actually use it much because you have to thin the paint which is a hassle, not to mention the problem of overspray. If I had a nicer sprayer and a dust free space where I didn't have to worry about overspray, then the sprayer would definitrely make a better finish, but for my purposes the foam roller worked just fine.

[@HissCranson]

Are a jointer and thickness planer absolutely essential or is it possible to get lumber that is already the right thickness?

[@DIYwithDave]

The short answer is no, a thickness planer and a jointer are not absolutely essential, but you have to have some way to ensure that the lumber is flat and straight and all the same thickness. You could do it with hand tools, which is how it was done in the old days, but that is incredibly time and labor intensive. You could buy lumber that is already surfaced on 4 sides (usually labeled as S4S) but there are two problems with that; first, the more processed your lumber is the more expensive it will be. Second, wood moves and there is a chance that the lumber could twist or warp as it acclimates to the room it is in. That is less pronounced in hardwoods and woods that have been properly dried, but it still happens as the conditions in your house are different than the conditions the wood was acclimated to previously (see my comment response to Mrdubomb). That movement can be a problem for a door as it wouldn't take much twisting or warping to make it so that it doesn't shut properly. Also, to your question about thickness, most interior doors are 1 3/8 inches thick. Lumber is generally not surfaced to that thickness unless you were to special order it that way. It is most common to find S4S lumber at 3/4 of an inch thick. You could glue two pieces together to create boards that are 1 1/2 inches. That would work, but again, it will cost you. There are also other ways to build doors; some of which are much easier and cheaper. For example, You could start with a plywood base and add faux rails and stiles. No jointer or planer needed there and it would be very easy and inexpensive. I may do something like that to replace some bifold doors, but for other areas of my home I want something that is nicer and higher quality. Lastly, tools are an investment. If you only buy a thickness planer and a jointer to build one door then you would be far better off just special ordering a door rather than building it yourself, but if you plan on building other things out of rough cut lumber, then a jointer and a thickness planer are indispensable in my opinion. I bought my jointer used for $125 and the thickness planer new for around $500 (you could certainly get a cheaper one). Since then I have remodeled my entire kitchen, built tables, benches, boxes, cutting boards, beds, and more. I have definitely gotten my money's worth. I hope that helps.

[@Haverdink]

Looks fantastic. Was that MDF that you used for the panels?

[@DIYwithDave]

Thanks! Yes it was.

[@la4lakers]

What is the router bit you used to create the groove for your panels?

[@Mrdubomb]

What type of wood did you use Any issues with warping since it was done Was the mdf a press fit into the groove or sloppy to allow for expansion Great job

[@DIYwithDave]

I used a kiln dried rustic hard maple. I bought about 300 bf a while back for about $350 and so I have been using it in a lot of my projets. Prior to doing the final milling I kept the boards in the same room for about 2 weeks, similar to what you would do with wood floors. I hoped that this would help them acclimate and I think that it worked well as there hasn't been much movement at all and no warping. I would be really hesitant to use lumber that is not dried well. I always leave a bit of space when I cut panels, but ultimately I think that the wood movement will be minimal because the rails/stiles are relatively narrow.

[@Ricciuto1980]

@@DIYwithDave woah, how did you get 300 bf of hard maple for $350? That's a steal!

[@paulkinderman7653]

What type of wood do you recommend?

[@DIYwithDave]

You could use any wood that is properly dried. I used hard maple because it is what I had on hand and it paints well. Framing lumber from the hardware store has too high a moisture content (usually around 12%-15%) and will warp which is problematic for a door. Any furniture grade wood with a moisture content of around 7%-10% will do fine. Pine, poplar, maple, oak (if it's stained and not painted) would also be fine. Hope that helps!

[@lombardave]

Did I miss it? What kind of wood are you using for this?

[@DIYwithDave]

I used hard maple, but any kiln dried, stable wood would do. Also, because it is painted I used 1/2 inch plywood for the panels.

[@lombardave]

@@DIYwithDave Awesome, thanks for the response. I've been thinking about making some closet doors but had no idea where to start. I really appreciate all the time and work you put into this video!

[@DIYwithDave]

My pleasure. Thanks for watching. Good luck!

[@detroitcommercialphotovide148]

looks great but the power tools needed cost a fortune, not to mention the space.

[@DIYwithDave]

I appreciate the comment, but I just work In my two car garage and I buy most of my tools second hand; like my table saw ($75) or my jointer ($125). If you were to buy all of those tools just to build yourself a door it certainly wouldn't be worth it, but I use them constantly for all sorts of things.

[@jungbechtospk40]

I will try to do it with woodglut plans.

[@hbauer4263]

GO UTES

[@DIYwithDave]

You know it!!

[@figueredoruley8050]

I'm really sure you can build it yourself. I did this 2 weeks ago thanks to the woodglut plans.

[@achilles1373]

Good job man. Earned a sub. I'm sure you already know but they make kits that make cutting the accessories of the door super easy. If you have to do a lot of these I would recommend investing in some. Have a good day!