How to build custom doors | Crafted by NS Builders

In this episode of Crafted, Ken DeCost is going over the plan to build 14 custom interior doors for our #NSB152 project. These doors need to be FLAT. The NS Builders shop team comes up with a unique way to build incredibly durable, and flat doors using an aluminum honeycomb interior, LVL studs, and MDF. This is not your average how-to video on making custom interior doors. Tune in!
In this video
Ken DeCost @kendecost on Instagram
Nick Schiffer @NS Builders
Zach Grant @aheadred on Instagram
Ian Labiche @labiche_woodworks on Instagram
James Letourneau @jamesatnsb on Instagram
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#NSB152

[@Urathe]

I couldn't imagine how long it would take to do the entire house with these doors. Wait time along with the epoxy bag would be quite the time investment

[@CrosshairII7]

Amazing craftsmanship! Love the use of unconventional materials to add rigidity and integrity.

[@deckmonkey1459]

You always make beautiful stuff. Also, great background music at the right volume. It's a good balance between it, the shop noise and the talking. Apparently your editor is a craftsman too.

[@nena4215]

That aluminum honeycomb is trick as all get out! Super nice vacuum table and bag system, super cool!! Thank you for showing all that, never, ever disappointed!!!!

[@Mrdamen1234]

Always impressed with your attention to detail and the technical challenges you overcome when considering mix uses of materials, great job!

[@kyleromine1477]

LOVE the “How to” videos!!!! Even though I’ve heard you don’t want to be a “how to” channel... lol. Thanks for sharing!

[@deancheng5827]

I admire the craftsmanship and taking on something that most would source out. I can't help but think that using the aluminum h/c panels directly as the doors would have been a cool move. They are stiff, lightweight, flat, smooth, all the criteria for a door. On the vertical sides route the core back 1/4" and fill with clear epoxy. At the top and bottom side, route the core and insert with epoxy machined aluminum blocks with the appropriate features for the hinges. The existing aluminum skin can be polished to a mirror finish.

[@edvinsabic657]

Love the channel and all the little details you guys shine a light on. I noticed that the LVLs in the closet doors were oriented so that the grain of the lvl was parallel to the face of the door, instead of being perpendicular. Placing it this way will cause the lvl to lose all of its structural value and force you to use oak filler to install your handles. We build our flush doors with 1-1/2" deep x 1-3/4 wide lvl stile and rail and a core made of 23" tall x 1-1/2 thick particleboard rectangles, and sandwich it all between 1/8" hardboard in a vacuum press. Lastly, we add 1/4" solid edge, then veneer it.

[@minerdave]

Outstanding content and craftsmanship! Love seeing the details behind your excellent work.

[@shantanarain2841]

Those hinges tho whistle what a joy it must have been to work with such a piece

[@ElectricUnicycles]

Love this content. It's great to know you guys exist.

[@rasmuskurten8455]

Wow.... sublime! Congrats guys!

[@lrc87290]

Made my own interior doors, 2-6 x 80 , sort of by using 1- 3/4 solid core slabs covered with a kitchen counter type laminate of our choice. Extremely heavy and some are a little bowed. When I was routing the deep part of the hinge pockets for the Sugatsune hinges I cut through the solid edge banding . The "solid core" looked more like loose fill OSB. They worked out and look great. But this video is giving me ideas for next time. Thanks for posting

[@wags99999]

Great craftsmanship... impressive work.

[@SuperMassman]

I like that your super focused on the smallest details,, if I can ever afford to build my Craftsman home your someone I would talk to.

[@woodconceptsdm]

Great work. I really admire the work Ken and the great team of craftsman produce in the shop. I noticed you tried using cutoffs of the aluminum core as cauls for applying the edge banding. Did that work well? Do you still use them for edge glue ups?

[@randyoreilly8699]

Ns builders, great video! Honeycomb is awesome idea. I have heard of using steel/aluminum frames for custom doors with hard wood veneers but a vacuum bag with honeycomb structure I like that a lot. -O'Reilly's Construction

[@unitwoodworking5403]

👍👍Thanks for a nice and interesting video.

[@graememckay561]

Looking forward to seeing these bad boys painted! (job for ZK perhaps?)

[@ccwnyc5671]

"I would build every door like this." My thinking too. And there's no limit to size, thanks to that crazy aluminum core. Just amazing.

[@sergeybebenin]

Perfection as always

[@ispacedesign]

This really is next-level. AL honeycomb door cores. Those recessed center-pivots are likely over $1k alone. If anyone in Texas is building like this, please make yourself known.

[@alexh5894]

that mortiser router jig!!!!

[@Njao6q4vrv73]

Amazing guys

[@sandrochiavaroBeerCircles]

Kick ass door fab. Some many reasons why not to do it like you did, but non of them are valid. These will last 200 years, maybe more👍🏼👍🏼

[@Matasky2010]

Right, and why would anyone need a door to last 200 years?

[@mattfabian9758]

Those are going to be solid doors!!! Cant wait to see them all done. Where did you find the aluminum honeycomb??

[@statesidechippie]

Yes, to all of it.

[@WhippyEU]

Yeah I do this in my shed every day.

[@ronh9384]

Excellent video and a bullet proof build as expected. Where did you guys get the aluminum honeycomb and what epoxy and hinges did you use? I would like to build some for the front of my house to cut down on exterior road noise... I wonder if the honeycomb could be filled with liquid foam to increase sound attenuation and increase the R- value and maybe add some additional strength. I remember years ago watching an episode of the New Yankee Workshop with Norm Abram. In this particular episode he made a torsion box workbench/assembly table out of plywood with a removable upper and lower mdf skin. This thing is straight and strong enough that I can park a large motorcycle or my riding mower on it with zero deflection. I once got eight 200 pound plus guys dancing on it at the same time as they didn’t believe me about the lack of deflection. After the dancing I got an idea.... My son was getting married outdoors at our house and wanted a dance floor. We couldn’t find one safe for setting up on grass that could safely hold enough people. I built 7 more like the size and style of the workbench with a single step all the way around the exterior of the floor and it worked perfectly. The company that came to retrieve their tent was about to load them on their truck but couldn’t get them apart and had my name on them. The owner of the company came out trying to say they were theirs until I proved I made them. He asked me to make 20 more and I have made a few more over the years. That was probably 20 plus years ago and I still use the first two workbench/tables/dance floors that I made. Any thoughts on using either design as an exterior door? Thanks for sharing the video! Ron

[@beurky]

Next level as usual. I've made custom doors with 1.75" slabs of MDF. But honeycomb core is so much cooler I get not wanting to screw into MDF, but what's wrong with screwing into lvl?

[@yiddyschwartz7694]

berky I believe LVL is similar to plywood where it’s likely to split the layers of ply and pull out.

[@lrc87290]

It's offset. So it is in the MDF skin

[@beurky]

@@yiddyschwartz7694 interesting. I've personally never had any pullout issues with plywood or LVL's. I didn't know that was a thing! I'm doing something similar though. I'm getting ready to start on a few sliding doors by glueing together 2 sheets of particle core laminate (inner laminate layers planed off).since they'll weight about 85lbs each, I'll glue & screw a ⅝" maple edge on top so the sliding hardware has something to hold on to.

[@Matasky2010]

Imagine a high-end customer who's big concern is the flatness of his closet doors lol. Sounds like an engineer of some sort. RUN!

[@SonnyCal797]

Damn wish you were located on Long Island I'd be begging to work with u guys. Sick crew a craftsman working.

[@ChargerRTRT]

Where did you source the aluminum panels? Love these how-to videos

[@squeekhobby4571]

Awesome build! Question: what would be the cost difference if we get residential doors build compared to buying at big box stores.

[@michael.schuler]

Did the LVL studs eat up your planer knives?

[@renderwood]

Didn't the epoxy stick to the vacuum bag?

[@wyattspeightrhue1029]

I like how this vacuum bag opens. Who makes it?

[@chrisE815]

damn. Hopefully you showcase the doors after the install.

[@dblockard]

Your clients must have unlimited budgets. From a business perspective, I'd love to know if you bid this job and if you actually made any money on building the doors the way you did. I've been in the millwork business 45 years and worked with many high end millwork companies. All of the ones that did this level of work could never get the clients or GC's to pay what it's worth. Many went out of business trying to produce stuff like that. Love to hear a response. FYI, beautiful work!

[@michael.schuler]

Could you share the source for the aluminum honeycomb material? Thanks.

[@marccoogan6190]

Could you tell me where you purchased the aluminum honeycomb?

[@BobbyBaloney]

Aluminium, MDF, Oak, Engineered Lumber, Maple, mirror ans lots of glue, that is a weird sandwich!

[@CC_Foster]

Nick, I want to replace our Front, Main Entrance with a Pivot Door....any vendors you would recommend? Custom Built is good as well. But we want it to be a real focal point

[@NSBuilders]

Custom for sure.

[@danielgeng2306]

I think you meant 8’ tall verses 12-1/2’ ?

[@rockt73]

unreal

[@tbas7161]

where did you get the hinges?

[@ChargerRTRT]

Are those the System 1 hinges? Beautiful work!

[@NSBuilders]

Yes it is! Thank you

[@jevon5945]

Ken, where did you get the aluminum honeycomb panel?

[@brianwball40]

All well and good, but seriously...How much would this cost?

[@thyslop1737]

Why did you not dovetail the corners for the edge banding? or box joint?

[@NSBuilders]

Won't be seen.

[@MrSteviegall]

what was the square you were using at 12:42

[@Matasky2010]

A lot of time spent making/drilling/mortising/gluing in oak blocking.

[@fullmortise]

Kinda weird, aluminium honeycomb core for a paint grade door. You probably could have ordered a commercial hollow metal door steel stiffened and skinned it with mdf. Steelcraft or curries. Or a aluminum door from speciallite

[@blamuk]

Isn't the different material rates of expansion an issue over time? I'd think some wood core would be more durable?

[@jaandel1]

In simple words is a pivot door...

[@JuanGonzalez-wy8mo]

Saw dust

[@brandonhampton3533]

Aluminum honeycomb... How could you possibly make it NOT flat?

[@danklayum4808]

5K Per closet door ?

[@sampep]

Probably close haha They do look amazing through

[@Patrick46375]

first

[@americannumber2]

You will lose your job when Chinese see how you make simple doors

[@jimkirkpatrick7269]

Your end product is top notch. But your millwork guy is an annoying up talker. Every sentence is a question?

[@manuelsantiago6512]

MDF...garbage.. Use better material

[@NSBuilders]

Cool 👍