Project: Altering Oak Veneered Doors

[Plasma Dan]

Altering Oak Veneered Doors​

This project is part of my larger build thread here. This thread was created to make it easier to find information regarding this project and is one of several upcoming dedicated project threads to include extra information and bonus photos that are not included in the main build thread.

Veneered doors are a great cost saving alternative to solid wood doors. The price difference can be extraordinary. However, unlike solid wood doors; veneered doors only allow for around 10mm or so to be trimmed off each side. This means if you have unusual sized door casings you normally wouldn't be able to use them and would instead be forced to either fork-out the extra money for solid wood doors, or compromise with cheaper, inferior doors.

I was faced with this dilemma during my build project (here). This circa 1890s terrace house has some odd sized door casings, hence why I first started looking at solid oak doors. These oak 5/6 panel doors are becoming quite popular and for good reason, they look stunning! At the time of writing this these solid oak doors were available from Homebase for ~£240 each (here). The same style oak veneered doors were available for just ~£80 each (here); a big price difference. At the time Homebase were running an offer for 2 or more doors and I was able to grab 2 oak veneered doors for just £130 with delivery. Bargain! Except they were way oversized for my door casings and therefore could not be used... but I had a plan.

Most veneered doors have a small solid wood trimming block on each side. This trimming block not only allows the door to be trimmed slightly but also provides the strength needed to hang the door on its hinges and fit the latch. If these blocks are trimmed too far it's not just an aesthetic issue; the screws for the hinges will not grab. The particle board inside these doors will not hold screws like solid wood, especially small screws like those used for the hinges.

In theory you could cut these trimming blocks off and attach some new ones to both hide the exposed particle board and provide a place to fasten the hinges. This would be fine if the doors were being painted, but I wanted an oiled finish, therefore I required the matching wood grain from the original trimming block.

Using my Festool TS55 plunge saw & guide rail, I first cut the trimming block off one side of the door. This could also be done using a table saw or possibly a good circular saw with a straight edge as a guide. The particle board inside these doors chews-up blades pretty quickly so a spare blade would be a good idea before starting.

With the trimming block removed and put to one side for later, the waste section of this side of the door was removed. I only had the 1400mm guide rail when doing this so I had to stop and move the guide rail up to finish the cut, being very careful to get the blade back in the same position each time. A longer guide rail such as the 2400mm would be better suited.

Once the waste section was removed the next step was to re-attach the trimming block to the now smaller door.

To re-attach the trimming block I used my Triton SuperJaws, with a long straight edge to even-out the clamping pressure for the glue.

This shows how I worked-out the cuts to get the door to the new size. 735mm is the size of the door casing, minus a 3mm gap on each side, minus 1mm for the new veneer for the latch side, minus 14mm for the width of the trimming block in my case.

Regular D4 wood glue was used to glue the trimming block back onto the door. With the surface area this glue is more than strong enough for the job.

Additional clamps were used to further even-out the clamping pressure along the entire length of the trimming block.

Any excess glue was wiped-off at this stage to make sanding easier. As you can see the joint is completely unnoticeable.

A matching roll of iron-on veneer is used for the latch side of the door since it doesn't hold any weight. This also avoids the need to have a joint in the veneer on both sides of the door. This 10m roll of American White Oak veneer was bought from a seller on eBay for ~£15. This is enough to do both doors, with some spare.

The next day the wood glue had dried and the trimming block re-attached. After a light sanding over the veneer joint line the latch side of the door was cut to size the same way as before, only this time the trimming block is not salvaged. The door at this stage is 1mm smaller than the final required width. The veneer makes-up the final 1mm to bring the door to size.

 

[Plasma Dan]

The veneer is applied using a regular iron set to heat only (no steam). It's fairly easy to apply the veneer. Starting from the middle, slowly work towards one side, keeping the veneer straight as you go. I used a sheet of plain paper in-between the veneer and the iron to prevent any burn marks from forming.

The key to making sure this stuff works as advertised is to go back over it again with the iron. This is especially important at the edges. I tilted the iron slightly on each edge to ensure a good seamless bond.

The glue is fully set once it has cooled. The excess is then carefully trimmed using a Stanley knife & a small block plane, then sanded smooth.

Once the door is sanded it can be installed the usual way. First checking the fit, then measuring / marking the position for the hinges (making sure to put the hinges on the side with the trimming block).

The door is hung with 3 hinges; as internal doors should be. This is especially important for solid doors (veneered or not) not only due to the extra weight, they also tend to be more susceptible to warping / twisting. The third hinge helps support the door & prevent that from happening. It also looks much more professional.

The handle & latch were installed the usual way, being careful not to damage the thin veneer with the chisel.

Most door handles these days use small bolts instead of screws, both handles are bolted together through the door. For veneered or hollow doors this is a must. Small screws would simply not grab properly, causing the handle to come loose over time.

With the strike plate installed, that's this door done.

The other door was done in exactly the same way, but this time the door casing is only 706mm wide, so we need to remove a total of 62mm from the original 762mm width door, including the 3mm gap on each side.

Again the 14mm trimming block is first removed, cutting 17mm from the edge of the door (14mm plus the 3mm kerf of the blade). After chopping-out the waste section the trimming block is glued and re-applied to the door and again left overnight to dry.

There's a just barely visible joint line at this stage, this will clear-up after sanding.

You can see the difference in size after one side of the door has been altered.

 

[Plasma Dan]

This door has one small area where the change in grain is noticeable after altering. Fortunately this is only visible on the bottom of one side and will never be noticed after oiling but it's something to watch-out for.

The latch side of the door was trimmed to size (again 1mm less than required) ready to take the iron-on veneer.

Once trimmed & sanded the door was hung the same as before using stainless steel ball-bearing hinges. I recommend always using ball-bearing hinges these days, they're cheap to buy online and make the doors seem much lighter & easier to open / close compared to standard hinges.

For those wondering about the extra wide door casing for this door, this was custom made to fit into this opening after soundproofing the room (see here).

Both doors were hung at this stage, but not really complete. As part of the soundproofing I wanted automatic drop-seals installed on each door. The bottoms of the doors were first trimmed to size with the plunge saw.

I used more of the iron-on veneer to cover the exposed particle board on the bottom of the door. While this isn't needed for visual purposes, if the door were to scrape against the carpet / floor mat / anything else; there is a risk this could tear the veneer along the bottom edge of the door. It's also a bad idea to leave the particle board exposed as it could expand due to humidity changes and this would effectively destroy the entire door.

Veneer trimmed & sanded as before...

 

[Plasma Dan]

I didn't have the appropriate jig or router bit to cut the slots for the seals so I had to come-up with another solution. I made two right-angle clamping jigs using off-cuts of 3x1 & MDF. These are clamped flush with the bottom of the door and provide a place to clamp the Festool guide rail onto.

Setting-up for the first of several passes with the plunge saw...

After carefully removing enough material to fit the seal into the slot, the seal was cut to length and installed into the door. Both doors received the same treatment.

The seal drops approximately 14mm down from the bottom of the door when the plunger is pressed inwards. This is enough to form a nice draught and acoustic seal against the door threshold.

With both doors finally done, they were given 2 coats of Osmo 3060 Door Oil. I opted for a clear satin finish with these doors. The oil really brings out the grain.

The doors were removed one more time during final decorating, ready for the carpet fitters.

Admittedly if you were to pay a carpenter to do this the labour charge involved would probably out-weight the saving compared to using solid oak doors, but doing this myself saved me over £300 and you can't argue with the results.

Dan.

 

[richiewill83]

Hi mate. An old post I know but I’m in need of doing a similar job with resending my new doors.

great job on yours by the looks, the process seems fairly straight forward and a good saving compared to solid oak or getting a chippy in.

The only worry I have is the glue joint where you add the trim back on? Is that noticeable at all? It certainly doesn’t look noticeable in the pics.

great job and any advice on the glue job appreciated

richie

 

[Plasma Dan]

The only worry I have is the glue joint where you add the trim back on? Is that noticeable at all? It certainly doesn’t look noticeable in the pics.

Not really, since the join follows the wood grain anyway. You will need to sand it well to blend the join. Just a wipe down before oiling, ie, don't vacuum the sawdust off as this helps to fill any gaps when oiling.

Before sanding...

After sanding...

Can you see the join? ...

Dan.

 

[richiewill83]

Hi mate

no mate can’t really notice it , great job! If that bottom pic without oil ?
I don’t have a track saw so thinking of best way to achieve the long trim cut

thanks for the pics mate

 

[Plasma Dan]

If that bottom pic without oil ?

Yeah that's before oiling.

I don’t have a track saw so thinking of best way to achieve the long trim cut

You could do it with a circular saw, a straight edge and a stead hand.

Dan.

 

[sotor]

Nice job, very neat!

What colour carpet tiles and wall colour did you use for finishing?