Manual of Purpose-Made Woodworking Joinery

78 Making doors and doorframes

bench, against the bench- stop, and plane carefully

(vigilantly) down to the gauge lines.

Using the marking gauge

For a right- handed person to use the gauge, it should

be held as shown, with the thumb on the stem

(behind the pin), the forefinger resting on the semi-

circular surface of the stock and the remaining fingers

at the back of the stock, giving side pressure against

the timber being marked. Always mark lightly at first

to overcome any grain deviations. Choose a manage-

able amount of material to gauge (say 300 to 500mm)

close to the front end; gauge it lightly, then more

heavily, then move backwards from the end of the

gauged line and gauge another manageable amount;

and so on until the rear end is reached. This technique

might sound disjointed, but in experienced hands, it

flows almost seamlessly. The gauge is easier to hold if

the face- edge arris – that rubs the inside of the out-

stretched thumb – is rounded off as shown.

Marking out the door

Whether machine- planed or hand- planed, the next

operation is to mark out the stiles and rails, etc, with

the exact length, width and joint details – this was

covered in Chapter 2.

Shaped- headed doors

Figures 5.4(a)(b)(c)(d)(e): The common geometrical

shapes for shaped- headed doors and their frames

(covered in Chapter 8: Geometry for Curved Joinery)

are 1) segmental; 2) semi- circular; 3) semi- elliptical; 4)

Tudor; and 5) Gothic. Whether these doors are for

interior or exterior use has to be taken into account,

but the main issue for the joiner – dealt with here – is

how best to form the shaped heads and join them to

the stiles. Four of the five door- head shapes named

above are illustrated in Figures 5.4(a) to (e), related

to panelled doors. A semi- elliptical headed door is

not shown because of its similarity to the segmental-

headed door at (a).

Jointing details

Segmental- headed door

Figure 5.4(a): As illustrated, the bottom- and middle-

rail joints are common mortises- and- wedged- tenons,

but the segmental top- rail has to be jointed differently.

I have indicated open- topped stub tenons and such

joints should be strengthened with draw- bore dowels

after the door has been glued and cramped. As an

length, by sighting along the edges and/or check-

ing the surface with a straightedge; 2) to achieve

an untwisted surface, by sighting across a pair

of pre- positioned winding sticks (small, parallel

straightedges); 3) to achieve flatness (with no rounds

or hollows) across the material ’s width, tested by

tilting the base of the metal plane across the surface

occasionally, to highlight any inaccuracies below

its edge; and 4) to achieve a surface clear of chatter

marks and broken- edged cutter marks, by applying

enough pressure to the moving plane and lifting

its heel at the end of a forward thrust to break the

shaving. Note that when planing at the timber’s

end nearest to you, keep more pressure on the front

of the plane (and be careful not to draw back too

much and come off the end!) – and when finishing

a plane- thrust at the timber’s end farthest from you,

keep more pressure on the back of the plane until

the plane’s cutter has cleared the end of the timber.

Next, apply a few pencilled face- side marks towards

your selected best edge.

● Now place the timber in the vice and plane the

face- edge to be straight (by sight and/or straight-

edge and square to the face side (by checking with a

try- square occasionally, pencilling the left- or right-

hand side high- edge points and removing them by

shifting the laterally- central position of the plane

(the default position) to one side or the other).

When true and square, apply pencilled V- shaped

arrow- heads as face- edge marks.

● Next, set up a marking gauge to the finished width

and gauge each side. Cramp the material in the vice

and plane carefully (meaning vigilantly) down to

the gauge lines.

● Finally, reset the marking gauge to the finished

thickness and gauge each side (as indicated in

Figure 5.3 above). Then lay the material on the

Thumbscrew

Stock

Stem

Rounded

arris

Marking pin

Figure 5.3 Hand- position on gauge for marking the
finished thickness.