Manual of Purpose-Made Woodworking Joinery

86 Making doors and doorframes

cramped together face- down with at least three sash

cramps, then a top ledge of ex 100 × 30mm and a

middle- and bottom- ledge of ex 150 × 30mm are laid

across the boards in their pre- marked positions and

screwed at their ends, as illustrated. The birdsmouthed

brace- joints are marked and formed (as already

the face- side in equal widths – otherwise, any reduc-
tion should be made to one of the boards on each side.
On assembly, after the frame and ledges have been
glued, cramped and wedged, the preservative- treated,
unglued T&G boards should be left at least 12mm
down from the underside of the top rail, sprung- in
to a tight fit in width and then knocked up carefully
to fit the top rail’s groove. Traditionally, the boards
were clench- nailed with 38mm cut- clasp nails, two
per fixing, in a staggered pattern. After being driven
under the surface by 2 to 3mm with a nail- punch,
they were clenched over on the ledge- side, in the
direction of the grain and punched under the surface
again. This seemingly simple final operation requires
a degree of developed skill, otherwise the fixings can
be loosened and the heads of the nails brought to
the surface or left protruding on the face- side of the
door. The recommended technique is to bend the
nails over to about 60°, then drive them sideways and
under the surface with a large- headed nail- punch
held initially at about 30° against the nails’ lowest
point to the timber’s surface. Although cut- clasp
nails are still available, they appear not to be used
on these types of doors anymore, yet I rate their
clenched holding- power as being well above any
alternative nail or other fixings used in recent years.

Construction details of L&B doors

Figures 5.11(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f ): The making of ledged,
braced and matchboarded doors is relatively straight-
forward. The TG&V- jointed boards are simply

(e) (f) (g)

Figure 5.10 (e) Part elevation of a FL&B door, showing the hidden detail of the haunched and wedged mortise- and-
tenon joint, the vee- jointed boards with a return- chamfer on their top edges and the chamfered edges of the top rail and
stile joined by a mason’s mitre; (f) shows the appearance of a mason’s mitre formed with a portable powered router; and
(g) shows a part vertical section through the top rail and TG&V boarding, exposing its bare- faced tongue into the rail, its
chamfered top- edge and indicating the position of the M&T joint.

Figures 5.11 (a) and (b) show rear elevations of typical

ledged, braced and matchboarded doors with (a)

birdsmouthed braces at 52° above and below the middle

ledge; and (b) birdsmouthed braces in one line at 70°

above and below the ledge.

100 mm

100 mm

EQUAL

EQUAL

(a) (b)