DIY Home Improvement Forum banner
1 - 20 of 28 Posts

· Registered
Joined
·
337 Posts
Discussion Starter · #1 ·
We are replacing the door to our pantry and it's about 1/8" too wide. The door is solid core. I am guessing I will want to trim the side that is closest to the door knob so I don't have to route new hinge grooves.

I am going to have to do this with my wife on my Ryobi table saw so if you have any tips I would appreciate it.

Thanks.
 

Attachments

· retired framer
Joined
·
72,490 Posts
We are replacing the door to our pantry and it's about 1/8" too wide. The door is solid core. I am guessing I will want to trim the side that is closest to the door knob so I don't have to route new hinge grooves.

I am going to have to do this with my wife on my Ryobi table saw so if you have any tips I would appreciate it.

Thanks.
If you cut the knob side the latch hardware may not work, the hole is drilled at a precise measurement.



You can build your self a plywood cutting jig and use a circular saw.

 

· Registered
Joined
·
7,409 Posts
Is that 1/8" consistent top to bottom? You are lucky if it is.
And cutting the latch side may cause a couple of issues for you.
Firstly, as Nealtw said you may have a fitment issue with the latcheset.
Secondly, no matter how carful you are you may get some burning along the cut and give an unsightly edge. Cutting the latch side assures you will always see any imperfections unless you spend the time to sand it or plane it.
The hinge side is not as noticeable.
You can always chisel out the hinge "grooves" to make it fit. It has been done that way for centuries. But you can pick up a cheap butt gauge and a router template as well. I wouldn't want to mess with the latch side.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
16,425 Posts
My son has one of these and i've always wanted one. There's surely a door in this house that needs for this tool to be purchased.



The guy in this vid doesn't know that - Almost Stealing - is against the law in wood working circles. But i'm guilty as well.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
8,186 Posts
If you cut the handle side your knob hole will be too close to the edge. Also that side has a slight angle cut. Cut the hinge side. Then screw the hinges back on in the remaining screw holes and trace them. Take them off, mortise the door and hang it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rjniles

· Registered
Joined
·
10,405 Posts
Norm would go the the forest and cut down a tree. Then he would take it to his shop and make a door.
Norm won't be able to do that. All the PETA-For-Plants protesters would be out there, ring around rosie about the tree, to protect it from being cut down.

I, too, have a door that needs trimming or shaving or cutting whatever you want to call it. I am looking for a contractor to do it because I don't want to touch a circular saw. And I personally have not been to get a non-wavy non-crooked cut doing this kind of a job using a jigsaw or a plane.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
16,425 Posts
There's a way to narrow the door about 1/8" -- without screwing around with the hinge mortises or the latch side --

With the straight edge guide you build as suggested in reply #2 , a blade of about a 1/8" kerf, and masking tape on both sides where the cut will be made, rip 1/8" from the solid door a couple inches from the hinge edge with one cut then glue it back together. With a little sanding and paint no one will ever know except you.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
663 Posts
There's a way to narrow the door about 1/8" -- without screwing around with the hinge mortises or the latch side --

With the straight edge guide you build as suggested in reply #2 , a blade of about a 1/8" kerf, and masking tape on both sides where the cut will be made, rip 1/8" from the solid door a couple inches from the hinge edge with one cut then glue it back together. With a little sanding and paint no one will ever know except you.

Great idea! If you think that may not be strong enough, add wooden dowels drilled into hinge side after pieces are glued together.


Retired guy from Southern Manitoba, Canada.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
3,358 Posts
Jeez, this is going to be a pain.
Doesn't have to be. All you need is a set of spacers with which you can set a straight edge and trim the hinge side of the door precisely using a circular saw.

You can make these spacers in about 10 minutes. You could make them out of 1/4 luan plywood or out of some kind of plexiglass or other plastic product. If you make them out of luan you will probably later think they are scrap and throw them away. If you make them out of plexiglass you will have them for later projects when you need to make a precise cut with your circular saw.


Let's pretend that you have a strip of 1/2 or 3/4" plywood about 3 or 4 foot long and 3 or 4" wide laying around. Let's also pretend that you have a couple of old wooden saw horses. If you don't, build a set. You will need them later to lay the door on to trim it.


So lay your strip of plywood on the saw horses and tack or screw it down. Cut off about 1 foot. Take the cut off piece (the one that fell to the floor) and screw it to the piece on the saw horses at about 90 degrees, about 6" from the end. Doesn't have to be exact. About 90 degrees and about 6" is "good nough for what it's for".


This will be your sawing jig for cutting your spacers.


Zip down to Home Depot or Lowe's and purchase the smallest piece of plexiglass, Lexan of what ever they have. Thickness doesn't matter. Can be from 1/8 to 3/8" thick. Just need to be relatively stiff. Let's call this your plastic stuff.



Also purchase a roll of double sided tape. You won't be able to hold your plastic stuff to cut it so you will tape it to your cutting jig with the double sided tape.


Also stop by the garden department and buy a rose bush, azalea plant or hanging basket for the wife. Maybe she won't notice that you spent money for something you wanted.


When you get home give the wife her hanging basket. Tear of a couple strips of double sided tape and stick them to your saw jig. Pull of the backing of the double sided tape and stick your plastic stuff to the saw jig.



Using your circular saw, with the wide side of the saw shoe against the edge guide, cut your plastic stuff. Set your depth of cut to just a little more than the thickness of you plastic stuff. That is the angle the tooth of a circular saw blade likes best.


After making the first cut take the piece that fell to the floor and put it somewhere where you can find it later when your neighbor ask you to make a set of spacers for him.



Take the piece stuck to the saw jig and turn it 90 degrees and stick it down again. Cut it again, this time using the narrow side of the saw shoe against the edge guide. The piece stuck to the saw jig this time, will be a spacer. The length of which will be exact distance between the saw blade and the wide side of the saw shoe, the width of which will be the exact distance between saw blade and the narrow side of the saw shoe.


Take the piece of your plastic stuff that fell to the floor this time and stick it to your saw jig again. Cut again, again using the narrow edge of the saw. You now have a set of spacers with which you can set a straight edge to make a precise cut with a circular saw.


To use your spacers, measure your door top and bottom where you want to cut. Clamp your spacers to the door on the marks, with small spring clamps. Place your straight edge against the spacers and clamp in place. Remove the spacers and make your cut with your circular saw.

You can use the wide side of the saw shoe against the edge guide (always best if you can) or you can use the narrow side of the saw shoe against the edge guide (because sometimes you have to). All depends on how you use the spacers.



A smart person would also mark the location of the hinge mortise before trimming the hinge side of the door.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
337 Posts
Discussion Starter · #16 ·
Thanks everyone. I am digging all my tools out of the closet.
I even have a template/routing set specifically for the hinge mortises, no clue why I purchased that a while back.

These solid doors are a heck of a lot heavier than they look, will have to wait for the wife to help this weekend.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
16,425 Posts
Thanks everyone. I am digging all my tools out of the closet.
I even have a template/routing set specifically for the hinge mortises, no clue why I purchased that a while back.

These solid doors are a heck of a lot heavier than they look, will have to wait for the wife to help this weekend.
Heavy ? makes a person wonder what's being called solid core door now days. We just hope it's wood and not glue + sawdust particle board.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
8,186 Posts
Norm would use recycled lumber from a tree that died of natural causes and build a door.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
9,491 Posts
There's also the option to attach a board to the fence of the table saw so you can cut the 1/8" off with out having the blade right up against the fence. You can even glue an 1/8" thick piece to the end of the board past the blade, to keep it going through straight.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
9,474 Posts
SeniorSitizen's idea will probably work, but I think that's also too much work. You have a fair amount to do to get that piece back on and looking good. It's not as easy as it sounds to cover that line correctly.


The easiest thing to do would probably be to mortise the hinges deeper on the door and or the door jamb. This is assuming you have at least a 1/8" gap on the jamb side. Take a hammer and a chisel (or better yet if you have a router you can do it more cleanly) and deepen the mortises. After reinstalling the hinges, it will set that much deeper toward the jamb side. This is a technique I often use when a door will not stay open by itself. This happens when they didn't install the door plumb (the door jambs are off.) As long as there's enough gap, you can deepen the top hinge, and shim the bottom hinge, and get the door close to plumb again.

Cutting the latch side is not the way to go. I would also not use a table saw but that's very possible. I just find it very easy to clamp a 2x4 or whatever to the door and run the circular saw along that to get a good edge. Mortising out the hinges, even with a hand chisel instead of a router, is a little tedious but actually quite easy. Take your time and it will just be a relaxing wood crafting project. You'll feel like an old timey carpenter.
 
1 - 20 of 28 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top