Fixing a Rotten Door

[the_g_ster]

Hello,

Having had a neglected workshop for the last few years, I have gone about trying to make it spot on again.

One issue is that water has rotted the bottom on one of the panel doors. Given I am am a little time poor and the winter is coming I have cut the bottom off the door and treated the ends of the rails with wood preserver as the stile on the bottom was rotten as was the bottom of the rails. (all covered over with some plastic)

I now need to make a new bottom bit of door, and the panels are fine as saved them.

Issue is that I think the radius on the ovolo style panel bead is 7mm, and can't seem to see any on Wealden. The door is 40mm thick, B&Q from about 7 years ago, and standard panel style. Any ideas on how best to fix?

(Mental note to keep an eye on guttering as I think it broke on the snow and ice and then water was streaming down the door)

 

[AndyT]

That sounds like a classic case for the hand tool approach. You could use a correct-sized moulding plane but finding that would be harder than finding a matching router bit. All you need is a plane that will work a rebate. This could be a joiner's Stanley 78 or Record 778; it could be a combi plane; it could even be a nasty-looking DIY job with a replaceable blade, as long as the cutting iron extends to the edge of the body. This is what you do.

Mark the profile needed on the ends of the squared up wood.
Cut one wide shallow rebate to match the straight part along the top of the ovolo. You then cut a narrow deep rebate to match the straight along the front. (You could turn the wood round to do this if it's easier.)

You then chamfer off the long edge. Chamfer again, approximating the curve you want. Then swap to coarse sandpaper to round off into a fair curve. Done!

It really isn't very hard and does not take long. I now have lots of old planes to do this easily, but have used this method quite satisfactorily on the plinth of an oak bookcase.

 

[AndyT]

I just realised that you could of course use your electric router and a straight cutter to make the rebates!