Hanging Veneered Doors

[Petey83]

I have some oak veneered doors to hang at home this weekend and having never done veneered doors before I am looking for some advice.

The doors SHOULD fit width ways but i know the top / bottom will need trimming. The plan is to use the TS55 to trim and then use jig and router for hinges and latch mortises. when trimming should i cut to half depth and then flip and cut from the other side to avoid tear out or do we think the TS 55 will make a clean cut both sides (blade is in decent condition).

My real concern is what do i do if they do not fit perfectly width ways? On solid doors i usually use a jack plan and the refine with a block plane if I have to but as these are veneered I can see how that's an option...

 

[Adam9453]

I trimmed my doors with the ts55 set to full depth of cut. providing your blade is nice and sharp (i.e. new) and your sacrificial strip is freshly trimmed then it should give you a beautifully clean cut. If you're unsure then do a test cut a little away from where you need to be then if it doesn't work you can always cut again using a different method.
If the veneer is ultra "chippy" then perhaps score it first or use a router instead.

 

[Mr T]

Your door should have a fairly thick lipping on either edge. Unless you have a lot to take off you should be able to plane to size. I don't use power saws much but I would have thought there would not be much tear out underneath with the TS55 as it will be up cutting there, you are more likely to get it on top so cutting half way will not help. Scoring before cutting may be best.

Chris

 

[Petey83]

i will have to check the door specs to see if there is a reference to the veneer thickness on the edges - they are from benchmarxx and were not the cheapest.

I may replace the zero clearance strip on the rail first - despite festool saying you should not need to if swapping between festool blades i have used the panther blade a lot recently so a new strip reduces what can go wrong.

 

[Adam9453]

instead of replacing the strip, just carefully un-peel it, clean off the residue off the track with white spirit, dry it off with a bit of kitchen towel then re-stick your existing strip back down onto it but shift it over by a few millimetre's so you can give it a fresh cut.
Saves you some pounds if you re-use each strip a few times.

 

[Steve1066]

The doors should come with a piece of paper with the dimensions that you can reduce them by, depending on manufacturer it will be between 3 and 6mm
As for cutting them the T55 with a good blade should be fine I use mine all the time, if the veneer looks a bit thin I score the line with a sharp knife.

Steve

 

[kevinlightfoot]

I reduce the height of these doors using a router and flush trim cutter.Use a knife to mark your cut and cut through the veneer and then rout away the waste. The edge strips are usually about 6mm.

 

[Doug71]

You should be fine cutting them to length with ts55, sometimes the problem is trimming them to width, often the oak that is used for edging is awful, tears out really easily. You need a really sharp plane or I often find it better to use an electric hand plane.

Doug

 

[skipdiver]

Fitted quite a few of these and i cut them with my track saw after first scoring with a knife. Edges can be problematic because as stated, the oak lippings are not the best quality but a nice sharp plane and reading the grain direction can overcome this. An electric plane with sharp blades, set to a shallow cut is also a way to do them if you have one. They are heavy and awkward but with a bit of care fitting and finishing can look really good. 3 quality hinges also helps. My nephew got cheap B&Q steel butts when i did his and i made him get better ones before i would fit them.

Also +1 for Adam's suggestion of re-positioning the zero clearance strip. I do the same with double sided tape a couple of times before i renew.

 

[Armagh]

I hang veneered oak doors for work. The ones I use usually have a 15mm strip of solid oak up either stile, I think this is to allow for rebating. I've also hung cheaper ones with only 10mm of oak either side. Usually, looking at the head of the door from above will allow you to see how much oak you've got to deal with. I'd cut the bottom in the same mannger as skidiver suggested, a sharp blade is going to pull the veneer into the door from underneath, so you only need to worry about tearout on the side the circular saw/track saw is running upon. Run a sharp knife along the length of the door where you want to finish. If you remove most of the waste with a saw, you can the use an electric planer to finish down to the line. Since you've mentioned using a Jack plane to bevel the sides, I think you might not have access to an electric planer, in that case I'd mark the bottom of the door with my knife, and try to cut as close to the mark line as possible without hitting it, and then rubbing the bottom of the door with some sandpaper.