Category: Doormaking and Window-Making

This is an excerpt from “Doormaking and Window-Making” by Anonymous. This book was discovered for us by joiner Richard Arnold. 

The door shown in Fig. 60 is very common as a front door in some parts of the country, although it has not much to recommend it, the long panels being very weak, and also the stiles, owing to there being no middle rail to strengthen them.

The making is very simple, being the same as an ordinary panel door, minus the middle rail; hence no detailed instructions on setting out are required here. They only mystifying point is the circular head panels, but those are only formed by the bolection moulding, the top rail being framed in square, as in Fig. 61, and the circular corner pieces glued and bradded in on the outside of the door only.

The circular moulding is formed in a lathe, as Fig. 62, and cut through to form two heads. It should be sawn through across the grain, as shown in the drawing, so that the end grain on the straight moulding will butt against the end grain on the circular moulding. In doing this, the shrinkage will be the same on each piece, and the intersection will not be affected. Of course, it must be understood that, if a good job is to be made, the turning must be accurately done, or the two will not intersect, and no amount of cleaning off will put matters right.

In making doors which have to be bolection moulded, some care is needed in gauging for the mortises, to ensure the moulding is bedding properly. If the moulding is rebated to a depth of half an inch, the gauge should be set to nine-sixteenths; the moulding will then bed tightly on the framing without any trouble. If gauged on too far, when the moulding is nailed in there is a risk of splitting at the outside edge; and if not gauged enough, the moulding will not fit closely to the framing. The medium should be aimed at, as in Fig. 63, where the moulding beds closely at A and B, and is slightly away from the panel at C.

In fitting bolection moulding, the mites should be shot as it is difficult to obtain a clean joint direct from the saw; the correct length of each piece should be taken, and the moulding cut to the marks; there will be no difficulty in making them fit accurately. The rebates are usually made slightly edge-shaped, as shown in Fig. 63, which forces the mitres up tightly as the moulding are driven in. In nailing each piece in, the nails should be driven as at D (Fig. 63); this will draw the points A and B down tightly, and at the same time allow the panels to shrink, without the danger of splitting them. This method of fixing does not, however, find favor in some parts, the favorite method being to screw the moulding from the inside of the panels, as at E. This certainly holds them firmly to the panels; but unless the latter are very dry, they are apt to split, owing to the outside edges being held by the screws. Taken on the whole, the writer prefers the former method of fixing and it must be understood that both methods should on no account be used together.

In Fig. 64 we have a door that will be a familiar object to some readers, but a total stranger to others: it is a bolection-moulded three-panel door, the third panel being formed by leaving out the bottom munition, and throwing the space below the middle rail into one panel. This, however, is relieved by planting on a raised panel of 3/4 in. wood, bevelled off from the centre to all four sides to a thickness of 3/8 and screwed to the panel proper from the inside. A vertical section of such a door is also shown, and an enlarged section of the bottom part appears in Fig. 65. In some cases a narrow raised panel in fixed to the upper panels in the same way as the lower, but this is not commonly done.

The above makes a very substantial good-looking door when finished, far better than that shown in Fig. 60; but to ensure lasting properties the bottom panels should be very dry, and the grain should cross in the two—that is, the panel proper should run longways, and the raised panel upright, or vice-versa.

— MB

Because of the typical holiday insanity, I forgot to remind you that our free shipping offer for “Doormaking and Window-Making” ends on Dec. 13. Because of my mistake, we’ve decided to extend the free shipping until midnight EST on Dec. 17.

After that, shipping on this book will be $7.

We are anxiously awaiting our shipment of this book, which should arrive later this week. As soon as the truck drops them off, we’ll get all the pre-publication orders in the mail as soon as possible, even if it means making our kids go without sleep for a couple days.

If you’d like to read more about this interesting book or order it for $19, click here.

You can download a sample pdf of the doormaking section via this link. The pdf is fairly low-resolution to make it easier for you to download it. The actual scans are quite crisp.

— Christopher Schwarz

As the Industrial Revolution mechanized the jobs of the joiner – building doors and windows by hand – one anonymous joiner watched the traditional skills disappear and decided to do something about it.

That joiner wrote two short illustrated booklets that explained how to build doors and windows by hand. And what was most unusual about the booklets is that they focused on the basics of construction, from layout to joinery to construction – for both doors and windows.

Plenty of books exist on building windows and doors, but most of them assume you have had a seven-year apprenticeship and don’t need to know the basic skills of the house joiner. Or the doors and windows these books describe are impossibly complex or ornamental.

“Doormaking and Window-Making” starts you off at the beginning, with simple tools and simple assemblies; then it moves you step-by-step into the more complex doors and windows.

Every step in the layout and construction process is shown with handmade line drawings and clear text. The booklets are written from a voice of authority – someone who has clearly done this for a long time.

During the last 100 years, most of these booklets disappeared. Soft-cover and stapled booklets don’t survive as well as books. And so we were thrilled when we were approached by joiner Richard Arnold in England, who presented us with a copy of each booklet to scan and reproduce for a book.

We have scanned both booklets, cleaned up the illustrations and have combined them into a 176-page book titled “Doormaking and Window-Making.” In addition to the complete text and illustrations from these booklets, we have also included an essay from Arnold on how these rare bits of workshop history came into his hands.

“Doormaking and Window-Making” is a hardbound book measuring 4-1/2” wide x 7-1/4” high. It is casebound, Smythe sewn and features acid-free paper. Like all Lost Art Press books, “Doormaking and Window-Making” is printed and bound entirely in the United States. The cost is $19, and the book is scheduled to ship from Lost Art Press before Christmas. If you order before Dec. 13, domestic shipping is free. After Dec. 13, shipping will be $7.

This title will be available to our small network of retailers in the United States and internationally. If they agree to carry the book, we will announce it here on the blog.

We are proud to be publishing this almost-lost bit of workshop practice. We hope it will inform and inspire you to make your own doors and windows for your shop and home.

— Christopher Schwarz

Thanks to a generous British reader, we have a new book in the works here at Lost Art Press that fills an important gap in hand-tool knowledge.

The story of this new book starts only about six weeks ago when John Hoffman and I went to England to research campaign furniture and to attend the European Woodworking Show at Cressing Temple.

Woodworker Richard Arnold pulled us aside at Cressing Temple and showed us two booklets from the turn of the last century. Titled “Doormaking for Carpenters & Joiners” and “Window-making for Carpenters & Joiners,” these two little booklets represent exactly the sort of thing we seek out at Lost Art Press.

These books were written by an experienced practitioner who wanted to preserve in print the hand-tool methods used for making doors and windows. Unlike many books out there on doors and windows, these little gems are aimed at the novice. They begin with the very basic stuff that you almost never see written down. Both books cover layout in an exhaustive manner (using ticking sticks I might add). And both books begin with very simple projects and progress step by step to more complex doors and windows.

I read both booklets in a day. They are outstanding, and we want to share them with you.

The bad news is that these booklets are rare. There is even a low-quality reprint of both booklets from the 1970s that is also rare. Booklets do not survive as well as books.

The good news is that Richard has loaned us two pristine originals that we are sending to a professional scanning service. We are going to combine the two booklets into one durable, hardcover book so that this sort of knowledge isn’t lost. This book deserves to be in print.

If you have ever been interested in how to make quality doors and windows in an efficient manner, I know you’ll like this book quite a bit.

I don’t have information on pricing or the release date yet. My best guess: Less than $20 and in March.

Thanks again to Richard. Readers like him make our job easier.

— Christopher Schwarz