I'm in the process of making a new front door for my house since the original from 1938 is falling apart. The current door has a unique half-circle top and a diamond-shaped cutout with a glass window. It was built using six 2x6s with a veneer on both sides, which is essentially what I plan to do. I have access to a CNC machine for the milling and cutting, along with some other woodworking tools like a router. The estimates for an unfinished door were over $20,000, so I decided to tackle this myself. My main question is: are dowels a good choice for joining the pieces of the door? Should I invest in a domino joiner instead? If I go with dowels, how many should I use?
1 Answer
It really depends on your design. Most door manufacturers use dowels since they're quick and easy to cut using a CNC or a horizontal boring machine. You could also consider floating tenons as an alternative if you want to save some cash. They can be a solid choice for joinery too!
I'll have to look into floating tenons. I was thinking of using 1/2" dowels about 3" deep in each board, but I wasn't sure if dominos would be more secure. Right now, I'm just testing with lower-quality lumber to figure out the assembly, but I plan to use Sapele for the final product.