Wood Barn

I’d used Gorilla Wood Glue for the glue-up so within a couple of days, it was all fully dry and movable. With the front side of the door complete and (to me), gorgeous, all that remained was to strengthen it all. It needed it too as the whole thing weighed a ton!

I always knew the ledges were going to be easy, the angled bracing, less so. This proved to be the case. The rear of the door is planed, which was a good thing as I’d have got a ton of splinters if I’d been working on the front side. I cut the 3 lengths for the ledges and placed them inside the stiles, top, middle and bottom. It was at this point I started measuring, and measuring and measuring. In fact, so much measuring my brain started to hurt and get confused. Simple calculations became stupidly difficult and I laughed at myself for being so slow and inept. In the end, I had to go for it and cut the angles for the diagonals. I somehow messed one up completely and knew I couldn’t afford to be so stupid again as I wouldn’t have enough oak left. In the end all was good and they slotted in well. I was slightly annoyed as there was a very slight gap on one of them and when I’d watched the ‘How to’ videos, they always seemed to slot in perfectly!

The only other anxiety came from drilling the holes for the 49 screws. I was paranoid about going too deep and coming out the other side. Luckily, using the old tape on the drill bit method, I completed that task without any disasters. For info, I took great care to measure out the screw’s placement so they all looked even, the OCD in me wouldn’t have been happy with uneven looking screws.

That was it, after gluing and screwing the ledge and braces into position, I’d made a door. I was extremely proud of myself I’ll admit. What’s more, we absolutely loved it.

I’d deliberated about treating the wood with oil or something to protect it. In fact, I became obsessed with the options I had. I wanted to preserve the texture for sure but should I treat them? Every single article I’ve read says you have to protect them. Would the rough face snag clothes? How much do you lean on a door when opening and closing? Being a belligerent so and so, I needed to know why. The answer, I think, is that solid oak swells and contracts with the moisture in the air. Putting a protective shield around it, helps to reduce this movement. It also prevents stains from spillages or even oils from hands etc marking the wood. However, after deliberating for ages, I decided to leave it raw and see what happened. Would it cope or would it swell so much it wouldn’t close properly when fitted? I didn’t have that answer yet but vowed to keep a watchful eye on it over time. I could always oil it later if necessary.

Hanging the door, I felt, was a job for a professional so I rang a guy who’s name I’d been given and he agreed to pop over and try to fit it for me. We’d bought simple black handles and were very excited to see how it’d look when up.

David came over and admitted to being a little worried when I’d said I’d made the door myself. I beamed unapologetically when on seeing it he said “To be fair, you’ve made a very good job of it”. He hung the door and we were left to marvel at our new creation. (The picture below shows a small gap at the top due to a lack of door stop on the frame. I’ve since added and no gap anymore).

I now knew that as this experiment had worked, I had to make 12 other doors so we could get this sumptuous effect across the whole house!