May 4, 2016

I’ve been working on doors for the last several days.  I don’t have locks yet.  I’ve disassembled them, and the locksmith made a key for the front lock.  I’ve sandblasted and painted the handles and inside lock parts.  They are now almond.  The front outside handle looks excellent, and the locks themselves are fine.  But the rear lock was not working.  I’ve ordered a replacement cylinder from Vintage Trailer Supply, and when I get that I’ll take it to the locksmith, and then in a few days I should have front and rear locks keyed alike.  Yea!

The outside was pretty ugly, and the entire inside had been painted brick red- door, window frame, and lock.  Like this:

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I pulled off the inner skin, which was quarter inch ply.  I put some polyiso insulation where there was a space internally.  I cut some birch ply to the approximate size, and marked for gluing.

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Then I spread on the wood glue, put in two brads at the corners, and routed the outside shape and the window opening.  Then clamped them together.0024

This photo is a demonstration of the woodworker’s lament- you can never have enough clamps. I also sandblasted and repainted the inner trim and the hinges. The trim was that brick red, and it’s now almond. I would replace it with wood, but wood would be thicker and might hit the screen door. I did the hinges in an aluminum-filled paint that’s supposed to be good rust preventative.  I don’t like it- too glittery.  I wish I had stayed with the Alumathane I’ve been using elsewhere. I had already disassembled and repainted the windows.0012 0013

I drilled out all the screw holes, glued in dowels, and re-drilled. I don’t have photos of the doors, but I did it for doors also.Using the iron-on method with special heat-curing veneer glue I put birch veneer on the exposed edge of the door.  I sanded and put a coat of epoxy on the door edges, then two coats of polyurethane.  I sanded the door frame and filled the exposed edge of the frame with a putty of epoxy and microballoons, to give a fairly flat surface.

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Then I sanded it all smooth. I put walnut veneer on the exposed edges of the frame.  I haven’t cleaned the frame veneer yet- just rough-cut with a saw. Then I put everything back together, although I haven’t yet trimmed for the locks. At this stage the doors look like this: 0021 0022 0023

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