Speak Easy Front Door

Today I am building a knotty alder front door for a client in Kansas City! They bought a home built in the 30's that has ties to the mob and wanted a front door that makes a statement. They want to connect to the history of the home so a speakeasy door was the natural choice. I have really enjoyed the research as well as milling my own tongue and groove knotty alder!

The door they need is 42"x 81" and is 2 1/2" thick. I am building it as a solid core with 1" cedar core and 3/4" knotty alder skins. Stay tuned for progress updates. Should only take a couple of days.

Today I built the core frame, milled all of the 1x6 alder to a T&G v joint and laminated the first side.

This photo is from the "inside" of the door.

I'm not going to lie, building a solid exterior door is no easy task. Today I laminated the 2nd side and edged the entire door slab. I plan on building the jambs today too. Here's the latest pic.

Today produced a 80" x 42" x 2-1/2" custom knotty alder door slab and a custom 6-9/16" alder jamb. Now I know why it's always been so hard to get a production crew to 5-S at the end of a long day!

Finished the knotty alder speak easy front door. This one is 2-1/2" thick and was created from custom tongue and groove knotty alder 1x6 with a solid cedar core. The strap hinges are hand forged and the jamb and threshold were both custom created from 1x8 clear alder.