First find where you're going to place your new door.






And the raw material – a 4′ x 8′ sheet of 1/2″ plywood. I figured I could get a 2′-4″ door from this sheet, with some to spare. Additional material would be some solid wood for the edges and trim.
The plywood is G1S (good one side) pine plywood. It is virtually void free, very smooth and flat.






So the first step is to cut the sheet down to size. The “core” is 25-1/2″ x 80″
This panel becomes the centre of the door, giving it very high racking strength. I did these first cuts on the saw horses, using a circular saw and a saw board to guide it.






Then cut the remaining piece into five strips 4-3/8″ wide on the table saw:






These are the stiles of the door and are glued to the edge, overlapping the core by 3/4″.
The door needs to be flat and I’m assembling it on my workbench to make sure that it stays straight. During glue-up, the door will be clamped down to the bench to hold it flat while the glue sets.
I’m using polyurethane construction adhesive to glue the parts together. This adhesive is solvent based, and will not swell the wood and make it expand during glue-up. Also, this glue is much better suited to lower temperature use than regular wood glue.






Spring clamps hold it until I can get more clamps in place






It takes a lot of clamps (homemade and otherwise) to clamp the parts together and down to the bench







With the stiles added on both sides, I can add the top and bottom rails






And the centre rail. I’ve set this rail at 36″ on centre from the bottom and it divides the door into two panels. The bottom rail is in two pieces per side, since there wasn’t enough long grain left on the sheet this wide. Not a problem if the door is to be painted, as this one will.





For the edges, I used some very well seasoned 2″x6″, cut and planed to size.






The pieces are cut in a “T” profile to fit in the groove and are glued and clamped in place.






Where they join, I cut the ends to 45 degrees. This scarf joint gives better glue performance than a straight butt joint.






To make the trim for the panels, I resawed some very well seasoned spruce 2″ x 6″ to a little over 1″ thick.






Smooth in the thickness planer. Set up an ogee bit in the router table to cut the profile on each edge of the stock.






At the table saw, rip the trims off to the correct thickness.






All of the trim cut, plus some extra:






The trim is cut to length with mitered corners.





I used glue and a pin nailer to attach the trim.





Once again I’m using polyurethane glue to secure the parts.






The door completely trimmed.






The door is then sanded smooth.






And hung in the opening.

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