Thanks to David Doud, Bill Hartmann , MIKEK4244, piffin, and saul for your suggestions.
TM Cobb 1 3/4″ 3-0 6-8 dutch door; raised panel bottom half, single-light top half, was split 36″ and 44″. This allowed me to use the original top and middle 4″ hinge mortises from a 7/11 setup. The bottom two I set at 5″ down from the split and 5″ up from the threshhold. Of course, I had to fill the old bottom mortise.
I used an aluminum straight-edge as a story pole to transfer hinge placements from jamb to door; scribing with a knife for accuracy. Lo and behold, they fit perfectly!
What I learned:
1. I should have made the top gap less than 1/8″; it looks a bit too big.
2. Pilot-drill and attach hinge leaves with just one screw at first, so you can easily adjust without pulling 4 screws and filling 4 holes and re-drilling 4 pilot holes. Although I was very careful to align the marks for all 4 hinges, there was apparently enough side-to-side wandering of the nails of my PC mortise router template to misalign the middle hinges 1/32″ or so and that was enough to make the door halves bind when opened 90 degrees.
3. My 50-year old Jamb was a slightly bowed inward at the bottom, but since it was nailed solid to the trimmer, and maybe a little too dry and not so flexible after all that time, I compensated by shimming the bottom of my router template 3/32″ to make a tapered mortise that brought the bottom hinge in line with the other three.
4. Hinge placement for the top half can be standard 3-hinge spacing (you can use a 3-hinge template if you have one) but the bottom hinges must be mortised singly; about 5″ from top and bottom of the lower half of the door left just enough room for the nails of my PC router template. Be sure to check that out before you rout the jamb hinges and then find out that you can’t rout the door to match up. In fact, I think next time, I will rout the door hinge mortises first and then transfer their locations to the jamb.
5. You need two door jacks to hold the single-light top half on edge for planing. I built my jacks out of two 16″ scraps of 2×4 and some 1/2″ plywood triangles spaced 1 13/16 apart in the middle (see pictures). They work great and take up very little space in my van.
Thanks again for the help, guys. You are all generous to share your time and experience with me.
BruceT
Replies
Bruce,
What a thoughtful well-written reply! This is the stuff professionals are made of!
-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
bump
Good job Bruce. Glad ya actually learned something here, most of us just come here to horse around ;~) !
Love that sidewalk too!!
Eric
I Love A Hand That Meets My Own,
With A Hold That Causes Some Sensation.
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