This is The Lotus Door Entry
It is made from one plank of Ribbon Grain Mahogany
It is 36" x 80" x 1-3/4"
The panels are old growth Redwood burl and curly grain
It has a beautiful Lotus stained glass by Dragon Eye Glass
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Here is the proposed Door drawing

How'd I do ? Here is the completed door

A close-up of the top portion of the door

Another view


Click on Any Image to Enlarge

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Here is a backlit view of the stained glass

This Entire door, dentil shelf, and dentil posts came from
this ONE slab of Mahogany ..... amazing wood

The dentil shelf is attached with stainless steel screws, capped with CocoBolo square caps


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The panels are bookmatched Old Growth Redwood Burl on the out side

and Old Growth Curly Redwood for the center panels

Here is a closer view

The dentil shelf and posts came from the same plank used in making the door


Click Here to View the making of The Lotus Glass


Here is the History of how this door was constructed

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Here are the "ruffed" out pieces allowed to settle down before machining
Here are some of the pieces after being joined flat and then rough planed
Then All of the pieces have to be dimensionally sanded because the grain is so figured (ribbon grain) it has to be sanded to thickness
The the machining begins

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Door Gallery

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Here I cut the arch for the window
........ and the plane it to a perfect arch with an antique Compass Plane
Then we start gluing and "build" the door from the inside out
Here is the door being turned to clean the other side

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......... just look at the figured "ribbon grain"
Here the door will stay in clamps for at least 3 days
Here is the door fresh out of clamps
Here I am making the ply template for DragonEye to use to make the beautiful stained glass window

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The entire door is the machine sanded to a furniture finish
Here are the panel blanks .... All bookmatched Old Growth Redwood Burl
Here is the panel sub straight. It is marine grade plywood, edged with old growth Redwood
Here are some of the figured center wood in clamps

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Here are the panel blanks coming out of "speedy" my sander .... "speedy" is very slow ..... but does a wonderful job
Here the chamfered raised panel is hand sanded
Here are the oiled panels .... they will have 4 coats of varnish oil before they are installed
Here is the dentil shelf ....... from the same plank at the top of the page

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Since I make all my doors oversize, I then have to re-cut the door to the correct length and width
After planing the edges ..... I mortise for the hinges
Here is a mortised bronze ball bearing hinge and my "signature" on the door
All of the molded edges are hand sanded to a 220 grit finish

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Then the door is varnish-oiled for 4 coats
Look at the magnificent grain
It is called "ribbon grain"
The door cures at least 3-4 days between all four coats of varnish-oil

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Here are all the stops cut
and then the stops are installed with stainless steel fasteners and the excess caulk is cleaned up
Here is the finished product
Here we are making our custom jambs. they are made by laminating two 3/4" pieces of Mahogany ...... this makes for an extremely stable jamb

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Here they are being oiled (on all sides) with our varnish~oil
Here are the dentil posts being oiled ..... 4 times
Here I am laying out the dentil post placement
And then they are clamped in unison to the door

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How'd I do ??
I then layout the placement of square pins that will attach the shelf to the posts
Phew ......... it fits !!
Here we "bed" the class and cut and install the Mahogany stops.

 

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Door Gallery