Adjustable square that's actually square?

[Notch7]

Two issues there, woody: First off if I'm re-using old doors (listed buildings, etc) it is sometimes necessary to plane in both edges of a panelled door to get it to fit in an existing opening and I do, unfortunately, need at least the hinge side to be square; secondly if you put a leading edge on a door with a mortise lock in it it makes life difficult in terms of getting the lock face to sit right in the door edge, not to mention potentially contravening the latest fire regs which now require the gapping to be no smaller than 2mm and no greater than 4mm. Hence on commercial work we are tending to go back to square edged doors (with the arrisses knocked off) which can be a royal PIA. So having a square that's off by a few degrees really doesn't help the situation IMHO

I thought most people use a track saw these days for shooting in doors.

 

[^woody^]

Two issues there, woody: First off if I'm re-using old doors (listed buildings, etc) it is sometimes necessary to plane in both edges of a panelled door to get it to fit in an existing opening and I do, unfortunately, need at least the hinge side to be square; secondly if you put a leading edge on a door with a mortise lock in it it makes life difficult in terms of getting the lock face to sit right in the door edge, not to mention potentially contravening the latest fire regs which now require the gapping to be no smaller than 2mm and no greater than 4mm. Hence on commercial work we are tending to go back to square edged doors (with the arrisses knocked off) which can be a royal PIA. So having a square that's off by a few degrees really doesn't help the situation IMHO

I'm just messing with you. It's been a long long time since I've seen anyone put a square on a door and and probably even longer for a leading edge and a mortice sitting in a recess slightly deeper on one side.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I thought most people use a track saw these days for shooting in doors.

Agreed, but ever tried running a guide rail down the length of a Victorian frame and panel door with bolection mouldings? (For anyone who hasn't - the mouldings kind of get in the way)

It's been a long long time since I've seen anyone put a square on a door....

I doubt that I need to do it that often - it's as probable in my life as having to plane a radiused edge onto a door which is swung on a floor box/top pivot (again uncommon, but from time to time.....)

 

[opps]

Agreed, but ever tried running a guide rail down the length of a Victorian frame and panel door with bolection mouldings? (For anyone who hasn't - the mouldings kind of get in the way)

When faced with those kind of doors I use suitably sized timber strips to enable the guide rail to sit flat. The big problem that I have is that my Festool only has a max depth of cut of 55mm.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Don't get me wrong, I've done that - and a few times I've gone as far as fixing a strip of plywood to the underside of a rail (to deal with multiples). But it all takes time that I often don't have/want to spend. I tend to find it's six of one, half a dozen, etc, etc. A lot of the doors I've dealt with have already been altered in the past to make them fit their original opening which may have warped or settled over time. Then you try sticking them into an existing opening that they didn't come out of and it can turn into a marathon plane, offer up, take it down, re-plane session which is more akin at times to sculpture than bench joinery. In such a circumstance the saw can be of limited use and it's faster and more accurate to plane it in checking for a square edge as you go

 

[catlad]

I once saw an old time Joiner fitting doors and he had two lengths of hard wood appox 18" x 1x1/4 and he kept placing them on the edge of the door at each end until he was happy. I've not seen anybody do that for 30yrs

 

[Deleted member 174758]

We used to call them winding sticks. AFAIK they were more of a bench joiner's or cabinetmaker's tool and you always made up a pair when you were an apprentice being taught how to joint boards with a hand plane. They tell you if something is in wind, but not if the edge is square to the face. Personally I doubt I'd use them for shooting a door in, but everyone has their own technique

 

[^woody^]

I've never seen anyone use them on door edges, and can't see why anyone would.