# Widening a stained glass entry door



## vender (Nov 29, 2014)

Hello I have the original door to the Belle Isle Casino in Detroit. I have been trying to donate it back to them for years. I finally gave up and decided to make it my entry door. 

The door is only 24" wide mahogany. What would be the way to widen the door to 36". What kind of joinery do I use to join the new mahogany to the door? Bisquits? this is the door.
Thanks all
Mark


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Are you sure...*

To go from 24" to 36" means a 6" piece on either side. The glass area will look dwarfed by the wide pieces on either side...JMO. 

Regardless, remove the glass before it gets broken. What's the thickness of what you have now? If you add a piece on either side, sand it down to level it out, the thickness will be somewhat lee than when you started.

A butt joint would be the easiest and then dowel it in several places. A splined joint would be my next choice, more difficult but doable. You would rout out a groove using an edge guide on the door and on the same side of the adjoining piece for a spline about 1/2" thick running the full length. This increases the glue area while adding some strength mechanically.

Matching the same wood, Mahogany, may be an issue in color and grain... I have a buddy who makes beautiful raised panel doors who I can call for his opinion as to how to do it. I'll see what he says.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I think I would find another purpose for the door. Gluing wood together for door stiles is really frowned on by mill shops. I would make a new door to fit the glass before I would add 6" to the stiles of that door. 

Another option would be to get a stain glass shop enlarge the glass to fit a 36" door.


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## oldwindows (Jun 8, 2012)

I agree that adding the width could dwarf the class. I'm sure it's true that gluing up stiles is frowned upon. That said, I'd go for it if you want to.

Consider adding the width to the just the latch side, so the glue-up isn't carrying weight. I know, this is a crazy door shape, but so is the dwarfed glass in general.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Or build sidelights for the 24" door and make the entryway pop.


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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

The 24" door would make a beautiful pantry door in someone's high-end kitchen.


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## vender (Nov 29, 2014)

That's a good idea. I am planning on remodeling the kitchen. I couldn't make it an entry door as i wouldn't be able to move things in and out of the house.


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## NickB (Sep 24, 2013)

If you opted to still widen the door, another option would be to build in 2 more panes into the door itself. It could turn out very nice and unique. May be worth it if it really just fits the architecture.


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## MT Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

Twenty four inches would be too narrow for an entry door. Check your local codes before you take any action.


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## BZawat (Sep 21, 2012)

Steve Neul said:


> I think I would find another purpose for the door. Gluing wood together for door stiles is really frowned on by mill shops. I would make a new door to fit the glass before I would add 6" to the stiles of that door.
> 
> Another option would be to get a stain glass shop enlarge the glass to fit a 36" door.



This is not necessarily true. I recently restored a few sets of white oak parlor doors from a circa 1905 home. They were enormous; 4' wide x 80" tall, and 2 1/2" thick. 
At first I thought that the doors were solid quartersawn stock. Once I took them out of the pocket and got a good look at the top edge it was apparent that the stiles were laminations (bunch of face-glued strips 2" wide and 1" thick) and the door was veneered with 1/4" thick slices of the QS white oak. 
I conferred with a craftsman I used to work for who specializes in historic restorations. He said that this was a common practice, and that a lot of the Victorians that he's worked on had similar doors. 
If those big heavy doors were good enough to withstand 100 years of daily use, then I'm saying there's probably nothing wrong with a well executed lamination on your door stiles. 
If you do decide to make it larger, I would definitely use a full cross-grain spline to reinforce the joint. And I'd make the spline as wide as is practically possible.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

BZawat said:


> This is not necessarily true. I recently restored a few sets of white oak parlor doors from a circa 1905 home. They were enormous; 4' wide x 80" tall, and 2 1/2" thick.
> At first I thought that the doors were solid quartersawn stock. Once I took them out of the pocket and got a good look at the top edge it was apparent that the stiles were laminations (bunch of face-glued strips 2" wide and 1" thick) and the door was veneered with 1/4" thick slices of the QS white oak.
> I conferred with a craftsman I used to work for who specializes in historic restorations. He said that this was a common practice, and that a lot of the Victorians that he's worked on had similar doors.
> If those big heavy doors were good enough to withstand 100 years of daily use, then I'm saying there's probably nothing wrong with a well executed lamination on your door stiles.
> If you do decide to make it larger, I would definitely use a full cross-grain spline to reinforce the joint. And I'd make the spline as wide as is practically possible.


If you are referring to pocket doors they have a different set of rules than a hinged door. The part of the door that extends into the wall you can even laminate a different species of wood on the stiles. A hinged door should never have the stiles laminated, I don't care how well it's done.


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## BZawat (Sep 21, 2012)

I was using the pocket doors as an example. All of the doors in that house were laminated stiles under a thick veneer. 
Also, let's keep things in perspective. The entire door is only held together by glued cope & stick joints between the rails and stiles. There is no way that a laminated stile would fail before the rail/stile joinery would. I don't care what your "rules" are or who made them.


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## MrFrost (Nov 10, 2014)

That would make a great interior basement door...I've seen similar in homes that I have been in.


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## Quickstep (Apr 10, 2012)

Could you split the difference and make a 30" door? The panel wouldn't look so dwarfed that way. Either way, I'd make a new door; otherwise, I think it will look like you added on to an old door-it will always be obvious.


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