Bill,

Use solid timber for the stiles & rails & possibly some sort of veneered board for the panels if they are flat.  If the panels are to be fielded, then they will also need to be solid timber.  I would never use dominoes on a full sized door like that.  I have a Domino jointer & think it is a fantastic piece of kit but for a door that size & weight i would always use mortise & tennon joinery.

Other advise, use Festool sanders, they rule 

Woodguy

Bill,

You have been given some good information thus far. I do take some exception about the Domino not being suitable. The tool was made for this application. Using the optimal sized Domino tenon for the thickness of the material you will have no problem. And remember, there is no reason you cannot stack Domino tenons on top of each other properly spaced throughout the material thickness.

Hi Folks,

Chris is correct.  Sorry I didn't specify further.  The door is frame and panel with applied molding similar to library molding.  On the Armoire, the panel face is recessed 3/8" from the frame face.

Hi, Bill.  Sounds like good advice so far.  MDF core panels will be the most stable.  Solid mahogany has been used for doors forever, so that would be a good choice.  Eiji Fuller built some solid doors from mahogany using 4 dominos to join the rails & stiles, and as far as I know, it worked fine.  He has also used them on stairs.  The chioce of glue may be more critical than the domino vs. larger loose tennon.

You should approach this as if you are building a piece of furniture, that happens to be a door.  You will also have a lot of interesting work framing the opening down to the 36x80 size.  Can you get mahogany mouldings in the profiles you need or will you be custom milling them with a router?

Bill

I know some people here suggest that Dominoes will be fine for the main joints.  I have never used Dominoes for a full sized door but if others have tried it & say it works fine then i couldn't argue with that.  I would just be concerned with the weight.  I make my living doing bench joinery doing stairs, windows, doors ect for the last 24 years so i do have an idea of what i am talking about when suggesting mortise & tennon joints.  Certainly in my area, no professional workshop would entertain the idea of using Domino's for the main joints.

I'm not saying you shouldn't do it but giving you my opinion based on 24 years of doing this,

Woodguy

Wonderwino

I did read this thread on the doors Eiji built & they look fantastic.  All i can say is if they are good enough for Eiji then that says it all 

Woodguy

Never used no 3.  have tried titebond 2 & thought it was ok, but have read that 3 is much better.

I know Im going to get slammed even mentioning biscuit joinery for doors. I havent used biscuits but it doesnt mean they are not strong enough. Just remember there are a minimum of 4 joints in a door all supporting each other. as you increase the number of panels the number of supporting frame joints goes up as does the overall strength of a door.

I didnt just wing it and say "what the heck, the domino should be strong enough!" I did some research first. That way I know the doors I build will be strong enough before I build them.

check out this. its a nice read http://www.woodworking.org/WC/GArchive98/Abstract/abstract1.html

Eiji

That's a good idea of using the widest slot on the Donimo & then making your own tenons from the same material.  I have never thought of doing that & will give it a try.  The standard Dominoe's have the grooves ect for the glue, do you do anything to yours ?

Cheer's, Woodguy.

I kinda skipped through this thread but my is this. If the door is not going to get heavy traffic I might consider using Spanish cedar for the rails and styles. the grain and color is very similar to mahogany while being considerably lighter in weight. Maby you would have to do a slightly reder staid to get it to match the panels.  For the joinery on the door I would suggest a through tenon to maximise the gluing surface. Like the tenon in this pic but it travels completely through the stile (left long to cut after gluing) . the edge grain of which would be visible if you where looking at the end grain of the stile.  Lay it out in thirds of the stock thickness.  The tenon being one third of the total.  This could be pined with dowels.  If it was me I would spend the money on the solid stock for the panels but you could have a cabinet shop veneer 5/8 MDF.    Sometimes its easier to outsource these things.  The panel molding would act as a stop for the panels.  Also make a couple of extra parts when you are milling it up.  Mistakes happen . If you are still in the planning phase of this I could take a couple of pics this weekend of a co workers door. Its solid mahogany through tennoned.  It has bin in for 8-10 years and looks grate.

Jacko,

Ive built many. I prefer to use 1/2" slip tenons for exterior doors but that doesnt mean multiple custom domino joints are not strong enough.