Cutting solid 6 panel doors to single panel?

[eschumac]

I have 23 solid stained doors in a house I'm renovating. It's a cape cod I'm renewing into a Craftsman. It's authentic 1979 down the Harvest Gold appliances (sold to a prop company).

I'm tossing around the idea of renovating the doors rather than doing some replacement slabs. Just breaks my heart to toss some solid doors... and materials are through the roof these days.

Has anyone ever messed with cutting the panels out of a 6 panel door and converting it to a single panel? I have not done this, but I think I could cut along the inside of the stiles and top and bottom rails and replace the panel area with MDF or similar.

Any thoughts?

 

[flair woodworks]

This reminds me of a job I did last year, shortening some cabinet doors.

You should be able to do this by cutting out the centre, but you will likely need to do some careful sanding or scraping of the rails/stiles where the mullions/muntins used to be. MDF is pretty heavy and not that strong, and I'm guessing that the panel is pretty large due to the 6-panels, so 1/4" plywood would probably be a better choice.

You will need to refinish or carefully finish to match.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

You could also do this by routing away one side of the groove, to get the panels out, rather than dismantle the entire door. Then you could remove any of the interior muntons/mullions to reconfigure it before putting the single panel in. Make some loose molding to reattach, just like you would for a glass paneled door. The added benefit of this method is that you are not locked in to a specific thickness of the panel.

 

[Peter Kelly]

I'd be concerned the doors would rack once you remove the lock rail, panels, mullions, etc.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I'd be concerned the doors would rack once you remove the lock rail, panels, mullions, etc.

That is possible, but the re-installation of a single panel should take care of that, especially if it is a stable panel like plywood or MDF. Those could be glued in place, stiffening the whole thing.

 

[Bob D.]

If the original doors are in such great shape, why destroy them by converting them to something else?

The price of today's materials is high but if you sold those original doors might it be possible to recover most of the cost of replacements, or enough that after you figure in not having all that work to chop them apart and fit new panels in that it would be worth it.

Plus those old doors get to live on in their original form, not as part of some Frankenstein door. Not that you wouldn't do a good job, but they would be something other than they started life as.

 

[peter halle]

I am doing a little bit similar on a number of garage doors.  The installer a d manufacturer refused to cover damage under the warranty.  Please don't ask me about that - my blood pressure will spike to new highs.

On the inside of the doors I am cutting the inner profile off where it meets the flat, cutting the panels out at the same place (Vector all the way).  The cutting - in my case - PVC - panels to replace.  Held in place by new small trim nailed in place.  The panels can expand and contract, the molding will not match perfectly unless I would make some, but no one looks at both the front and rear of the door at the same time.

I this case, after removing the panels you would need to get the door to the point of accepting one panel but cutting out the inner dividers.

Just a thought.

Peter

 

[luvmytoolz]

I've done similar jobs for clients many times and it's pretty easy really, if it's solid timber I found using a saw on the guiderail to rough cut out the center, and then run a cleanup pass with a router on the edge to clean it up. Then just use a rebate cutter to give an edge to mount the panel against, so you only have to make moulding for one side.