Customer Reviews

Doormaking: A Do-It-Yourself Guide

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is exactly what I was looking for. This book gives instructions for making a wide variety of beautiful doors. It covers several types of doors, and gives a number of examples of each type. It illustrates each door with a photograph and a scale drawing. Step-by-step instructions are not always given, but there is enough detail that a non-expert can understand how to build the door. The instructions and illustrations are clear. There are some nice color photographs, too. It also covers door hardware and how to hang a door.

Finding a book about design and construction of doors is hard. Hunting around I found few books...and even fewer of those were even in print.

This book provides the basics of door design and construction. It's not a reference guide but it does provide a great deal of data on the different types of doors and how to build them. It's NOT a step-by-step guide or a book for dummies but it does provide a wealth of information.

I can't believe this book isn't in print anymore. This should be in every woodworker's book collection. This is not a DIY guide. It covers everything from design and science of doors including interior, exterior, and cabinet doors. I highly recommend this reference.

It's difficult to find a book that deals with actually building doors from scratch. This book is very good and covers the material well. The designs included in the book are interesting and give good ideas. I bought another book by this author called Doormaking Patterns and Ideas, thinking it would have different information. The books have identical information, just different covers and titles. The publishing dates are different.
I would recommend this book for someone who wants to build doors.

If you want to get inspired, and learn the secrets of doormaking, this is a wonderful book. But here's either a warning or a tip, depending on how you care to look at things. This book is exactly the same, I mean exactly the same as John Birchard's "Doormaking Patterns & Ideas", which you can currently buy used for less than $1. How did I find this out? By unknowingly buying both books and discoverying, to my disappointment, that they are the same book, by the same publisher, with all the same text and pictures, but a different cover and title. Save yourself some money and buy the cheap one. Don't buy both!