Building Doors & Gates: Instructions, Techniques and over 100 Designs (Paperback)

~ Alan Bridgewater (Author), (Author) "Of all architectural woodwork, door making is one of the most taken for granted, one of the most necessary, and one of the most complicated..." (more)
Key Phrases: holection molding, slam stile, harr end, Door Designs, Gate Designs, Generic Gate Types (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

*243 drawings
* 8 x 11
* Packed with elegant designs
* Step-by-step instructions and illustrations

All about building traditional entrances to the home. Displays component parts and joints on detailed charts. Tells how to design, construct, and hang a selection of doors and gates. Features practical exercises for perfecting door- and gate-making skills. Offers more than 100 designs, with the specifics on building them. All presented in the Bridgewaters' trademark style.

Alan and Gill Bridgewater have written and illustrated over 40 books on woodworking and crafts, including How to Use & Care for Woodworking Tools and Boxes & Chests.

About the Author

Alan Bridgewater

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Stackpole Books; 1st edition (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811726789
• ISBN-13: 978-0811726788
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #340,005 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Agree with Arizona, October 26, 2000

By	Adam Stauffer (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This book starts with a primitive door specification and adds features to end up with some pretty impressive designs. Agreed it is not a "step by step" book that holds your hand through each part of the process.

Through simple line drawings the book shows the joinery required for about 100 different doors and gates. The book does not show you how to build a good joint, look to a basic carpentry book for that information. The book also doesn't give an ordered to-do list for the various designs. But if you have basic carpentry skills you will look at the drawings and say "Ah, that's how it works," and then you will build the door you need.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gotta disagree, it's a good book, April 20, 2000

By A Customer

After reading the previous customer review, I balked on buying this book. I checked it out at the library though, and after reading it, I'm definitely going to buy it. For a pretty competent carpenter/woodworker, the designs are easy to copy, and it does give a fairly good rundown on the joinery needed to build a solid door or gate. If you don't have a lot of carpentry confidence and you need someone to fill in all the blanks, though, it may not be for you.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars HOW TO BUILD A DOOR?, January 27, 2000

By A Customer

As a builder and craftsman, this book doesn't really help. It covers some history and tools in the construction of doors but doesn't help with the construction techniques or tools you might need to build a better modern door. I wouldn't have bought this book if I had been able to look at first.