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Cutting down door slabs

3.5K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  woodnthings  
#1 ·
I’m replacing 7 doors in my home and ordered generic sized door slabs which can be cut down to fit. My doors frames are slightly smaller than standard. Roughly 1/2” smaller.

Would you guys recommend using a table saw? I have a ryobi 10” table saw. What type of blade would work best?


Thanks


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#2 ·
I'm not sure if the overall size of the ryobi is up to the task of cutting a door. If that is true it would be easier to use a straight edge and cut the door with a hand held circular saw.

When cutting a door to width I cut the door on a three degree angle on both sides. Sometimes if the door opening isn't square with the wall the door will bind where you have to push it closed. The angle on the hinge side will help if this happens. Then the lock side of the door needs the angle so the corner of the door doesn't hit the jamb when closing. At a 90 degree angle you would have to make the door a lot smaller than the opening to prevent this.
 

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#3 ·
Steve Neul; said:
I'm not sure if the overall size of the ryobi is up to the task of cutting a door. If that is true it would be easier to use a straight edge and cut the door with a hand held circular saw.

When cutting a door to width I cut the door on a three degree angle on both sides. Sometimes if the door opening isn't square with the wall the door will bind where you have to push it closed. The angle on the hinge side will help if this happens. Then the lock side of the door needs the angle so the corner of the door doesn't hit the jamb when closing. At a 90 degree angle you would have to make the door a lot smaller than the opening to prevent this.

Steve I’m going to take your suggestion on cutting the door with my circular saw. What type of blade do you recommend to get a nice clean cut?

Thanks



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#5 ·
Steve Neul; said:
Use any plywood blade. The cut should be as smooth as you can because you end up having to sand the saw marks off.

Picked up a plywood blade. I made a jig to adjust the the heights of the door slabs.

Should I look to build something similar for the length? I’ll need to buy a sheet of plywood.

Thx

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#7 ·
I’ve been trying to cut the bottoms off these 1 3/4” doors with a circular saw and a 100T plywood blade and a straight edge for a fence. I taped the doors. I’m encountering the following problems:
* Circ saw is riding up out of the cut groove and then it tilts slightly and the cut gets off track. Uneven bottom - peaks and valleys- by 1/8" -3/16”.
* Circ saw is smoking hot and is choking halfway through the cut.
* I switched to the stock 18T general purpose blade to cut an old door as a test and it’s still struggling.
* I have a $110 Dewalt - is it underpowered for this job or am I a terrible circ saw operator

Fortunately none of the new doors were harmed (yet). I was doing test cuts on the old doors and cut off less than I needed on one of the new doors.


Any suggestions on corrections I can make?



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#9 ·
I can't know about your technique

I do know how I would make those cuts. First, use a straight edge clamp or clamp a straight edge away from the cut the amount the saw base requires, usually 1 1/2" unless the saw is reversed like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/E-Emerson-...amping-Tool/253017713741?epid=1100319519&hash=item3ae907ec4d:g:TNIAAOSwSzRZVJfP

Image


I would use a 40 tooth carbide tipped blade, about 10$ at Home Depot. I would make a 1/2 depth cut to eliminate drift during the cut and make it easier on the saw motor. That will work just fine. :smile2:
 
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