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Trimming bottom of door

3016 Views 17 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  pete57
I want to use my router with a guide rail to trim the bottom of some internal doors. Practicing on an old door, the router bit is not clean cutting through the solid wood bottom rail. It is peeling off timber. Any thoughts on what is going wrong? Any tips on routing this way would be appreciated. Btw i am going anticlockwise on the door.
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Having done this a few times, I strongly recommend a circular saw and straight edge. (after you do a couple with a router, you'll soon figure out what works best for you in your projects).
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I always use a circular saw for this. I replaced all our interior doors a few years ago and I don't think the router is the tool for this. I would lay some green painter's tape over the cut line first to reduce chipout and splinters. It really helps.
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I took the doors down and ran them through the table saw.
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He can use a router if this is what he has. He needs to take off bites rather than a full plunge. You trade it like a jointer only mobile...
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I took the doors down and ran them through the table saw.
That works. Nice clean cut too.
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I want to use my router with a guide rail to trim the bottom of some internal doors. Practicing on an old door, the router bit is not clean cutting through the solid wood bottom rail. It is peeling off timber. Any thoughts on what is going wrong? Any tips on routing this way would be appreciated. Btw i am going anticlockwise on the door.
Clamp a metal straight edge to the door where you want it to be cut off (trimmed). Use a sharp razor knife to score the veneer on the door. Use slight pressure for the first to strokes of the knife to help prevent the knife from going off course. Then apply more pressure and score as deep as you need to. Use the router to finish the trimming.
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I also used a table saw, sharp blade and tape. End product has excellent and no tear out.
I used a hand-held power planer. Worked like a charm.
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I do hundreds of doors, 7 more yesterday so on average I do 7 to 12 a week, its a great little part time money earner job I do for a few carpet companies. I use a track saw to cut the std house doors, its quite easy, I have a flat aluminum bar I use to mark a line 32mm from the floor, that bar has a pair of small 3mm diam legs on it that will go through a slot in old carpet then sit on the true floor under old carpet, they were made from 3mm bolts that are now filed to a point to get through the slot easy, that line is just a reference line as they all don't get cut along it at 32, today's doors as the new carpet and underlay was 23 then they were cut at 29mm from the floor, so were cut 3mm away from the line, also as house doors dont all swing square to the floor as they open, then I mark two lines, one with the door shut and one with the door fully open, so with most doors the gap under the door changes as the door opens, so with today's doors some were cut some where it was cut more on the handle side than the hinge side to allow for the gap getting smaller when the door swings opens, as we needed 29 at all places under the door. I also use a sharp kniife to cut through the surfact of any veneer doors or cross grain timber doors to stop tear out from the saw, it has a thin saw blade with 56 teeth but will tear out veneer were it pushed through too hard or fast so the cut line stops that, I only use a router if they are furniture quality doors, these I cut in stages as the full door thickness is too much for the cutter, many wardrobe doors need a router cut, but by far most doors I do are cut with the track saw as its clean and fast, you cant spend a long time cutting when you have ten doors to mark, take down and cut then put back up, so the 1200mm track saw is very efficient and paid for itself many times over. N
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I used a hand-held power planer. Worked like a charm.
I would never use a power plane to trim doors, if you dont have a track saw, then a straight edge with a normal circular saw is far better, as they cut clean and square, many times I have taken down doors that were previously trimmed that way, they all had uneven non square lower edges, a circular saw on a track or up to a clamped fence, is the best way. N
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Shortening the blade at home is not difficult with an electric jigsaw or circular saw. But you need to use wood clamps to keep the blade from splitting. If the wood peels off, it means it is dry. The door is cut on the workbench, and it is worth remembering that wood poorly absorbs energy, so this wavelength is not recommended for processing this material. The bevel should be horizontal, it is not necessary to cut a solid line or perpendicular to the floor. I made such a mistake and decided not to experiment and buy white interior doors
On a veneered door you need to glue the edge tape, matching its shade to the veneer. If the solid wood is painted, the cut should be covered with paint or varnish
G'day @ElsieCamacho , welcome to the forum'

Would you like to introduce yourself in the "Introductions" section, so we can understand a bit more about your router uses?
Welcome to the forum @ElsieCamacho
Shortening the blade at home is not difficult with an electric jigsaw or circular saw.
Hi, glad you decided to jump into the Forum.
There are senarios when
Circular Saw, Table Saw would be useless eg. if all you want to trim say only about 1/8" to 1/4".

Router, Portable Planer. hand planes or belt sanders may be more appropriate then.

(Too much gap under the door means mice/rats can get through and Air cond/heater air will leak through).
Detail. On exterior doors, if I trim them, I like to add a couple of coats of outdoor paint to the bottom edge so it's less likely to soak up water when it rains. I had to repair a church door that was in a low spot so water soaked the bottom and made it swell. Hard to close properly, a chore to fix.
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Detail. On exterior doors, if I trim them, I like to add a couple of coats of outdoor paint to the bottom edge so it's less likely to soak up water when it rains. I had to repair a church door that was in a low spot so water soaked the bottom and made it swell. Hard to close properly, a chore to fix.
Same for all interior doors but especially bathroom & laundry doors. Most modern doors around here are crap so easily damaged by a bit of moisture.
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