Door Resto

[Ken Hughes]

Bob, if you are not saving the door skin you can sand through the folded edge of the door skin.
It is the quickest way,and you use the skin for a pattern remembering to ad on the folded edge
that you have cut off when measuring.
We use a high speed sander with a 24 grit disc.
If however you want to use the skin again you can make a tool using an old screwdriver,by heating cherry red bend the blade back over on its self,then heat the stem and put a step in it
so the handle is clear of the bench if held horizontally ,you may have to hammer the bent blade end in under the folded edge of the skin and then work up the edge 90deg working all the way round the skin,and then remove.
does make a bit of a mess though and you have to hammer and dolly the skin back into shape.
Snapon have a hammer for doing door skins,it has a slight kink in the shank,on folding back over you will need to bondi/lead the edges of the face of the skin.i hope this helps.

[Mike K]

My neighbour is into Medieval stuff .. he made a suit of armour , hand made it from flat sheets . took him 6 months of beating , dressing, shaping , edging .. it's amazing what you can do , takes patience and lots of time . He does talks at schools and military historical groups .

After all that, he ended up buying a ready to use one .. they are made in India .. 11 year old kids spend all day shaping metal sheets into armour suits . they cost 4 to 5 K $ here . The medieval re-enacting thing is growing here ... they have festivals and tournaments and jousting too . They hold banquets .. all the food is genuine medieval style .

Mike

[Barry Churcher]

As Mike said the skin comes off fairly easily if you are careful. It's the door frame you don't want to damage. We used the skin off a good door for a pattern . The rust you see on the inside is just from the filler crap that fits between the skin and the frame. Using a whole skin for a pattern helps to make the overlap spots the same on the corners etc. Careful use of the hammer and dolly flattens the skin right out. We used 20 gauge as it is so close to the original and is heavy enough not to oil can or warp. 18 gauge is harder to work and you have quite a curve to form. We use satin coat because it is more resistant to rust especially on the inside. Scratches in normal sheet metal start to rust very easily, even when sitting around the shop. Satin coat is now $48.00 a sheet.
Barry

[Barry Churcher]

The second door looked a lot better on the outside but under the skin was crap. Bob had to do more work to get it back in shape.
Barry

[Grant Bowker]

Originally Posted by Barry Churcher

Satin coat is now $48.00 a sheet.

As I was reviewing this older thread I was struck by the pricing of sheet metal. A quote received last week for 18ga was $118 per sheet. Way back when, Barry thought $48 was bad...

[rob love]

And it now costs you nearly twice (and still climbing) as much to drive to the metal shop to pick up that sheet of satin 20 ga.