Project Information
This was something I've always wanted to do and I barreled ahead without any real knowledge of how to do it, so I kind of felt my way through this.
I wanted to float a 1" thick slab in the middle of the glass, so that meant the door was going to be a bit oversize at 2 1/4" thick.
I started with 12/4 black walnut, jointing the boards, then planing down. I decided to do a triple mortise & tenon for the bottom portion and double mortise & tenon for the top. These were 3" long.
I cut a groove in the bottom portion to fit the slab loosely, then pegged it in the middle to allow expansion horizontally and then drilled a 5/8" dowel in the top to give it a top attach point.
I had to finish the interior slab first - I epoxied the cracks then because I really like how french polishing looks so that was how it was finished. It turned out pretty sweet.
Close up:
I decided to rabbet out the edges after it was all assembled - and did it on my CNC. This was a very easy operation and was happy how it turned out:
I was very happy with how it turned out. I had some custom machined steel as one piece with holes drilled to hold in the glass (which was installed using glazing tape). I finished it using Varathane water based exterior finish. This is my go-to exterior finish. I've been very happy with it and expect it to last a long time.
I wanted to float a 1" thick slab in the middle of the glass, so that meant the door was going to be a bit oversize at 2 1/4" thick.
I started with 12/4 black walnut, jointing the boards, then planing down. I decided to do a triple mortise & tenon for the bottom portion and double mortise & tenon for the top. These were 3" long.
I cut a groove in the bottom portion to fit the slab loosely, then pegged it in the middle to allow expansion horizontally and then drilled a 5/8" dowel in the top to give it a top attach point.
I had to finish the interior slab first - I epoxied the cracks then because I really like how french polishing looks so that was how it was finished. It turned out pretty sweet.
Close up:
I decided to rabbet out the edges after it was all assembled - and did it on my CNC. This was a very easy operation and was happy how it turned out:
I was very happy with how it turned out. I had some custom machined steel as one piece with holes drilled to hold in the glass (which was installed using glazing tape). I finished it using Varathane water based exterior finish. This is my go-to exterior finish. I've been very happy with it and expect it to last a long time.