Our Own Personal Barn (Door) Raising

It was my wife's idea, and a dang good one at that! In order to make our new-to-us home more "ours," and to give it a little more of the farm style flair she desired, we embarked on a throwback project. I call it "throwback" because the last time I'd made furniture with my quasi-dormant woodworking skills was more than three and a half decades earlier in high school. The goal was to remove the sliding doors from the entry way closet and replace them with a barn door, built from scratch, and then hang it on a roller system.

Kelly lending a hand

I relied on a family friend, Kelly Laga, for direction and for the use of his shop in the Bitterroot Valley--thanks Kelly! I decided to go with soft maple--wood that was easy to work with and featuring a nice woodgrain. After purchasing the wood I loaded it up and headed to Kelly's. I cut the boards on a radial arm saw to a raw length of approximately six feed wide by seven feet in height, ripped some of them on a table saw and then ran them all through the jointer to prepare them to be glued. We then butted them up to each other, applied the glue, attached the large clamps and allowed them to dry. Kelly glued the second batch of planks the following evening and then glued both sides together. 

I came up a little shy in width so I made another trip to the lumber yard, repeated the process, applied the glue and then returned following work on another day. We made the final cuts for length and then it was time to sand and sand and sand. I felt like I inhaled a couple of board feet worth of saw dust but then got smart enough to get a mask when I returned to continue the process. 

Once the main door base was good to go I cut the design pieces out of the leftover boards. Lori wanted it done in that fashion so it looked like two doors butted up to each other. I glued and clamped the perimeter pieces in place and then Kelly glued the rest the following day. After another round of sanding, the door was ready to be transported back to my place for staining and hanging. 

We decided to stain the door the same color as the new molding we were in the process of installing on our home's main floor. We had ordered the hardware online and attached the rollers to the door.

The door was so big, heavy (I'm guessing about 160 pounds or so), bulky and awkward to carry that Kenny and I waited until Jace was home to help move it from the garage to the front entry way. A few days later Lori and I worked together to locate the studs and drill the tracking into place. Then, somehow, the two of us raised the barn door by lifting the beast into place. 

Mission accomplished! It was glorious! We rolled it back and forth again and again and again, kinda like a couple of kids who have a new play toy. When the door opens and the entire closet is exposed, it covers up the entry way to the kitchen. 

Now it stands in place as evidence that throwback skills can be brought to life, especially if you have a good idea, some good guidance, good tools and good help.