# garage door center stiles



## JasonEller (Nov 5, 2009)

I have a wooden gaarge door with a few center stiles that are starting to rot. I know half of you are going to say I should just buy new doors. Let me say that I bought the house back in July and before I made the first payment I was putting a new roof on so my cash is limited plus I like the doors so I would like to repair them. My problem is I can't find a router bit or profile that matches the cut. I have tried also to find a custom woodworker or garage door maker to make these for me no luck- if you want to or can email me PLEASE! Anyway take a look and see if you can help with a router bit model number, link or any help. thanks


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## allthunbs (Jun 22, 2008)

JasonEller said:


> I have a wooden gaarge door with a few center stiles that are starting to rot. I know half of you are going to say I should just buy new doors. Let me say that I bought the house back in July and before I made the first payment I was putting a new roof on so my cash is limited plus I like the doors so I would like to repair them. My problem is I can't find a router bit or profile that matches the cut. I have tried also to find a custom woodworker or garage door maker to make these for me no luck- if you want to or can email me PLEASE! Anyway take a look and see if you can help with a router bit model number, link or any help. thanks


Hello Jason:

You too huh? I bought a house and I started with a new workshop and then foundation problems. Almost two years later, workshop up, foundation done, new terracing in the back yard. Nice! Just to reassure you that, yes, things do get done, and things do improve. ;-)

Now for your garage door problem. It is not a problem, it is an approach. Look carefully at the door. Open it so you can see both sides. That door is not "manufactured" it is made. Judging from what little I can see the panels probably weren't weather tight from the outside. Is the outside edge bevelled too?

You don't need a router bit. You need a means of lifting one side of the workpiece while passing the other edge past a straight bit. Take a cedar shingle and see if it matches the angle of the cut on the existing stile. If not, stack shingles until you have the right dimension. Use that to create the angle on your router table. Now, you can duplicate that edge. There are angle bits available from a variety of manufacturers but from what I see, there is no need for that. 

Your manufacturing sequence is thus:

1. cut the slot for your door panels in your stile material.
2. mount your angle jig (the shingles) on the router table and do the four angles (two inside, two outside?) being careful not to take off too much.
3. reposition your router and make the tenons that fit into the grooves on the rails of the door.
4. When you're assembling, make sure you seal the exterior of the door well. Lots of primer and then a good coating of weatherproof paint. It might also be wise to use a polyurethane glue with lots of clamps to seal the joint during glue up.

Now, you might not need to rebuild the components. Take a look at how much of the material is actually rotted. Is it surface rot and why did it happen? I'm using bondo as an exterior sealing agent for cracks and holes in wood. Yup, the same stuff you used on your old rust bucket back in the 60's. Apply liberally, sand profusely and coat with oil based primer and beauty is the word.

HTH


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## CanuckGal (Nov 26, 2008)

Hard to tell from the pictures but it looks like just a slight bevel. Should be easy to match and cut on a table saw. 
Cute Spider!


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

I was thinking the same but with a Mortise and Tenon setup and a slot to hold the panel in place, looks like it could be 1 1/4" thick stock... with a rabbit to act like a lap to shed the water away from the joint on the outside of the door and to lock the panel sections up as one big door but it's hard to tell without taking one of them down to parts..


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## dutchman 46 (May 23, 2007)

One note on the Bondo! The normal fillers are not water proof! They will soak up water, and hold it for a while like a sponge. The fiberglas filler is water proof. If the regular filler (bondo) is used, make sure to prime with a good sealer. preferably a solvent base, and not a water base. I was in the Auto industry all My life, and I know from experience!


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## allthunbs (Jun 22, 2008)

dutchman 46 said:


> One note on the Bondo! The normal fillers are not water proof! They will soak up water, and hold it for a while like a sponge. The fiberglas filler is water proof. If the regular filler (bondo) is used, make sure to prime with a good sealer. preferably a solvent base, and not a water base. I was in the Auto industry all My life, and I know from experience!


Hi Howard:

Are oil based and solvent based primers the same thing? I hope so. I got 5 gal of oil based primer thinking it would do the job.

Ron


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## WmTmpkins (Oct 7, 2010)

Simple fix. Abatron woodepox. It moves with wood and sands like pine. Used alot of it when I was a carpenter. Get a piece of wood and wrap some 220 grit and start with your straights and then work towards the center of the profiles radius. Saturate the wood with denatured alcohol first for deep penetration.


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## dutchman 46 (May 23, 2007)

I think that it would be fine. The bondo is mostly chalk. I haven't used oil based, but give it a try. make a scoop of bondo on a paper plate. Psint it with the oil. and see. I think that water is the worst by far.


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## WmTmpkins (Oct 7, 2010)

Bondo is for metal. Not wood. It will fail in 6 months in this repair. Its only hope is small shallow filling. Woodepox is a 2 part epoxy dough that you can shape and fill deep voids.


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## allthunbs (Jun 22, 2008)

WmTmpkins said:


> Bondo is for metal. Not wood. It will fail in 6 months in this repair. Its only hope is small shallow filling. Woodepox is a 2 part epoxy dough that you can shape and fill deep voids.


Hi Wm:

I hope you're wrong. It's sold under the Minwax name as a wood filler and in a staggering number of "formulations" under the 3M Bondo name. It is essentially polyester fiberglas with some fibers added. The can specifies metal and wood and my experience so far has been pretty good. The only other alternative is epoxy and that's way too expensive and doesn't move with the wood. However, only time will tell.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi 

Not sure why anyone would want to use Bondo on a garage door, short cuts don't work the norm, why not do it right and rebuild the door frame and do it right, it's like putting Bondo on a car/truck,, just weld in or replace the part, metal to metal, wood to wood..  wood will move and the Bondo will crack and let water in the joint then you have the same thing in short order....someone once said do it right the 1st. time and you will not need to do it again....

If it's worth doing it's worth doing it right or the best you can.

Just my 2 cents

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