How many of you have had the "functional versus finished" discussion in your home? You know, the one where you start a project together and it gets to the functional stage, and you suddenly find yourself fighting to get it finished all the way. We've been married for almost 20 years now and there are still projects fully functional but unfinished!
So, I was a little nervous when OSB and plywood were used to close up the door openings in our barn. One piece of chipboard, (now worth a small fortune) was even put on old screen door hinges, along with the slam latch to make the front door "functional". There was many a discussion about the necessity of closing up the barn to keep the weather elements outside. Under the historical circumstances, I was all for leaving everything wide open until real doors could be built, making sure the doors were completely finished. Well the OSB doors went up despite my protests, and I made a parting comment along the lines of "so the doors will not be done until I turn fifty", which happens to be a very long ways down the road for me!
Well, as you saw on the last barn post, we got the big north doors done just before it snowed last year.
Kit spent the past spring forging multiple parts and pieces for our front door. The first items he made were the hinges.
VAR was totally impressed with them when they were brought out for photographs and wanted to be the one to show them off.
It took us two or three tries before we came up with a combination of patterns we liked.
Kit forged them from ¼"x 3-inch flat steel down to an inch and an eighth near the small end with the leftover material split in thirds with a hot-cut tool, and forged into points with a cross pein hammer.
The other end he forged to 2¼" width and then hammered, drew it out, and cut it into a 4-inch circle. He forged the pintle hinge end back down to 2¼" then cut and edged it with the hot cut. He then folded it over, riveted, and bent it at a right angle allowing the door to swing inward.
Next he forged matching, edged, and riveted pintle hing plates and installed them into the door jam for hanging the door.
Kit and CW hand forged all of the nails and spikes used on the cross battons and the hinges for our double doors. Since this door was going to be narrower, we decided to go with two hinges and forge decorative nuts and bolts to secure the hinge to the door.
These are the different head bolt designs Kit forged from half-inch rod. He finished the bolt heads with cross pein or ballpein hammers, punches, cold chisels, and files. After the heads were finished, he threaded the bolts and fit them to scalloped nuts cut from ½" x 1" flat steel.
Next we built a suitable handle for our door. We chose to use a Norfolk style door handle complete with forged thumb latch and external latch hardware.
The inside of this door staple retains, but allows the bolt to move up and down to unlatch the door from the inside.
Kit forged the thumb latch from a single piece of 3/8" x 3/4" flat steel.
This is the back plate, that goes on the inside of the door.
And the inside bolt with riveted handle latch and hidden mounting hardware
The bottom of the door handle.
The top of the door handle with thumb latch.
The door handle.
And our masterpiece Norfolk door handle completed and installed! It is four inches wide and 16 inches tall!
The inside of the door assembly.
This shows, up close, how the Norfolk works. When the thumb latch is pressed down from the outside, the inside end lifts the bolt out of the notched strike plate and allows the door to open. Kit built this strike plate from an old and thicker style farrier rasp.
The inside of the door.
The hinges work fabulously!
And the whole door hung and trimmed out. The door’s hand planed finish contrasts well with the darker brushed and clear coated latch and hinge appearance.
Doesn't it just set off the whole building?! Real, authentic, sturdy, strong, invincible, indestructible, yet homey, inviting, comfortable, and warm!