Making and Installing a Barn Door || Insanely Easy Barn Door

fergalicious so delicious make those boys go crazy this video was sponsored by bespoke post um hi welcome to another video in this video i'm going to show you how i made this giant geometric barn door i know it looks hard but believe me it's not it's actually pretty simple and i'm going to show you exactly how i did it and the easy way to make geometric patterns in wood so follow along subscribe down below check the link in the video description for my patreon page and products and all that stuff and just enjoy yourself i'm gonna go brush my teeth [Music] so you want to do a barn door and you want to do some crazy geometric pattern on the front well don't worry it's easy i'm going to hold your sweaty little palms through this entire process now the first trick to doing any sort of crazy geometric pattern with wood going every which way is to not do solid pieces of wood you try and glue up solid pieces of wood in a crazy geometric pattern that wood will eventually move and it's going to look terrible what you want to do is rather cut down a bunch of thin strips that you can glue down to a substrate and that way you won't have to worry about wood movement i started by cutting down a bunch of strips an inch and a quarter wide and three quarters of an inch thick but that's still too thick so now we're going to take all these pieces and we're going to rip them in half now you might be wondering why aren't you going to resom on the bandsaw well because i got a zillion of them and that would be a nightmare and take forever i know i'm going to lose a little material but i decided just to rip them all down on the table saw so after setting up my little safety push block stick thingamabob i start running pieces through ripping them down to just over a quarter of an inch now i know this isn't going to leave a nice clean edge but don't worry we'll take all these pieces and run them through the planer here shortly and by shortly i mean right now now you want to plane these down to a nice thin level to avoid you know wood movement and such but you don't want to make them so thin that they're brittle and are just going to break as you're trying to move them around so i planed them down to oh about 3 16 maybe i also wanted to mention what i'm doing here i got comments on a video one time that i was sticking my hands in the planer which i'm not my hands are nowhere near the blades i'm just holding the pieces down as they come out the back side of the planer to avoid any snipe on each individual piece pretty soon i've got quite a few strips milled down to a good thickness next i wanted to soften the edge of each piece i'll show you why here in just a second but basically if you're doing any sort of geometric pattern you don't want to leave nice crisp edges because well you want people to see the pattern in the wood and if you leave nice crisp edges well it makes it really hard to see that pattern i started out by just trying to knock down that edge of the hand sander and quickly realize that that was awkward and would take forever so i just chopped my whole stack of pieces down and then went over to the oscillating belt sander and very quickly gave a nice rounded over edge on two sides of each piece this also makes a top and a bottom of the piece you want to remember that when you're orienting the pieces on your barn door now for example of what i was talking about here's three pieces with just stock crisp edges when you stick them together see how they just all blend and you can't really differentiate one piece from another then here's three pieces that i've sanded and knocked that edge down see how it makes a nice distinguished line and will really highlight whatever pattern you're going for on your barn door or headboard or closet door or coffee table or dining table whatever you're doing it just helps you know people be able to see that pattern with all of my pieces milled down and ready to go it was time to grab a substrate on which to glue them to now my pattern is only going to be on one side of this door so the back side is just going to be whatever the substrate is so for that i wanted to use a white oak veneered plywood so i grabbed my piece of plywood i marked out roughly the size of my barn door i cut it a little big i gave myself an inch wiggle room on either side and i went over the table saw and ripped it down with my rough shape of the barn door cut out it was time to start laying out where my pattern was going to land so the first thing i did was get a t-square and find the dead center of my barn door from top to bottom then i did the same thing from left to right making a nice axis in the middle of my piece that i can base my entire pattern off of see center from top to bottom and center from left to right this will come in handy here in just a minute next i took one of my pieces that i already milled down and i cut an angle of 22 and a half degrees on one end then i measured three inches up from top to bottom on either side of that middle line then using my piece with that 22 and a half degree angle i use this as an edge to draw another line now this is kind of going to be the stopping point for one portion of the pattern a lot of people think that you have to cut each individual piece and glue it on to any sort of geometric mosaic or something like that and that's actually the wrong way you want to do it the whole goal should be to try and make as few cuts as possible when you start laying out a pattern you really want to look for your straight lines build everything to a straight line and cut it down with a track saw if that doesn't make any sense don't worry i'm going to walk you through the entire process here's all my lines and marks that at least in my head i know what they mean and where things need to stop so let's start getting some wood glued down to this substrate now the easiest way to get nice crisp lines in a geometric pattern is to align them to a straight edge i know my pattern is identical on both sides left to right it's a mirror image of itself so the first thing i do is take that offcut from my plywood substrate and i clamp it in the middle right on that center line this is going to give me a nice straight edge to align everything on one side of the barn door too making sure that i'll end up with perfect seams after i get that clamped down i take all of my pieces of oak that i've already milled down and i cut a angle of 22 and a half degrees on every single one of them fun fact 22.5 degrees is the only angle you will need to cut for this entire pattern that's it everything's 22 and a half degrees so once you get your sauce set two should i say it again 22 and a half degrees well just leave it don't touch it that's all you're going to want to do so just walk away we'll finish making all your cuts and then then you can walk away now not only do my pre-drawn lines help me line up everything but they also show me where i want to put glue and where i don't want to put glue now we're going to just stick all these pieces on here long overhanging those lines and come back and cut a perfect edge with the track saw so we want to make sure not to glue them down where we want them to be cut off i like to start in just small sections squirting some glue down spreading it out this way it doesn't start to dry before i get all my pieces down i've also counted out how many pieces i'm using here because whatever we use on the top we're going to want to use that same number of strips on the bottom so everything is nice and even and matches after i get all of my pieces glued down it's time to do the really fun and satisfying part that's to pull out the track saw slap down the track and trim them all down flushed to the edge of my piece of plywood zip zap zoop yeah that's right quick and easy once we've trimmed all the pieces down flush with the plywood substrate on the outside we next need to match them to that original line we drew on the substrate itself so just grabbing another one of my strips with that 22.5 degree angle i transfer that line onto my freshly laid down oak strips plop my track back on top and once again use the track saw to get a nice crisp perfect line now isn't this way easier than trying to cut each individual piece to the right length and the right angle you're never going to get it right you're always going to get gaps and in the end it's just not going to look as good so lay down large chunks overhang your line and come back and cut everything you can in a nice straight line with the track saw with my first section laid it's time to move down to the lower section so i take all of my offcut pieces over to the chop saw and i cut a fresh new angle on each one now in theory the angle that i cut with the track saw should be pretty close to 22 and a half degrees but pretty close just isn't going to cut it when you're trying to get nice crisp lines so i trust the chop saw much more than the track saw for cutting fine angles so with a new angle on each piece i head back over to my substrate plywood and i start laying them out now this time i'm going to lay them all out before i glue them down this way it'll show me how far down the board i need to go once i lay them all out i take a pencil and i draw a nice crisp line at the end this will show me exactly where i need to stop laying down glue so i don't make a bigger mess than necessary and then all i really have to do now is repeat the same process i did on the top squirting a nice amount of glue all over that plywood in small sections and using a rockler glue brush to smear it around into a nice uniformed even layer you notice i leave the glue just shy of my edges i don't really need the glue there they'll hold down just fine and if you can you want to try and avoid squeeze out as much as possible once i get all my pieces laid down and pinned in place with a 23 gauge brad nailer which is always my weapon of choice for doing work like this because you can't really see those nail holes and they're easy to fill if you can next i grab that track saw again and i cut another nice fresh clean edge man it looks perfect and we hardly did any work don't tell anybody how easy this really is to do with one half of our pattern laid we can now remove that scrap piece of ply that we were using as a straight edge and now the pattern that we've already put down becomes our new straight edge that we can align everything else off of you just want to take your time here and make sure that you're getting your angle exactly the same on this side as you had it on the other side or else things can start to get a little wonky so once again i lay everything out beforehand making sure it all lines up on all my lines exactly where i want it then i remove all the pieces and yeah you guessed it squeeze a little more glue spread it out and tack down some more pieces peasy glue bottle squeezy um anyways i think you're starting to get the picture here now you'll notice as i'm laying down these pieces that you can see each individual line well that's only because we took the time to just soften that edge if we hadn't this pattern would be much harder to discern and i'm telling you it just wouldn't look as good so take the time to do that one added step and soften those edges you won't regret it in no time we had our third section all glued and tacked in place and oh the foreman stopped by to check on how i was do oh what he gave me a gift the foreman gave me something to eat oh man i love when this kid stops by and shares his treats with me just the pick-me-up i needed to get this pattern complete with him gone i set my new confectory aside and i got back to work once all those pieces were in place i took the track saw and zip zop zoop i trimmed them all down looking fresh and clean now you might be wondering how i'm doing this and not cutting into the top of my substrate well i am but it's just a little tiny bit just raise the saw blade don't be a weirdo and cut all the way through obviously that would be a bad idea but i feel like some of you are going to comment about it so i needed to say something next it was on to my last and final section of the actual geometric shape itself so once again i laid all my pieces out drew a line to mark where my glue needed to go and started smearing that stuff around is anybody else having deja vu at this point like you've already seen this exact same process three other times don't worry we're almost on to something new like dropping my nail gun on the floor but anyways eventually i got all the pieces glued and laid and it was time for our final pass with the track saw and what do you know just like that we've got a beautiful geometric pattern taking shape right before our eyes this video was sponsored by bespoke post now what is bespoke post it's just a monthly membership club delivering top shelf products from under the radar brands and it's free to join every month they send their members just cool sweet new products they just sent me a bunch of stuff i'm gonna take a look and show you what i got i mean i got some really cool stuff so let's take a look this is the stealth box it's got all your everyday carry needs fulfilled this cool little metal carrying case that you can put pills in i'm always needing ibuprofen and i don't have a full bottle in my pocket ever so that thing's sweet this fold out knife i used to have this exact same knife and i loved it but i lost it so glad they sent me another one this is like the coolest pen in the world it's got a stylus tip on one end to use on your ipad it's got a level it's got measurements the end unscrews to become a screwdriver and then to top it all off you get this sweet money clip that you can hold your money in low profile easy to use and then i got the flame box it's amazing it comes with this basically a desktop campfire that's easy to use and crazy easy to set up you just pour some alcohol in and light it and boom instant campfire how cool is that and possibly my favorite box is the last call box it's basically everything you need for a sweet home bar set up some garnishes a home bar essential checklist that tells you all the essentials for home bar kits you got a cranberry sage syrup a hot toddy syrup a grapefruit jalapeno soda moscow mule mixer and the smoked honey and whiskey cocktail mixer so you're pretty set up to make some tasty drinks every box has around seventy dollars in value but costs only forty five dollars ninety percent of the products in bespoke post boxes come from small businesses many of which are based right here in the us and you only pay for what you want when you get a box you can either keep it swap it for a different box or skip that month entirely for absolutely no charge when you go to their website to sign up they have you fill out a short quiz which basically asks you a bunch of questions about the type of stuff you like so you know that each box is tailored to fit your specific needs and wants what could be better than that i mean there's really no reason not to sign up if you want to get 20 off your first box click the link in the video description and use coupon code moth20 that's all caps moth 20 or go to bspk.meshmoth20 and sign up today it's great for yourself it makes a great gift and you get great stuff and can make great cocktails so go sign up with the main portion of our geometric shape laid there was just one issue this middle diamond section now my original thought was to fill that with a solid piece of oak so i got out some paper i taped it nice and taut over my shape and then i used a pencil to transfer that shape onto my piece of paper i don't remember where i learned this trick but it works great if you're trying to find the exact shape of an internal piece like this and it's kind of funky and you don't want to mess around with doing math or trying to get a perfect measurement then i took a piece of oak i milled it down to the exact same thickness as all my other pieces and i took my piece of paper with my shape on it made sure that the board was wide enough to hold that paper then i got a bottle of very drippy leaky spray adhesive sprayed it on top of the piece and laid down my piece of paper just like so then i got a straight edge i plopped it right down on the line of my shape and using x-acto knife i trimmed away all the excess paper to give me a nice clear picture of the exact shape i was trying to cut out then i simply removed all of the excess paper that i didn't need and boom i have the exact shape that i need for the center of this geometric pattern next i took that board over to my band saw and i cut out the shape cutting pretty darn close to the edge of my paper but not so close that i went into the paper itself leaving just a whisper of wood on the outside of that line once i got this shape completely cut out we were pretty close but not quite there yet next i went over to my oscillating belt sander and keeping a very close eye on the edge of that paper i brought that line down until it was perfect then i walked over tested to see if it fit and what do you know it's gonna fit perfect so i pulled it back out removed my paper and glued it in place with that our geometric shape was complete and looking a lot like a creepy eye staring right at you i just think that maybe i hate this so after spending all that time to fill the center with a solid piece of oak i decided to rip it out because it was ugly and had no purpose being there sometimes you just make mistakes and design that's okay just do it over when it comes to design always go with your gut if you don't think something looks right and you don't like it immediately then just do it over again you're never gonna like it it will not grow on you unless of course your wife likes it then you just kind of have to live with it i've learned that the hard way a time or two for now i decided to forget that part and start working on kind of the background of the geometric shape so i laid out a bunch more strips at 22.5 degree angles i plopped them on there i trimmed them down with a track saw and what do you know once again i absolutely hated it this is where you really got to be picky i mean you agree that those white strips in there just look like total garbage right yeah i thought they looked stupid too so after gluing them and tacking them in place i just had to rip them out it was gonna look much better if i went for a more consistent looking piece of oak to plop in there so away they go and on to something new so often have i seen people come out with mediocre pieces because they're trying desperately to just save material which means that they sacrifice on the overall look of the piece in the end what's more important actually liking the piece you're making or saving a few bucks on material obviously it's saving a few bucks on material no i'm just kidding you should probably like the piece that you're making as i mentioned before all these pieces are cut to the exact same angle so believe it or not these pieces even though they're oriented completely different are cut to that same 22 and a half degree angle remember when i said just set your side of that and forget about it yeah i wasn't joking so in no time i was able to get this lower half completely covered in those oak slats and trim down on the track saw pretty soon i was down to my final piece and wow this thing is really starting to look like something now to fix this middle section now because i had already spent so much time getting this middle shape perfect i thought it would be a shame to just waste it so instead of wasting it i decided to use it as the perfect shaped template to fill my center with something else i decided to just go with the same thing i did around the other parts of the geometric shape vertical slats that would continue the pattern from top to bottom so after covering my first attempt with double sided tape i then just started laying strips on top of it making sure they were nice and firmly stuck to that double-sided tape now i for a moment thought about using this as a router template taking it over the router and just trimming the whole thing down but the pieces weren't held on there super great with that double sided tape and they were all end grain and i just didn't like the thought of trying to do that on the router table so i just went back to the same method i used on the first attempt i first trimmed it down roughly to the right size over on the bandsaw and once that shape was completely cut out all i had to do was take it over to the oscillating belt sander and just clean it up a little bit and while i was doing that i also used the belt sander to just soften the edge of each side of this diamond pattern thingamabob once i had it sanded down and thinking it would fit properly i took it over and just started peeling pieces off and sticking them in place if all goes well this should fit just as perfect as that original piece but have a much cleaner more uniformed look that should match everything a lot better than some giant ugly dark eye staring you in the face every morning oh that's a story for another time i know everyone's opinion is different but in my mind this option looked much better than the first and that's really all that matters that you're happy with the look of your piece if you like it well then don't listen to anyone else they can just go to anger management or something like that with all of my pieces now laid on my oak substrate i just took a few minutes to fill those 23 gauge holes now this step is really optional i don't know if you've ever used a 23 gauge pin nailer before but the holes are pretty microscopic you could totally get away with not filling them but it might as well put something in there after that it was time for my favorite thing in the world sanding the whole flipping thing down so it was nice and smooth and clean looking but that's enough of that and then remember how i said i cut my substrate about an inch big on each side just to make sure that i could clean it up properly afterwards so with all my pieces laid and sanded i now cut my piece to its final size trimming off this top part was pretty darn satisfying anyways with that our whole geometric shape piece is laid but oh we're not done yet for this thing to be a functioning door we need to add a border to really lock all those pieces in and give us a nice finished clean look for the border i decided to use eight quarter white oak to make a nice sturdy frame on which we could mount our barn door hardware so i'm basically just making a giant shaker style door very similar to the closet doors i made in my previous closet door video if you want to see detailed of exactly how to put that door together you can go watch that video by clicking that little thing in the upper right hand corner but for now i'm just going to run you through the process i start by cutting all my pieces to size and running a one inch deep by three quarter inch wide dado down the center of each board then i take my top and bottom rails and i mark one inch in from the end of each one of those pieces and again using the dado saw and a rockler crosscut sled i add a nice tenon to the end of each one of my rails the exact same depth as my dado so that you know the tenon can go inside the dado next i take all my pieces and just do a little dry fit to make sure that everything is fitting together as it should a little tap tap tap a little bang bang bang and what do you know it all fits pretty darn good actually i love the way tongue and groove looks sexy with all of my border pieces cut and dry fit the way that i want them to it was time to try and shove our geometric panel in place now this is an eight foot tall door and that middle panel is very heavy so i was trying to think of the best way to get this in here in the end i decided to clamp up three sides to my workbench so they wouldn't move around and just hope that it would slide effortlessly into place and it did for about i don't know 10 inches and then it got a little more difficult so with a little tapping and banging and crazy clamp work i eventually got it to work its way in there right where it needed to be and was confident that everything would fit as it should i threw a few clamps on there just to make sure that those seams would close and we are ready to glue this thing together so after getting it all together it was time to well pull it all apart and actually add some glue to those joints which are a little tight but that's okay they should be now i know there's a hot debate out there on whether or not panels in a shaker style door like this should be glued or truly just floating i go back and forth depending on what the panel's actually made of now normally if the internal panel was hardwood i would say don't glue that thing in place you want it to move around but i broke my own rule here thinking that these thin strips which are basically a veneer on top of plywood which is stable weren't going to move around much so i locked them in there with some glue i don't know if this was a smart thing to do but i think it'll be okay in the end as you can see everything came together nice and tight with just the right amount of squeeze out on all of my joints the next morning i came out and removed all my clamps and it was time to well do my most favorite activity in the entire world and that was yes sand everything flipping down again i don't know if i've mentioned it in previous videos but i um well i hate sanding after sanding one side i flipped over and sanded the other side which you can see is just that clean oak veneered panel then i carved out a little recess in the back for this slim black handle and with that we're ready to put some finish on this white oak now i know what you're thinking it's white oak he's obviously going to use rubio monaco cotton white well you are wrong i'm actually not i went for a new color option this time rubio monocoat mud light it gives it a nice kind of dirty warm look with just a hint of gray i did a few test samples on some scrap pieces of white oak and i just loved the way it looked who knows maybe mud light is the new cotton white after finishing the entire backside i then remembered that i forgot i needed to cut a groove in the very bottom of the door this groove will work with the hardware for the barn door that keeps the door from swinging out away from the wall so with the help of my track saw and a few clamping squares i had that groove cut in no time as you can see this little metal piece will get attached to the floor and then it will ride in this groove making it so the door cannot swing out away from the wall with that i flipped the whole thing over and it was time to finish the final side now because i softened the edge on all these pieces i was a little worried about that little line getting gunked up with finish so my solution to this was just to use a foam brush and go really slow using just a small small small amount of finish and trying to keep it out of those cracks as much as possible this turned out not to be possible but in the end it wasn't too hard to clean out each groove with a paper towel and in no time it was looking crisp and clean like a sardine which is neither crisp or clean come to think of it they're more stinky and oily most are talking about living sardines in that case they're slippery and salty but i digress with the door completely finished i let it sit for a few hours and then i was ready to mount my barn door hardware now i forget off the top of my head the name of this company that makes the hardware i will include a link in the video description but it's one of the best barn door hardware kits i've ever found their website's easy to use they have a zillion different color options all the components that come with the hardware are metal not plastic like the ones you buy on amazon and i really couldn't say enough good things about this company if only i could actually remember the name of the company i want to say it's like zeus's barn door hardware but i know that's completely wrong the other thing i love about this specific barn door kit is that unlike most kits the actual track that the barn door rides on is not pre-drilled which means that you drill your own holes which is easy to do and it also means that you can mark out exactly where your studs are and only drill holes there so you don't wind up with a bunch of unnecessary holes or holes that don't go into studs the last thing you want is that barn door drilled straight into drywall that's not a good idea for anyone so after marking out on my track where all the studs were gonna land i went back out to my wood shop and i drilled holes for each stud going nice and slow and lubing up the track with a little wd-40 because that's all i had but hey it works then all i had to do was take it back into the house and just screw that track right into those studs making sure that it was nice and level you don't want a barn door that always wants to slide to the right or left that's not fun and then finally i had to test it the only way i knew how which was to hang on it because as my grandpappy always said if it can hold me it can hold anything the next morning i brought the barn door in and i slid it in place and wow he can use a tape measure it slid right on exactly how it should with just the right amount of clearance on the bottom about a quarter of an inch and for as heavy as this thing is and believe me i carried it inside all by myself it is heavy it slides effortlessly along that metal track just how we like it so with my barn door on the track and gliding smoothly i added my little floor guide to keep it from swinging out away from the wall as you can see it just slides right over that and works great with that installed the last thing i had to do was install my stops on either end of the track to keep the barn door from you know flying off the track and landing on someone's face and if you look really close in the background you can just barely see that bathroom vanity i made a few videos oh well you could see it now i know what you're wondering that light switch on the wall that's really inconvenient put a light switch behind a barn door well don't worry that's being taken out and will no longer be functional so get off my back with my stops and my floor guide and my track in place the last and final step was to install the pole on the outside of the barn door i don't know about you but i really dig this orange color i just think it looks cool and industrial and goes great with the oak tone but if you hate it make sure to let me know in the comment section like really give it to me give me all your angst and hate in full force can't wait well there you have it a giant geometric barn door and as you saw it's not that hard so go buy some wood find a big hole that needs to be covered with a barn door and make your own don't forget to check the video description for a link to my patreon page a link to a bunch of tools that i used in here and some other good stuff and if you're not doing so already go follow me on instagram facebook twitter bootaboo bluefairy those last ones aren't real but they sound like they could be anyways enjoy white snow red sky

Channel: Bourbon Moth Woodworking

Views: 120,103

Keywords: barn door, Making and Installing a Barn Door, Insanely Easy Barn Door, diy barn door, diy door, sliding door, how to make a barn door, sliding barn door, how to, barn door hardware, barn door installation, barnwood door, diy barndoor, farmhouse door, how to build a barn door, barn door build, barn door diy, sliding barn door diy, barn doors in house, barn door hardware installation, barn door for bathroom, diy barn door installation, diy barn door hardware, diy door idea

Id: Zg4d59HdCho

Length: 35min 20sec (2120 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 16 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/cheezepie]

Door looks cool but that fucking youtube thumbnail is enough to make me not watch this video.

[u/Adept_Sentence_7290]

The first thing I noticed when I clicked on this was the hardware. I really like it. It's a nice alternative to the standard black or stainless steel options. I also like that there's no backer board for the track. One of the benefits of drilling your own holes for mounting it to the wall studs.

[u/antsugi]

Barn doors are one of the tackiest fads right now

But this is crafted very well

[u/vapidamerica]

These doors always seem really neat until you close them, then they swing everywhere unless you cut a track in your floor and install what we call in the stagehand business a pizza cutter to guide it. I’ve also seen these used as bathroom doors and it’s just stupid. Just by their nature, you can see through the sides but I guess it’ll help air out your poo stank. Again, they look neat but are so impractical as to be useless.

[u/conrob2222]

Keemstar?

[u/MrOrangeWhips]

This fad is not going to age well.

[u/SupplePigeon]

Just go find some wood.....and $50,000 in woodworking equipment and you're all set.