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SKILL SET
By Carter Swift
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WOOD TRIM FROM LIVE EDGE LUMBER
Wood lovers might love the unique “Old West” accents that Randy Stephenson of Cropwell, Alabama, made from rough-cut lumber for a cowboy-theme room at his home. By incorporating the exposed wood grain and natural live edges into the baseboards, ceiling molding, and door and window casing, he gave the room an old-timey feel which he enhanced with a pair of batwing-style saloon doors. "My wife Donna came up with the design of the room," explains Stephenson. "She is the brains, and I'm just the grunt." Enclosing a closet, the saloon doors were comprised of edge-joined boards enclosed by a four-piece rail-and-stile frame. To give the doors their batwing shape, the top rails were constructed with a mirrored swoop on each
Home Improvement and Repairs | The Spring Issue
side, which Stephenson cut from solid pine with a jigsaw. The door panels were made of individual rough-cut boards, and Stephenson first trued their edges on a table saw to ensure a tight fit to the joints. A feather-board makes a handy table saw accessory that applies pressure across the work-piece and against the fence, so the board is held in place and the cut-line maintains alignment with the blade. To assemble the doors, Stephenson first used a router to cut dadoes (grooves) along the inner edges of the rails and stiles, which encased the panel edges like a picture frame and concealed the end joints. To fasten the panels, wood glue was applied to all mating faces of the corner joints, and the entire construction was clamped together, then strengthened with trim-head screws.
