How to Make a Coopered Door with Tom McLaughlin

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⚙️ SHOW NOTES — EPISODE #102: Like a treasure chest lid, a curved door conceals with more mystery and beauty than a flat door ever could. On a previous episode, Tom designed a jewelry box with a laminated curved lid. In this episode he throws you another curve, making a solid-wood “coopered” lid or door, without using clamps even!  Hope you enjoy it! (Closed captioned)

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LIVE EVENTS are filmed in the shop of Tom McLaughlin, host of TV's Classic Woodworking and Shop Night Live. Tom loves to pass on the craft of woodworking by creating projects to present in live video form backed by his over 30-years of experience making fine custom furniture.

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[victoryak]

Hey Tom, (Chris here). Just wanted to commend you on this video! So informative and inspiring to go try it soon. Just gotta get my hands on some quarter sawn white pine and it seems like you could just almost start by making the door and design the cabinet accordingly. Never thought you could produce such a result with tape as the clamping source. Great job! Ps, am well into the shaker end table course and enjoying it a lot. Can’t wait to make it and get into some other projects. Thx

Pps, I know it was said but please don’t change that teaching style to accommodate impatient people. What you’re teaching in these videos is best done in a methodical, engaging way (the essence of actual teaching) and is why I and alot of others go to your channel and take the courses. I’ve been watching a ton of YouTube content on woodworking and a majority of it are these short sound bites or over simplified “overviews.” The problem is that most people are often then left with more questions than answers. So keep doing what you’re doing, I wouldn’t change a thing.

[broomeco.]

The angle layout method you offered here is excellent. I’m also learning a lot from my “Neighborwood” membership on your website. Thanks

[dajesterman]

Tom, thanks for sharing your knowledge! I learned a ton.

[syabelman]

Thanks for the video, Tom. I just made my first 15x22" coopered cabinet door today. Also I dig your Inca bandsaw

[steveskope]

Hi Tom, excellent lessen learned, on coopered doors or leds. Your teaching technique is excellent, by taking your time to explain and show the process in detail, so that the method and procedure comes across clear as a bell. Tom, don't even change a thing, go on teaching the way you have always been teaching. Who cares what some people say, they only wish they could be like you. When doing live streaming at the same time explaining the subject at hand and with in a time frame can be challenging, you handle this with no problems, it feels like everyone is in the shop with you and you are talking face to face.
Thank you for the wood movement chart, you would think the the soft wood would have more movement then the hard woods, I find this interesting. Tell Kris, thanks for listening the chart info from FWW.
Building a cooper door or lid for a project can be different and Interesting to do making it a lot of fun. I will definitely try to put my woodworking skills to work building a project with a cooper door. How did you come up with the size and angle of the curve? Did you show this in last week's SNL, I don't remember if so, I will check back. Thank you again for all you and Kris do, see you on Tuesday.

[jeffhildreth]

Excellent Video.
Liked and subscribed.
PS. I have James Krenov's first Swedish bench which he bought there in the 60s.
I added a runner at the bottom of each end to increase the height,
otherwise all original.

[thayerkids]

So cool! Can’t wait until I have something to use this application with.

[g.m.fallon]

That was fun. Thanks Tom...I'm kinda jazzed too.

[jerrystark]

Another very interesting session. The curved-lid box is going to be a really nice piece. I also like coopered doors on small cabinets, as you have mentioned, and I have made a number of them. Reading books by James Krenov really had an impact on me.

I agree with you that the tape method of "clamping" the door staves works easily and well. There is one possible drawback -- maintaining a consistent arc with no twist (not so much a twist as a shifted stave) over the length of the door can be hit-or-miss with the tape method. The door will glue up and dry very nicely with tight joints but it might also have an unintended "twist" that complicates mounting the curved panel at a later stage of a cabinet or box build. A small "twist" can make for a big problem. The result can be a lot of fiddling and fettling down the line.

I dealt with this problem by making a "saddle frame", which was made of three pieces of 3/4" plywood: two identical door supports with concave curves to match the outside of the coopered door and a flat base piece on which to mount the supports. This allows one to (1) tape the door staves together efficiently, AND (2) to tape (or clamp) the freshly-glued door to the saddle frame. Using a taping/clamping caul curved to match the interior of the panel is probably a good practice here. The latter step assures that the curves on the ends of the door are identical. This makes mounting doors and hinges SO much easier at a later stage of the build. At least, it worked for me.

Not long after I started making coopered doors, I also made a "Krenov-style" plane with a convex sole and a blade to match -- a stoup plane, I gather. It is great for cleaning up the inside of a coopered door or any other interior curve, for that matter. Nothing else seemed to work quite as well, as long as the blade was nicely sharpened. It was far more efficient and controlled than power sanding, in my experience. Further, like all "Krenov-style" planes, a stoup plane of this type is also easy and enjoyable to make.

Thanks for the video, guys. Great stuff. All the best from Wisconsin!

P.S. I noticed a few comments about your narrative style. Those who don't like it seem to misunderstand the purpose of the shop session, which is to emulate the experience of being in the shop with a mentor or teacher. The conversation and the stories are essential parts of this experience. Anyone who has ever served an apprenticeship of any kind knows this from their own experience. Anyway, that's just a thought from a shop geezer who has learned a lot from older (and younger) shop geezers. 😎

[reaper]

Dude said I don't know if that was a serious question?? Hand planes are part of the woodworking process my friend. That was hilarious. LOL
I get it is a lot easier to do it on the table saw but a lotta ppl don't have these types of machines. They cost a lot of money. It's nice to have a really nice Powermatic table saw but to get a good table saw nowadays will set u back anywhere between 2-5 grand depending on where u are in the world.
I would love a jointer like the one u have in ur shop man. I have a jointer/thicknesser but it was really a waste of money bcos the fence has given me no end of trouble. I need to get a new fence for it. It's one of the cheaper models.
That's a great tip about Snipe and having the outfeed table set correct. I kept getting snipe last night at the end of every board. It wrecked my head bcos I didn't think of that. I'm kinda new to these machines. I haven't used it all that much to date and I've had it for a year now. I think I've used it 5 times in a year.

I need to get to grips with the Joiter and my table saw.
I'm actually in the process of building my own Table saw now. I bought the steel to build the frame and housing for the blade and motor, belt/pulley system.
Sorry man I started waffling there.. I'm enjoying the video..

[markpope]

Excellent video Tom. I really enjoyed it and learned loads. Would you consider doing a video on how to instal knife hinges?
Best wishes

Mark (from Swindon, England)

[jeffhildreth]

For hinges on small pieces, I use brass rod.. or pins. Drill holes in the end of the door top and bottom .
Slide the door up into the top hole with a longer pin (marginally) then let down with short pin at the bottom hole
Barely, if at all, visible hardware. Door can easily be removed by lifting up and out.

[blandry]

Great tip on how to find a unknown angle.

[victoryak]

Hey Tom, been rewatching a bunch of these sessions on curves (why so many comments on different videos haha). This is a bit of topic but have you done anything on making a skateboard (obviously the lamination method as opposed to coopering😄). I thought sometime of checking into this and trying with the vacuum bag. Occurred to me maybe some folks have that RoarRocket setup and might be fun. Of course it’s not a one session thing though but it would be interesting to consider the variety of cool things one could do in terms of the look of the veneer, inlays etc. probably it would be beyond SNL tho haha. Of course all the contours of a decent skateboard makes this fairly complex.

[chrispokorney]

Great Video. Travisher!? Or a shoemakers spokeshave works great.

[reaper]

iS 1/4 SAWN TIMBER FROM THE TOP LEFT OF THE TREE ROUND??
sO i HAVE A QUICK QUESTION FOR ANYBODY IN THE COMMENTS AS WELL AS THE MAN IN THESE VIDEOS.. - tHE WAY U CUT THE PIECES FOR THE ARCHed top of the box - Does it mean that the movement will be up/down rather than side to side or am I not getting it??
I love the look of the arch door/top. I use Bostik or ordinary PVA for my glue ups. I know it's the cheaper of the glues but it has a much longer open time for me anyways. I know a lotta woodworkers would balk at it but I like to use it. It dries clear too. I like that about it. I don't know if all these glues dry clear bcos I've only really used the EVOSTIK PVA glue atm.
The Arched box top is really nice. I was wondering what the angle would be. I'm going to take a punt at it in my shop today. I have some nice pieces of wood and I was wondering if it would be possible to build the Arch door front for a cabinet and have glass in it. I wanted to make a shadow box for a family member but I love the idea of having an arched door for the front door part of the box. I think it would be something different t the ones I've seen on YT lately.
THANKS for this great tutorial my friends. 87.4 is the angle I need. I will be looking to make a wooden hinge for my door. I saw one where the guy making it used little metal pins in his own shop made dowel which he cut into shorts and drilled holes with this contraption he had on his hand drill. It was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen where he pushed the small dowels into this little connection on the drill chuck which made the tiny holes to hold the pins. Then he glued some to the frame and door every 2nd one I think and waxed the other ones. It worked really well. I must look up that video and send u the link to his box with the wooden hinge idea.. It worked a treat for his box.
I'm looking forward to the next video now. I will be checking out more of ur content over the next few days and seeing what's in ur back catalogue too. Thanks again for this awesome tutorial my friends. Take care.

[MrSharper]

How you deal with hinges on the laminated and veneered doors?

[scottbrasuell]

You really do take a long time to say something or make a point.FYI. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise.

[tonykemp]

Lost the will to live and turned off, before you got to the point.

[steelwood]

I watch a lot of videos, and I'm sorry but I give a THUMBS DOWN to everyone that doesn't use their riving knife, regardless of how good the video is.