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This chap used a hand-held router (and warns about how it likes to tip over mid-cut).
His design isn't quite what I'd go for, and I think your overview is pretty close.
I've wanted an excuse to get a biscuit jointer thing for ages, which I might use in preference to tongue-and-groove for everything.
Agreed on the seasoned wood, you'd be surprised at the lack of sawmills in SE23 though, sadly.
The chap in the link considered the mortice and tenon situation and decided on floating tenons, which if I understand things correctly is basically a big biscuit joint.
Dammit-
By all means, buy a biscuit joiner if you want one. But you could also make a custom base plate for the router. A wide flat plate with two parallel batons that straddle the edge of the timber you want to cut pockets/mortices into. I've seen a lot of people do this for cutting out lock recesses etc.
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One thing I’d note is that those doors are visibly warped even in the thumbnail. Look how the right hand door kicks out at the bottom.
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I wouldn't go for biscuit joints for two reasons:
- You really need the T&G because it runs the full length of the planks and will provide much-needed stability to prevent warping. It can also be glued along its whole length. (But, a tip here, is paint the tongues first with at least one coat on the visible outside face so when it all contracts due to weather you don't expose bare wood.)
- Biscuit joints are, to a chap like yourself who goes for the best available, very much the poor relation to Festool's domino system. Still no good for this job, but for other carpentry you'll want Domino and in the end you'll wind up buying into that. The correct (read: perfectly good enough and very cheap) gateway drug while you're developing your carpentry skills is dowels and a Kreg dowelling jig. That is still what I use.)
A hand-held router is all I have at the mo, and somewhere upthread is a lovely oak and leather desk I made with routed fingerpulls, so you can do a great job with the cheapest of them. But they do like to tip. You need a lot of patience and to take great care. If you're using hardwood it's a lot more difficult not to end up with burned wood, gouges etc and hardwood is a lot more expensive.
You can buy or make cheap tables for them, but a garage door is a big thing. I like Aaron's suggestion of making a custom baseplate for the job. I think that may work as well as a table for cutting grooves and tongues, but for making thin fenestrations I think a table may be the only way.Floating tenons may work very well. Good shout.
- You really need the T&G because it runs the full length of the planks and will provide much-needed stability to prevent warping. It can also be glued along its whole length. (But, a tip here, is paint the tongues first with at least one coat on the visible outside face so when it all contracts due to weather you don't expose bare wood.)
stevo_com
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My 2p worth on the door chat.
I've made smaller panel doors and they don't half like to warp. I suspect those original doors are made from slow-grown pitch pine. Modern Scandinavian pine is absolutely shit in comparison. You may get away with poplar.
So get friendly with a good sawmill because I suspect you will need good, properly seasoned wood. Teak maybe. Acacia might do a nice job if you can get it. It works quite well for outdoor furniture if properly protected from the elements. Take advice from the sawmill.
The other reason to get it from a sawmill is the cost. Much cheaper than buying retail.
Using hardwood make the doors extremely heavy compared with pine. So they will be hard to hang and may put too much stress on the frame.
Depends on the sawmill but if they can't supply it in tongue and groove you'll need to do that yourself, and the best way is with a router table.
The construction is probably like a barn door with big thick sides&7 top and the lower part is Z shaped frame on the inside to nail the T&G planks onto. The horizontals are probably mortice and tenon joints. I've never tried using them because it's too hard and I don't have the right tools. Maybe a router table and a table saw will do it
The sides and visible horizontals are tongued or grooved to accept the planks too.
A router table would be the best tool for making the glazing bars too, but I've no idea how to construct that. I think there is one horizontal and 4 verticals. However, I'd caution against including the glass. There's no fucking way I'd have windows into my garage, especially not in South London, so think about panelling that and just sticking on some routed sections to reproduce the pattern.