Framed Battened and Braced Doors

The battens and ledges are enclosed on three sides by a frame of a thickness equal to the combined thickness of the battens and ledges so that it is flush on both sides with them.The boards are tongued into the frame at the top and the sides, and the ledges are framed into the stiles with barefaced tenons. The braces should not be taken into the angle formed by the stile and rail, but be kept back from the shoulder about 1 in.

These doors, as in fact all framed work exposed to damp, should be put together with a quick drying paint instead of glue in a joints, because ordinary softens in damp conditions releasing its hold leading to dry rot in timber. The battens in these doors should be made 1/16 in. slack for each foot of width to allow for subsequent expansion, or otherwise the shoulder will be forced off.

Method of construction The framework of these doors is first made and wedges up, then the battens folded in and driven up into the top rail and nailed to the ledges. Braces are cut tightly in and nailed to the battens in turn and the whole cleaned off together. In larger gates it is usual to stub tenon the braces into the rails, in which case they must be inserted first and wedges up with the framing.