This is the first of a pair of 36’x80″ doors for the addition to my shop
built a few years ago. I made it from hand cut air dried oak I’ve had
sitting around for 5 or so years. It’s a combination of red and white oak,
rough sawn and dried in the air. It’s a very tough door built for the
weather and the beating it’ll get. I used mortise and tenon joinery with
structural epoxy adhesive and then pegged the tenons. I’m just starting on
the next one and not sure I have the right dimensioned lumber to make the
same door again. But that’s part of the fun of it. If the next one doesn’t
look quite the same, it’ll be the same size, do the job, and show that these
aren’t mass produced store bought doors. Doors like so many things are made
for some general idea of ‘normal’. No sense following suit as I’m not a
normal/average body. My elbow is 44″ inches off the ground, so my hand when
reaching for a door knob wants to be higher than the average hand. The
correct height based on Fibonacci for the center rail is 49″ from the
bottom. About perfect for a door knob. So rather than putting the center
rail at the usual 36″ height I put it from 44 to 49′ height. The door knob
usually goes on the stile at the height of the center rail. So this one is
8 or so inches higher than normal.

What is the Fibonacci point on the door? It’s 49″. So I modified the idea
to make that rail between 44 and 49″ off the floor. That puts the knob where
my body might find it natural to use, and the height of the rail should give
a more natural appearance. Just a test it all is and one I’ll pay attention
to over time to see how it works, but the look is good..just slightly
different while not being obvious.