Attaching an iron bar to a wooden door

[urnesBeast]

My new shop is about two weeks from first fire.

I have already had an opportunistic theft of two empty propane tanks from outside my shop. They were in sight of the road, and unsecured. I thought I was far enough out in the country not to worry about that. Oddly enough, they left half a ton of coal in five gallon buckets. That was way more valuable!

These double doors are wooden and open inwards. I have a viking era padlock to use until I make my own. I was going to make some nice metal reinforcement bar for the outside that can hinge across the two of them to be padlocked.

What I do not know how to do is attach these two bars (each the the width of the door) to the outside of the door. I want to do this with style. Something I make. This can be permanent, or removable from the inside.

[Frosty]

Thieves REALLY tick me OFF! Just as a bit of fantasy I'm thinking a bit of C4 and a reverse proximity fuse that'd set it off a few hundred yards from the house would solve THAT little problem.

Of course they didn't take the coal, it'd be too much work.

Frosty the Lucky.

[Pat Roy]

When I want to make things fairly secure I use carraige bolts. The head is domed on the outside and has a square nut underneath. Drift square holes through your iron to match the size of the square on the the underside of the bolt head. Drill a matching hole through your wood and push the bolt through. Then nut it over a backing plate or large washer on the inside. The bad guys can't get the bolts out without a lot of work. I do this for hinges and latches, etc.

[Wayne]

I am afraid you will never stop the serious thief but padlocks and strong hinges tend to ward off the opportunist ones :(

[Ferrous Beuler]

When I was in the Marines in the 80's I served with a lot of guys who had served in Vietnam, they told me stuff, always looking out for the young guns just in case for next time around.

Now I'm not condoning or suggesting anything here, just offering a bit of satirical respite for entertainment purposes only, kinda like a get well card..

[bigfootnampa]

The old way is pretty good... square punched holes and hand forged nails, clenched on the inside. It looks pretty good too, especially with some slightly oversize heads. For clenching I cheat a little and thin the tip tapers and fine-tune the lengths with my angle grinder... just faster and a bit more accurate. You need a helper to either drive or work the clenching iron.

[urnesBeast]

This is purely to stop opportunistic thieves and curious neighbor boys from being in without supervision. These doors are old enough that a good swift kick or three would likely take them down.

I would want to find some carriage bolts in non-galvi so I can improve them in the fire. Ideally both the inside and outside would look good, so bent nails, or carriage bolts would be OK, but not ideal.

[thecelticforge]

Carriage bolts will serve very well. You can even heat them and make them appear as nail heads. What ever you decide on, just make sure that they have to be inside the shop to remove it. Motion sensing lights are a boon also.

[Francis Trez Cole]

dont forget to protect your scrap pile as well

[Frank Turley]

When double doors are involved, one is usually passive and has a vertical head and foot bolt, sometimes called cane bolts. That door will also have an astragal to act as a stop for the other door, the "active door." When the spring-tensioned head and foot bolts are thrown into the header and threshold, the passive door is locked. The active door can have handles on both sides. When pulled shut from the outside, I envision a Mexican style of crossbar, which I will attempt to describe. The bar, maybe 3/8" x 2" x 2½', has a half round end as viewed flat, and a hole through the flat, maybe 1/2"D.The bar hangs from a forged cotter pin, maybe 7/16"D. The two ends through the door are flattened and clinched inside. The "ring", circular portion of the cotterpin outside retains its 7/16"D stock size. The ID of the ring is 1/2" to 9/16". There can be some slop. When not in use the crossbar hangs vertically.

The other end of the crossbar is shouldered on edge and a round tail drawn out, bent in a circle and welded. This circle will match ANOTHER cotterpin with is driven through the active door and clinched. The rings of both cotterpins are horizontal when installed. The welded circle is horizontal, so the padlock shackle can be dropped through.

The crossbar is lifted and dropped into a flat-stock L-hook, so the crossbar is now horizontal. The L-hook is fastened to the active door a little ways back from the padlock rings, when the bar is horizontal.

I'm sure this sounds involved. When you look at the doors from outside in the unlocked position, you'll see the crossbar hanging vertically from the passive door. On the active door, you'll see an L-hook, a cotterpin, and a handle.

In the locked position, the crossbar sits horizontally in its L-hook with the padlock in place.

http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools