Door 1: Resting

I think what I thought the problem was was not the whole problem. Today I tried to get the half of bolt out of the addition piece. As I turned it with the wrench the nub sticking out the other side did not move. This means the bolt broke off in the board and did not strip as I thought.

The bolt was counter sunk 3 inches in to the piece of wood and when I looked at it in good light I could see the bolt was not complexly seated. This means it broke before I wrenched it all the way in. The only thing I can guess is that I did not drill the pilot hole deep enough. Grrr! It is possible that had I drilled the pilot hole deep enough it may have worked ok the first time. Either way, I decided to go with Plan B and drill out the holes on the addition piece so the bolts were loose.

Since I had little bits of the broken bolts sticking out I had to get the grinder out and grind off the bolts. I then drilled new holes for 2 new bolts. This time I made sure everything would bolt together well before I put on any glue. I then took it all apart, added glue, and reattached the boards with the bolts. As I tightened the last few turns I saw what I needed to see: Glue squeezing out of the joint as the boards came together.

The door is resting peacefully now. I'm headed to a Holiday Party now so tomorrow I’ll start on the other door.