>>The wooden thingie at the bottom of a door is probably a sill also, but a
metal (alum or bronze) strip would be a saddle.   We need John Leeke or one
of our carpenter cohorts

In wood construction I've always called the bottom structural member of a
door way the "door sill", particularly if the part also goes along
underneath other doorway parts such as the door studs and flanking pilaster
bases as in exterior doorways. (see illustration in my "New Life for an
Early Doorway", Old-House Journal, Mar. 1993) In masonry construction I've
always called the massive stone counterpart a "sill
stone."  If the part extends just to
the vertical casings and stands proud of the floor it's the "threshold".
(deriv: in the barn, holding back the grain during threshing operations),
which term is in common use in the midwest and northeast, particularly for
interior doors. (see illustration in my "Open Door Policy" article in OHJ
Jan. 1997.)

"Wooden thingie" is good too, just as long and everyone thinking about and
working on the wooden thingie is thinking the wooden thingie is the same
thingie as everyone else thinks the wooden thingie is. If your thingie is
not wooden then you might not mention it, because how you characterize your
thingie is entirely up to you. But, if your thingie is a little wooden or
even a lot wooden then there are certain parties you might want to know
about it, but only at certain times, such as when the thingie is about to
worked upon. If in doubt about how to work on the thingie, don't ask me, how
you work on your thingie is up to you.

John

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