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Monday, August 8, 2011

Making Progress: Key Cabinet Door

Today I got some more walnut, The bit I or board I had left from cutting the case has too much sapwood to look nice. I milled it and ran grooves for the glass. Sorry I don't have a picture of that setup, but basically you dial in the fence to cut the groove you want in two passes, on both faces. What results is a really nice groove perfectly centered in the stock.

The first photo is cutting the tenons in the stile for the top rail. The sled I'm using only has one fence, the tenon is 1/8" thick, 1 3/16" long and 1 5/8" wide.

A slight trip with my new to me Record #073 (1 1/4" shoulder plane, Jeff), results in a perfect friction fit.


Clean.


With all the joints cut I had to mock up the door. I've been asked two things consistently with this piece: why are the rails and stiles "backwards", and why are they such interesting dimensions? The rails & stiles are backwards because there is going to be a shelf, I didn't want the stiles to "cut" into the shelf visually, as the shelf will go about 5/16" below the top of the bottom rail. The widths of the components are such that they are co-planar with the frame parts of the back.

The pine strips are just to mock up the muntins, I'll do another post about the various arrangements I'm considering, this one is winning so far.


For all the careful considerations above, I've goofed here and there. I cut the top and bottom a little close to the case sides and also a bit to tight in the front. This means I'm loosing out on the opportunities I gained by doweling the case, which in turn makes me wish I'd thought about that a little more or dovetailed the case. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled with the project, but it's not as refined as I could have gotten it. Perhaps that comes from working alone, I have no one to call me on these things, I'll do a debrief and post-design the things I think this should have had. I'm so close to glue-up...

1. Cut and fit muntins
2. Fit lights
3. Glue door
4. Install shelf
5. Trim, fit and hinge door
6. Glue case, then back onto case
7. Make and mount hangers

1 comment:

  1. I like the idea of playing with the length & width of stiles & rails, especially on a single cabient like this. Having your bottom rail that wide brings some weight to what would otherwise feel like a light case.

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