Cabinet Secretary Build – Lots of Pics
My 88-year-old Mom is still a practicing tax accountant (I know it’s crazy – can’t get her to stop). She recently had a knee replacement and these days can’t go into the office and spends most of her time in the easy chair in the living room. She wanted a cabinet she could keep next to her chair to organize her work. This cherry cabinet is ~ 30” tall x 30” wide by 18” deep. She wanted a bank of drawers that can accommodate hanging file folders on the left side and a pigeonhole section for correspondence and space for binders on the other side. I couldn’t find a good existing example so came up with this design on my own – which is usually a recipe for disaster!
I’ll try and keep the words to a minimum and let the pictures speak for themselves.
Carcass sides are frame and panel construction – one of my favorite hand tool jobs. To me handmade frame and panel construction is pretty easy to differentiate from the IKEA version. I like the challenge of trying to execute all the details – wider bottom rail, proportionally sized sides/top, tight miters and consistent reveals to get a nice final result. I like to start with interior frame molding and dado for the panel, which corresponds to the layout for the M & T’s. My typical mistake, which I absolutely made here, is making the molding too deep which creates a weak mortise too near the edge of the frame. IMHO, better to go with shallower molding and more centered mortise – way easier to align the mortise with dado groove.
https://i.postimg.cc/J4rw5hCL/1.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/9FJ68jcq/2.jpg
For delicate cuts like trimming this miter, I like Japanese pull saws- light and easy guide.
https://i.postimg.cc/pLSgvYhW/3.jpg
Mitering moldings – I find it easier to use a guide block/chisel to sneak up on final dimension. If you go too far there’s really no great recovery
https://i.postimg.cc/fWjnd9FC/5.jpg
M & T’s: because I want the shoulders of the tenons to close nicely when the frame is assembled, go to the extra effort of paring a guide ramp for the saw next to the layout line. To compensate for my earlier layout mistake, I chop the mortise with Stiles clamped inside of vice to avoid blow out. Old school pig sticker Mortice chisel are still my favorite for levering out chips.
https://i.postimg.cc/cCWpjxKf/6.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/s2ZbgQ7p/7.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/Hntq1q5R/8.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/qvq9WZ7D/10.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/NMqS9skZ/11.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/TwVSnzk1/12.jpg
