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Thread: Cabinet build

  1. #91
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    Hi Brian. I hadn't been following, but worked through the thread just now. Lovely work, and while i'm a mixed hand and power person a nice reminder of just what hand tools are capable of.

    The thoughts it really brings out for me are (a) there's no substitute for the right tools properly set up (one wrong move and it's oops/it's not necessarily a low cost route - no wonder high end cabinetry was rare enough back in the day), and (b) there's so much of what is actually design involved in the making - the combination of the design of the piece and the choice of material and methods are really a single planning task, even though they often tend to get thought of separately. ( c) It's easy to forget the quality of work that's possible with hand tools - in the right hands, and applied with the right mindset.

    It's scary how far the mentality that underpins the consumer/box store version of tools and DIY is from this. A visiting (and not very practical) brother in law the other week left my fairly ordinary workshop shaking his head after being walked though a series of hand tools and machines and how they worked and were set up - the complexity/precision involved in everything blew his mind.

    There's more than a bit of a tendency in these days of specialisation too (in the broader house and contents context) for designers to at times to not have a very practical grasp of function and build/construction - never mind the immersion in the user situation that's necessary to properly understand requirements. The various schools (architectural etc) often don't emphasise especially the practicalities to any significant degree at all. So many marketing/business types think manufacturing is just something that happens - old hat. Maybe we need a system of life long progression - where our designers work their way up through the various disciplines.

    The Japanese predictably enough have in some quarters tended to not just value, but also to set out to implement this sort of thing properly….
    Last edited by ian maybury; 05-25-2015 at 7:36 AM.

  2. #92
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    Thanks Ian! It's funny that you mention that, because it reminds me of a quote from Louis Kahn. He was a guest lecture in an architecture class and said this;

    ''If you think of Brick, you say to Brick, ‘What do you want, Brick?’ And Brick says to you, ‘I like an Arch.’ And if you say to Brick, ‘Look, arches are expensive, and I can use a concrete lintel over you. What do you think of that, Brick?’ Brick says, ‘I like an Arch.’ And it’s important, you see, that you honor the material that you use. [..] You can only do it if you honor the brick and glorify the brick instead of shortchanging it."

    for some reason this quote has always resonated with me, I grew up constantly having odd hobbies of metalworking and woodworking and as a kid sometimes I had nothing to do except geek out on materials and their properties. And so it became very apparent to me at a young age that I must respect the material I work with, any time I have forgotten that it reminds me.


    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  3. #93
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    It's always a meditative deal i think Brian. As in slowing down enough to get as close as we possibly can to the true reality of what we are doing. The perennial problem we all tend to suffer from is that in an effort to short cut (out of fear, laziness, perception of poverty whatever) we adopt mind models that actually are not a very accurate representation of the reality we are engaged in. We try to buck the natural flow of things. The scene can be social, work, technical, environmental whatever. Wishful thinking often kicks in.

    Then reality turns around and bites us up the ass - just to keep us grounded.

    Woodworking is a great teacher…...
    Last edited by ian maybury; 05-25-2015 at 10:25 AM.

  4. #94
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    And so a minor change to the low stretcher;



    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  5. #95
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    Hi Brian,
    The facets are very nice. Your photo really shows off how it catches the light. What did you use to crown the stretchers?
    David

  6. #96
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    Thanks David! I used a jack plane followed by a spoke shave.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  7. #97
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    Prepping stock for the back panel.


    All out of 4/4 so, needed to rip down some 8/4





    All dimensioned and now cutting grooves. These grooves are to locate the back on the case;


    Next are the grooves to hold the inner panel....no plough....no problem;




    and now they're mocked up in the back of the cabinet. I'm laying out the tenons and they will fall right into the ploughed grooves.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  8. #98
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    I mentioned these here over in Derek's thread, but this was what I had in mind (minus the inside corner). I debated various haunches and landed on these feeling that they would help me to maintain my baseline with their wedging action.








    Trimmed the top of the stile to also have a rabbet and it now sits flush in the cabinet. This slight misalignment will disappear with some plane work. Important part is that the grooves in both rail and stile are perfectly aligned.




    Now to chop mortises for the lower rail which will also have a mitered haunch.
    Last edited by Brian Holcombe; 06-03-2015 at 12:06 AM.

  9. #99
    Beautifull work. I wish one day i will be able to build like that.
    One minor critic thou, you should posted the build with pics at once. Like this is like watching tv series, and i hate them.
    Hats off.

  10. #100
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Almeidus View Post
    Beautifull work. I wish one day i will be able to build like that.
    One minor critic thou, you should posted the build with pics at once. Like this is like watching tv series, and i hate them.
    Hats off.
    At least he has the decency to sweep the floor before taking pictures.
    Have of my "build in progress" photos look like an advertisement for
    another TV show - Hoarders.

    I'm glad to see whatever the 'Big Dogs' post, as they move along.
    It helps put the amount of time required into perspective.

    For me, it's a satisfying hobby - I couldn't afford to buy the stuff I make.

  11. #101
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    Thanks Gents! Hopefully this TV series ends on a cliff hanger every week! Lol..

    Jim, certainly that's the case here as well. I couldn't even afford my hours at this point I estimate about 300 hours so far.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  12. #102
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    This slight misalignment will disappear with some plane work. Important part is that the grooves in both rail and stile are perfectly aligned.
    Thanks for reminding us of this. I am all too guilty of wanting everything to be perfect from the get-go.

    Thanks again for taking the time to do this. I am learning and relearning a lot, having been away from this for a while.

  13. #103
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    Cheers! Glad you guys are enjoying.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  14. #104
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Matthews View Post
    At least he has the decency to sweep the floor before taking pictures.
    Before taking pictures?

    He sweeps the floor in between plane strokes.

    I've SEEN his floor. His carpet is so clean it squeaks.

  15. #105
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    Quote Originally Posted by Prashun Patel View Post
    Before taking pictures?

    He sweeps the floor in between plane strokes.

    I've SEEN his floor. His carpet is so clean it squeaks.
    LOL!

    I'm guilty of sometimes taking the plane shaving out of the plane and putting them directly into a paper bag. OCD.....it's a gift and a curse.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

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