Story Stick Math & SWMBO's Cabinet

[Jim Koepke]

My wife saw a five drawer cabinet at an estate sale for $20 we talked the price down to $10. Since she wants to use it for storing glass for her stained glass work it needs some reinforcement. Guess who gets that job…

It is a good job for some story sticks.

Two Sticks and Odd Jobs.jpg

The one with the slide was set to the drawer depth from face to back. The scrap stick was marked to the depth from the back of the front rails to the back of the cabinet. The Odd Jobs was used to do the math to determine the thickness of the stile to support the runners that will help support the weight in the drawers. Using the front of the drawer left a little wiggle room in the equation.

Story Stick Math.jpg

The piece for the stile was then marked to be ripped.

Marked for Ripping.jpg

After ripping and smoothing it was set inside the cabinet to mark where the drawer runners would be placed.

Marked for Runners.jpg

Dados were cut out to accommodate the runners. After the dados were cut a hole was drilled in the center of the dados. The stile was then set in place and the holes were used as guides to drill through the back of the cabinet. Two screws were inserted from the inside to hole the stile in place. After the first two runners were installed, the inside screws could be removed.

The runners were made from shop scrap. Oak and what looks like maple.

Runners and Dowels.jpg

Holes were bored through the front rails so dowels could be inserted to support the center rails.

It isn't fine cabinetry, but if it makes the wife happy then everyone is happy.

jtk

[ken hatch]

"It isn't fine cabinetry, but if it makes the wife happy then everyone is happy."

Jim,

Smart man...it cost me a lot of money and many years to learn one of life's simplest lesson. You might not like the project, in fact I would always want to build the Taj Ma Whatever, when all she wanted was it done quickly. Much easier to say "Yes Dear", do it her way and go on down the road.

It's interesting to see an OddJob in use.

ken

[Winton Applegate]

Yep years ago and even before I started real woodworking I thought I knew something about measurement, layout, pencil drafting etc.
then
I learned about story sticks
and
discovered just how stupid I had been up till that point.

[Jim Koepke]

It's interesting to see an OddJob in use.

For pencil marking a rip cut it is my favorite gauge.

It is also a good depth gauge on mortises.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

Yep years ago and even before I started real woodworking I thought I knew something about measurement, layout, pencil drafting etc.
then
I learned about story sticks
and
discovered just how stupid I had been up till that point.

Yep, it isn't the numerical measurement that is important. Everything fitting together is what is important.

jtk

[Judson Green]

For pencil marking a rip cut it is my favorite gauge.

It is also a good depth gauge on mortises.

jtk

Jim, do you use it for other stuff too? The little guy has always intrigued me.

[Jim Koepke]

Jim, do you use it for other stuff too? The little guy has always intrigued me.

It is sometimes used as a compass for large circles. Also as a miter square.

It is capable of doing a lot of functions. Most of the time if another tool is made specifically for the function it is more convenient to use the dedicated tool. For me a try square with a metal blade is preferred for marking across a piece with a knife as opposed to marking with a pencil using the odd jobs.

For marking rip cuts it is my preferred tool. I am not much of a combination square user even though I have a few in the shop.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

The cabinet has been painted with paint that was left by the previous owners of our home. The colors are a pastel green and somewhat lavender color for the trim.

Weight For It.jpg

This is how it sits now with a piece of covering being glued to the top. Two 42 lb. bags of cat litter, an 18 lb. bag of charcoal briquettes and one bag or rocks all supported by two short horses.

Another couple of pictures will be posted after the top is trimmed and all the drawers are installed. I forgot to take a picture of the drawer bottoms. After the runners were installed in the cabinet, the runners were used to mark the drawer bottoms. Pieces of ash were cut to be glued and screwed to the bottoms to support the weight of glass in the drawers.

jtk