Let's Build Something Together

[Robert Rozaieski]

Once the door fits the opening, hold it in position with wedges all around the opening so you can mark for the hardware. The shelves will support the door and keep it flush with the front of the face frame. Here, I only wedged one side as I planned on planing the far side to fit after the hinges were installed. You can plane this side before or after the hinges are installed, it's up to you.


Position your hinges and mark the location for the screws with an awl.


Drill pilot holes for the screws. Even in this soft pine it is best to drill pilot holes. If you just force the screw in, it will rip and tear wood fibers as it enters the wood. This ultimately weakens the wood's screw holding ability. When you drill a pilot hole, the screw threads it's way into the hole and holds much better.


Finally, install the hinges and repeat the fitting, drilling and installation for the door handle. These hinges were $2 for the pair and the handle was another $2. I like them and they agree with the minimal budget of this project.

[Robert Rozaieski]

The last part of the project is the installation of the top molding. I had another design for the top molding in mind when I designed this cabinet, however, it called for a 1¼" thick piece of pine, which I found I did not have. I didn't want to go out and buy another piece of wood and gluing 2 pieces together would show in the finished molding so I changed the design. I had some pine cove molding left over from a house project that turned out to be a good size so I decided to use it. This is a good option for you if you don't have any means for making moldings. The big box stores have a lot of pine molding profiles to choose from. It was mitered, fit and nailed to the case just like the bottom molding. Turning the case upside down on the bench made this easy to do.


The only problem with the cove molding I had is that it is a 45° style molding meant for a corner. This leaves the top unsuported. To remedy this, I decided to add a top board since I had a piece of 1x12 left over from the door panel.


Place the case on top of the board to mark it for length and width. Then cut it to length, rip it to width and clean up all the cuts with a plane.


I used a couple hollow planes and some 220 grit sandpaper to make a nice roundover on the edge and two ends of the top board. The back is straight since it will be flush against the wall. The nicest period roundovers are all eliptical in shape, not quarter circles, so I tried to emulate that here. Router bits are typically a quarter circle, which to me does not look as nice. I placed the case upside down on top of the top board, attached the cove molding to the top board with more nails, flipped the case and nailed the top board to the top of the case. You can add glue as well between the top board and the top of the case if you want but this board won't bear any weight so I felt it unnecessary (and I didn't want to wait for the glue pot to heat up again just for this ). I think the final effect turned out quite nice, even if it was not my original intended design.


So there you have it. The cabinet construction is done. All that's left to do is put on a finish and hang it on the wall. I'm just going to put a few coats of linseed oil on this as oil finishes, while not the most protective, are my favorite finishes. You can use whatever finish you like, even paint, which is period correct. With time, the pine will oxidize and turn a deep golden color that will look real nice. This was a real fun project. I hope you've enjoyed it!

[Alex Yeilding]

This was a real fun project. I hope you've enjoyed it!

Very much so. You are a talented instructional writer as well as woodworker. I hope you will do this again.

[Greg Stanford]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the time & effort you put into this. For someone as new to handtools as I am, seeing them applied has been a great help. I have a better idea of what tools I will need to do the sorts of things I want to be able to do & I have a better idea of how to use the tools I have now. So thanks!

g

[Tim Leo]

All that's left to do is put on a finish and hang it on the wall.

I enjoyed that very much. Thanks for sharing. How, exactly, did you hang it on the wall? The shiplap panel on the back doesn't lend itself to screwing through the back of the cabinet to attach it to the wall...or did I miss something?

[Robert Rozaieski]

I enjoyed that very much. Thanks for sharing. How, exactly, did you hang it on the wall? The shiplap panel on the back doesn't lend itself to screwing through the back of the cabinet to attach it to the wall...or did I miss something?

Well, it's not on the wall yet but I do plan on screwing through the shiplapped back. While not glued, the back boards are nailed (at the center of each board) inside a rabbet, which is all the way around the back of the case, and also to the back of the shelves so the weight will be supported by the case not the nails. It's not a large cabinet and only designed to hold small cans of stain and solvent so I don't expect any issues. It won't be holding that much weight. In order for the back boards to come loose you'd have to pull the case straight out, which will not happen. If it looks like loosening back boards will be a problem, I'll put one nail into the center of the end grain of each back board from the top and bottom and that will prevent the back boards from pulling out but still allow movement. I don't expect to have to do this though.

[John Padgett]

Anyone know where to get a nice moving filletster plane like that? Thanks. John.

[Robert Rozaieski]

Anyone know where to get a nice moving filletster plane like that? Thanks. John.

Got mine from an online dealer:
http://www.workingtools.biz/

I've gotten a few wooden planes from Tom and he is very good to work with. Of course there are a lot of other online dealers who might have one as well, I just haven't used very many. Check Alf's website (http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/tooldealers.html) for a list of dealers in the UK. In the US you can also check with:

Lee Richmond at The Best Things, also have bought from him and he is very good
Jon Zimmer's Tools, no experience
Sandy Moss (Sydnas Sloot), no experience
I'm sure there are plenty of others that I'm not aware of.

Also check any local antique shops. Sometimes they will have them. If the dealer knows what it is it will likely be priced too high but not always. I've not had much luck at flea markets with finding good useable woodies.

If you want new, Clark & Williams will make you one as will Phil Edwards of Philly Planes in the UK. For a price of course, but both makers turn out some beautiful work.

Only other choice is ebay, where they frequently come up, though not always in the condition that mine is in. I've found that on ebay, buying wooden planes is hit or miss as pictures don't always tell the whole story and sellers aren't always sure of what they have so it can be more work than it's worth trying to find what you are looking for there. Because of this, I try to support the dealers instead if I can as they have not let me down yet and are always willing to take back anything if I'm not satisfied and provide a refund. I gave up ebay awhile ago as it just became too much of a hastle to find exactly what I wanted. For me ebay is a very last resort if I absolutely need something now and can't wait for a dealer to get it. Otherwise, I'll let one or more of the dealers know what I'm looking for and they can usually get it in a couple weeks/months time.

[James Mittlefehldt]

Anyone know where to get a nice moving filletster plane like that? Thanks. John.

ECE from Germany make one new and is available from Lee Valley.

The worst thing about this project is that it is done, I did not want it see it end. I have been making a dovetailed blanket box with white pine and have to say it was a rea PITA, the wood split and chipped out in places I never thought it would, though every one who see it thinks it looks good, I am not so sure.

If I was to do it again I think I would use yellow poplar, or something else a bit more amenable to the process. I should add that the project was done from rough to finish, hand tools only with what was essentially 1x 12 rough barn board from home depot, but I could not resist the .95 a board foot cost.

Thanks Robert it was a great tutorial.

[Joe Cunningham]

I should add that the project was done from rough to finish, hand tools only with what was essentially 1x 12 rough barn board from home depot, but I could not resist the .95 a board foot cost.

That is a thread I'd love to see.

Just to play around this weekend, I took some nice looking red oak from the wood pile, split it (I'd have used a froe if I had one), then ripped using my hand saw to get one decent face. Used a block plane to get it fairly flat, then moved to my table saw to produce a longish, quartersawn billet.

Now I have enough stock to use for a smallish box (when I resaw the billet), but my digital camera is MIA, otherwise I might have taken some pictures to put together a thread once I get the box completed.

[Graham Hughes (CA)]

Interesting that you use poplar for pegs. The last time I tried that the peg disintegrated when I tried to pound it in; had to drill it out and replace it with some oak, which did work.

[Dan Andrews]

Good instruction Bob. I look forward to following your project and learning some new methods.

[william scott]

I've put the case aside and clamped the right stile to the left stile with the inside edges facing up. I'm now squaring the final stile length and transfering this length across both stiles in order to ensure identical layout on both stiles. This will ensure the face frame is square when assembled. On the face frame parts, my datum edges and faces are the inside edges where the door will be inset and the front faces. All of my gauging is done off of these reference faces/edges.


Here, I've laid the bottom rail across the two stiles, marked the width of the rail, removed the rail and squared that width across both stiles. I repeated this at the other end of the stiles with the top rail.


.

This is a great thread with lots of good info that I'm learning from. This post has something in it that loses me. I don't understand how you are setting this measurement up. I understand measuring the 'width of the rail', (lets say that's 2 inches)....

But what do you mean by 'squared that width across both stiles?'. The picture shows two lines parallel too each other, and not very far apart. A 2 inch width squared is 4 inches and there aren't four inches (as an example) between each set of parallel lines, are there?

[Robert Rozaieski]

This is a great thread with lots of good info that I'm learning from. This post has something in it that loses me. I don't understand how you are setting this measurement up. I understand measuring the 'width of the rail', (lets say that's 2 inches)....

But what do you mean by 'squared that width across both stiles?'. The picture shows two lines parallel too each other, and not very far apart. A 2 inch width squared is 4 inches and there aren't four inches (as an example) between each set of parallel lines, are there?

Squared as in drawn square to the face, not X². There are actually four lines here, drawn square across both stiles. The two stiles are clamped together and the location of the rail (the two outer lines) and the length of the mortise (the two inner lines) is scribed across both stiles at the same time. This ensures that the rail and the mortises are in the exact same location on both stiles, without worrying about marking each stile separately. Marking both stiles at the same time helps to ensure a square assembly later by eliminating the opportunity to make a measuring mistake during layout.

[william scott]

O.K., I"m with you up to the point of deciding how long the mortise is going to be. The two outer lines are the edges of the rail. So what did you base the two inner lines on?