I'm working on a small-medium sized cabinet at the moment (about 40" tall by 20" wide). I've got the stock prepped for the case, and in thinking about moving forward am struggling with the same VERY basic thing that I struggle with more than anything else in handtool work. That is figuring out what the best order to do things in is.
For this particular case, the are 4 types of joints to potentially be completed in any order.
- The top of the case will be joined to the sides with half blind dovetails (Don't worry Zach and Dave, the pins are on top and will hide the endgrain of the tails, and the tails are on the side so that endgrain will hide behind moldings)
- The bottom shelf (which is also more or less the bottom of the main case will be joined the sides with a sliding dovetail
- The other 3 shelves will sit in shallow dados
- I need to cut rabbets on the back of the top and sides of the case for the back to eventually rest in.
What I've done in the past is using the back edges as my reference surfaces layout all the critical interior joinery on both case sides a the same time: the shoulders for the dados/sliding dovetail, the baselines for the dovetails, and the also the rabbet before I do any cutting. I then cut the rabbet, followed by the dados, and end with the dovetails/sliding dovetails. I do the dovetails/sliding dovetails last because as soon as those are fit I want to glueup the case. My thinking being that if I do them first and the then the rest of the interior, I run the risk of having to refit them later and/or having to assemble/disassemble them more times then is ideal.
I am curious how other folks would order their operations on a project like this (or any casework) in terms of both layout and actual execution of the joinery. Any reasoning for you order of operations or for an alternative to my order of operations mentioned above would also be appreciated. This is the kind that rarely covered in books/mags and no matter how much I build (which isn't all that much) its the one thing I lack the most confidence in. I feel like I'm just always figuring it out as I go....
I look forward to a discussion as lively as the recent chipbreaker threads