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3K views 3 replies 1 participant last post by  Wintergreen78 
#1 ·
Design and side frames

This will be the most involved thing I've made so far. Right now I use water stones for sharpening and I do it on my garage floor because I don't want to deal with getting swarf on my work bench. So, I figured I would make a little cabinet to keep tools and supplies and to have a surface for dirty jobs. It will be 34" high and 22"x32". I'm planning to glue up a 2" thick maple top and make the rest out of poplar, which i'll paint.

I spent a little time drawing a few versions and working out how the joinery will go together. I also took my time squaring and flattening the stock for the sides. I can already tell that it is paying off with getting layout and cutting done accurately.

So far I've got the mortises chopped on all four stiles and I've got the tenons on one set of rails cut and fitted. I cut the tenons fat and used a router plane to get them to their final thickness. I'm still getting the feel of how tight they should be, but i've Left an extra half-inch on both ends of the stiles, which I'll cut off after the whole thing is glued up.

Everything seems to be going pretty smoothly. I'm pretty excited to see how this turns out.

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Wood Gas Hardwood Wood stain Plywood
 

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#2 ·
More stock prep

Wood Wood stain Floor Hardwood Plank


Wood Floor Hardwood Gas Flooring


Wood Gas Composite material Outdoor furniture Automotive exterior


I've gotten plenty of practice ripping, flattening, and squaring lumber with this project. The four side panels are glued up and prepped. I still need to raise them so they will fit into the grooves in the frame.

The bottom rail and the top two rails are done. The bottom rail is joined to the sides with mortise and tenons while the top rails are joined with dovetails. I cut a very small shoulder on the bottom of the rails to help when I transferred them on to the sides to cut the pins. That made getting them lined up properly much easier. I'm planning to do that on all my dovetails from now on.

I'm getting a little better at half-blind dovetails, but I still find getting the fit right tricky. Even though these will be under the top and not seen, I really tried to get good joints with no gaps. These are better than the last ones I cut, but I still had a few small gaps. I also ended up with a little crack in one of the sides. I'll glue that closed before final glue-up, and make sure to clamp that corner well when I do the final glue-up. I'm not concerned about it affecting the integrity of the cabinet once everything's together.

I've got all the pieces for the bottom frame and two frames that the drawers will ride on cut out roughly. My next step is to get them all planed and square before cutting the joints. All three will go together with mortise and tenons, and the bottom will get panels.

This has turned out to be a pretty big project, but I'm happy that it feels like is moving along. I feel like I've gotten more confident making long rips. The last one stayed nice and straight for about 50 inches. Of course, I had left myself a full quarter-inch extra, so I still had plenty of planing to do to get the panel to is final width, but next time I think I'll be more willing to cut closer to my final dimension.
 

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#3 ·
More stock prep

Wood Wood stain Floor Hardwood Plank


Wood Floor Hardwood Gas Flooring


Wood Gas Composite material Outdoor furniture Automotive exterior


I've gotten plenty of practice ripping, flattening, and squaring lumber with this project. The four side panels are glued up and prepped. I still need to raise them so they will fit into the grooves in the frame.

The bottom rail and the top two rails are done. The bottom rail is joined to the sides with mortise and tenons while the top rails are joined with dovetails. I cut a very small shoulder on the bottom of the rails to help when I transferred them on to the sides to cut the pins. That made getting them lined up properly much easier. I'm planning to do that on all my dovetails from now on.

I'm getting a little better at half-blind dovetails, but I still find getting the fit right tricky. Even though these will be under the top and not seen, I really tried to get good joints with no gaps. These are better than the last ones I cut, but I still had a few small gaps. I also ended up with a little crack in one of the sides. I'll glue that closed before final glue-up, and make sure to clamp that corner well when I do the final glue-up. I'm not concerned about it affecting the integrity of the cabinet once everything's together.

I've got all the pieces for the bottom frame and two frames that the drawers will ride on cut out roughly. My next step is to get them all planed and square before cutting the joints. All three will go together with mortise and tenons, and the bottom will get panels.

This has turned out to be a pretty big project, but I'm happy that it feels like is moving along. I feel like I've gotten more confident making long rips. The last one stayed nice and straight for about 50 inches. Of course, I had left myself a full quarter-inch extra, so I still had plenty of planing to do to get the panel to is final width, but next time I think I'll be more willing to cut closer to my final dimension.
Oh, just realized I didn't post the pictures of the side frames once they were done.

Wood Floor Wood stain Hardwood Beam
 

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#4 ·
Dry fit the carcass

I've got all the parts of the carcass complete. I dry fit everything and it all looks like it is going together pretty square. I have a little fine-tuning to do, and I still need to add the dividers for the two rows of drawers. Once that is done and I've planed the frames that the drawers will run on, this should be ready for glue-up.

This will be the most complicated thing I've glued up, and I'm realizing I'll really need to have it planned out. The dry fit definitely had a little back and forth tightening clamps and tapping with a hammer to get everything to seat. I also spotted another crack from my dovetailed rails. I seem to be able to get those either too tight to too loose, but never right on. I'll take a little material off the tail and clamp around it during the glue-up. Hopefully that will prevent it from getting worse over time.

I picked up some maple for the top and pine for the back. Once the carcass is glued up I'll make the top with 1/2" or 1/4" overhangs on the side and the front. Then it is just making four drawers and two doors and this is done.
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Wood Wood stain Floor Rectangle Hardwood


Wood Shelving Desk Table Shelf
 

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