Project Information
I've built a few speakers and I've done an island wrap, but this is my first piece of actual furniture. The entire thing is built of solid Sapele and I learned a ton, for the most part, the mistakes are things I can only see, and I'm pretty happy with it. The Lumberjacks community was also a ton of help when I had questions, and of course, all that valuable YouTube content that helped me with jigs and hinge installations.
Here are the mistakes I made, and I'm mainly highlighting them because I learned important lessons.
1. Sapele has a ton of tear-out, I was better off taking as little as possible off with the jointer, and taking multiple passes.
2. I clamped the panels too hard, and they bowed slightly, it made gluing harder. Since now I have a good jointer and planer, I plan on using slightly less pressure next time.
3. I cut the dados for the corners too deep, I they shouldn't have gone more than 1/2", which affected the glue-up.
4. When I cut the dados for the separator panel, I didn't pay attention until too late how I ran the top panel through. so the dados were actually mismatched. I was able to "fix" it with a strip of wood, but if you open the cabinet and look up, you can see it. No biggie, lesson learned.
5. 3/4" is a little on the thin side for the legs, they hold up the 40LB amp easily, but it feels less sturdy than I want. Nevertheless I love the look, and probably would have only gone marginally wider.
6. The legs were a big pain to attach with dowels, need to think of a better way for next time.
7. When I glued up the panels, I took the clamps off too soon, and the panels ended up leaning slightly, I didn't notice until I had done the round-over and attached the middle separator, so I had to detach the middle separator, and cut off the entire face, re-glue and do the round-over over again. Even then, the cabinet is not 1000% square, though fairly close.
8. The gaps for my door are about 1/16th bigger than I would want, and I ended up having to make a few minor skims with the track saw to make the door look right (see point 7.)
I'm really happy with the outcome, and pointers and criticisms are welcome!
Here are the mistakes I made, and I'm mainly highlighting them because I learned important lessons.
1. Sapele has a ton of tear-out, I was better off taking as little as possible off with the jointer, and taking multiple passes.
2. I clamped the panels too hard, and they bowed slightly, it made gluing harder. Since now I have a good jointer and planer, I plan on using slightly less pressure next time.
3. I cut the dados for the corners too deep, I they shouldn't have gone more than 1/2", which affected the glue-up.
4. When I cut the dados for the separator panel, I didn't pay attention until too late how I ran the top panel through. so the dados were actually mismatched. I was able to "fix" it with a strip of wood, but if you open the cabinet and look up, you can see it. No biggie, lesson learned.
5. 3/4" is a little on the thin side for the legs, they hold up the 40LB amp easily, but it feels less sturdy than I want. Nevertheless I love the look, and probably would have only gone marginally wider.
6. The legs were a big pain to attach with dowels, need to think of a better way for next time.
7. When I glued up the panels, I took the clamps off too soon, and the panels ended up leaning slightly, I didn't notice until I had done the round-over and attached the middle separator, so I had to detach the middle separator, and cut off the entire face, re-glue and do the round-over over again. Even then, the cabinet is not 1000% square, though fairly close.
8. The gaps for my door are about 1/16th bigger than I would want, and I ended up having to make a few minor skims with the track saw to make the door look right (see point 7.)
I'm really happy with the outcome, and pointers and criticisms are welcome!