Hand tool cabinet (Krenovian-influenced process)

First hand cut dovetails, first hand cut half lap joints, first project without a detailed plan.

FIRST RATE!! good job.

-- ♫♪♪♫♫ Saddletramp, saddletramp, I'm as free as the breeze and I ride where I please, saddletramp ♪♪♪♫♪ ...... Bob W....NW Michigan (Traverse City area)

Very inspiring, thanks for sharing. The cabinet turned out real nice

Good work. The Dovetails look great. Nicely done.

-- Hey, woodworking ain't brain surgery. Just do something and keep trying till you get it. Doc

Great first steps fellow Krenovian! Any powertools? Krenov used them. Where is your material coming from. The first steps are the hardest..thanks for sharing.

-- Cau Haus Designs, Thomas J. Tieffenbacher

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

DocSavage45 wrote: “Any powertools?”

If you count the cordless drill I used to install the door hinges, then yes. Other than that, all the milling, dimensioning, and joinery were done with hand tools. Figuring out how to make the dado / groove for the cabinet back without a plow plane was a challenge; but it was a lot of fun and I learned a ton.

I’m hoping to get the build process blog started today. It will have in progress pictures to show the tools and methods that I used. And for the record, I’m not opposed to using power tools. I just prefer the peace / quiet of well-tuned hand tools; also once you get the hang of it, hand tools can be quite fast; especially if you’re only making a few pieces. If I were making a shop full of cabinets, obviously it would be a different story.

That looks fantastic. Really great work.

How did you install the glass in the frame on this case? I know that I would probably have used a router to make a groove for the plate, but I’m not sure how I would have gone about it with only hand tools. Did you use a router plane or a tongue and groove plane, or did you do something else entirely?

-- Brian

Brian, I scored the lines to define the sides of the rabbets using a mortising gauge. I chopped out the majority of the waste with a chisel. Then, I used a chisel bevel-down to clean up / smooth out the last 1/16” or so of waste. The glass panel is held in place with a little silicone. I made glass stops by ripping some scrap pine with a panel saw. I used a jointer plane to square them up, cut miters in the corners with a backsaw, and used a block plane to clean the miters up. I tacked the glass stops in place with really small brads hammered in at a slight angle.

Thanks Jason, I’ll have to try that some time. It’s nice to hear that you can do these things without some super-specialized hand tool, and still have a great piece like yours.

-- Brian

Very nice. Love the french cleat system. Am doing over my shop now and think I will keep it in mind.

-- • "I have noticed that nothing I have never said ever did me any harm."....... Calvin Coolidge

neat, very nice job.

-- Ike, Big Daddies Woodshop, http://[email protected]

Looks good. This will serve you well for years to come.

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