Shaker Sideboard

I wanted a sideboard to go against a bare wall near my kitchen. I was looking for something unadorned that I could put some handtools on. I consolidated a few designs from all my Shaker books and fit the dimensions while keeping the proportions.

I started out with some local cherry that had been air drying for 2 years, around 9%. I spent days milling down 200 bf, as there wasn't much clear wood in the pile. I brought it to 3/4", 1/2", and 3/8" with varying widths, some quite wide (12"). I wanted to dovetail the carcass and although I generally dislike moldings, I'd use a simple cove in this case.







I then moved on to the dividers. I wanted a top horizontal divider to pin the molding into and give the drawers clearance. I decided to use one vertical divider and run the horizontal dividers in sliding dovetails. I figured the full length vertical divider would give the 60" case more central support. I routed the males using a laminate trimmer with a 7 degree bit. Cleaned them up with handplanes just to say I did.



I routed the females with a standard router with same.



It got a little tight for comfort on the upper horizontal divider mortise.







moved on to the drawers and used 1/2 blind in front and full in back. 3/8 inch bottoms. All hand cut with a WESTERN saw. This was my 1st large project using a non-Japanese saw and although it took some getting used to, I really like the rigidity.







Ooooo that smell…hide glue on everything except the pulls (epoxy).



Then on to the cabinets. I used a rail and stile with a raised panel. I was tempted to mount the panel flat-first but I ended up mounting it raised-out in an effort to match the molding (which I know nothing about).



I used a labeling scheme and stamped the parts. I only screwed up once.











For once, I remembered to drill the pull mortises BEFORE I glued everything up.



Turned some bubinga knobs for the desired contrast.





I rebated for the drawer back with a router and shiplapped the back with a plough until I got tired of it and finished on the router table. It was friction fit into the case and secured with a few brass screws. I put the beads on the inside and used spaceballs.





I then cleaned up the carcass dovetails and ran the molding. Just a simple cove bit on the router table, then cleaned up with a curved scraper. I mitered on a shoot board and pin nailed it on.





Guess what I DID forget to do before glue up…mortise for the hinges. I got the hinges from Brusso and the catches from somewhere I can't recall. I was going to use bullet catches but I was worried that the door would be shoved in my accident and damage the hinge.





It too, me forever to hang the doors and mount the catches. 1 went on without a hitch, the 2nd needed some planing, and the 3rd and 4th required drilling out the holes, plugging them, and redrilling. It really sucked and they're not perfect but the reveal is pretty even.



The finish is hot BLO only. Every surface was handplaned and scraped. I wanted to leave a reasonable amount of tooling and no abrasives touched it.



I left the inside of the lower case mostly raw from the mill, scrub planed to be even enough for the door reveal.



Moved it inside for inspection.

First the left case bottom.



Then the right.



It passed inspection and moved in. Thanks for looking!