HappyMonkey/HMD WOODSHOP

[glatt]

Wednesday evening, I cut the sheets of plywood into more manageable sizes using a hand held circular saw. A little oversize for each panel. I finished up each panel on the table saw, which produces cleaner results. Then I used a router to cut grooves (dadoes, actually) into the sides of the first cabinet to accept a shelf. Here, I'm setting up to cut a rabbet, which is a lip that accepts the top of the cabinet. I'll also put a rabbet on the bottom.

[glatt]

Before I called it quits for the night on Wednesday, I finished cutting all the parts to the cabinet case, and stacked them up all pretty for a picture.

[glatt]

Thursday morning, today, I drilled holes along the rabbets and dadoes so I could screw the case together. I spread glue on each joint, and screwed everything together. It wasn't quite square when I was done, so I loosened a few screws and smacked it with a big hammer. Then I tightened the screws again. Now that it was square, I nailed a thin panel of plywood onto the back. It will help hold it all together and keep it square.

[Happy Monkey]

Cool!

I'd love to do something like that. My bathroom is falling apart, and it wasn't particularly nice to begin with...

[glatt]

I finished screwing the plywood case to the base frame. It was time to turn my attention to the face frame that will cover the ugly plywood edge.

I plan to paint the cabinet face, so I planned to simply nail the face frame to the cabinets instead of using some hidden fastener. This will be much easier. The face frame will be made up of pine and the joints will be mortise and tenon joints. The side of the frame that butts up against the wall will be made 1/4 larger than I need, so I can scribe it to the wall.

The tenons are made on the table saw with a stacked dado blade raised 1/4 inch. This takes 1/4 inch off each face of the piece of wood, and leaves 1/4 inch of wood in the middle to be the tenon. For ease of operation, I also have the tenons 1/4 inch from the edges of the piece. That way I don't have to adjust the table saw once I set it up.

The mortices are made at the drill press. I have a vice at the drill press to hold the wood, but these side pieces are really long, so I have to rig up a support for the other end of the piece. I use a regular drill bit - nothing fancy, and take my time drilling these out. Then to clean it up, I slowly slide the piece back and forth with the drill bit down in the mortice all the way. It's kind of like a milling machine this way. It's not the proper way to do it. You can break a drill bit if you aren't careful, but I am slow and only do a little depth at a time.

I end up with mortices that are round on the ends and tenons that are square on the ends. Rather than go through the trouble of squaring up the mortice, which is the traditional way, I use a utility knife to knock off the corners of the tenons. The joint is still super strong, and the whole frame will be supported by nails anyway, so the joint doesn't have to do very much.

[glatt]

I glue and assemble the pieces. They are perfectly square and require no adjustment before putting the clamps on.

[glatt]

The next day, after the glue dries, I take the face frame to the cabinet box and temporarily support it on a few blocks of wood. I get it plumb, and butted up against the wall. The frame is straight where it meets the wall, but the wall, like most walls, is slightly curved in places. To get the frame to fit the wall, I have to cut it to the same curve as the wall. I figure out how much wood to remove by looking at how the face frame fits against the plywood box, and then I set a compass to that width. I drag the compass up along the wall with the pencil side on the wood. This scribes a line on the wood that is the exact shape as the wall's curvature.

[glatt]

I take the face frame back down to the shop. I need to remove all the wood from the edge of the frame up to the line I just scribed. A hand plane is perfect for this kind of job, but I have a lot of material to remove. The table saw is still set up with the dado blade, so I take advantage of it. I remove 2/3s of the material on the underside or back of the face frame, making a rabbet about half an inch wide. This leaves me with only a quart inch wide board to plane, and should save me a few minutes of planing time. So I plane the material down to the line.

[Undertoad]

There's one bit that always mystifies me, that all woodworkers know. How do you put two planks together to make one big plank? Like two 1x8s together to make a 1x16?

[glatt]

That's actually a challange to me. You need the edges of each plank to be very straight, otherwise they won't fit tightly and the glue joint will not be strong. Sometimes you can get away with an edge left by a table saw or that is already on the board when you buy it, but often you have to plane one edge of each board until they are nice and straight. You can then just glue them together.

Or if you want the joint to be extra strong, you can cut a slot into each edge and fit a long thin strip of wood called a spline into that slot to support things a little more. And glue them together.

More common today is a specialty tool called a biscuit cutter. It cuts little slots in the edge and you stick a little football shaped disk into those slots when you glue it up. You have to make sure the slots line up. I don't have one of those, but most pros and factories do.

For me, the challange is when you are trying to put together a whole table top, because you have multiple pieces, and the glue starts to dry on you before you can get them all together properly.

Clamps hold the joint together, and aligned while you wait for the glue to dry.

[lookout123]

my neighbor is a professional cabinet maker. he does some absolutely extraordinary things that i just don't get. i hang out in his shop while he and his crew build some things and i have to leave after only 10-15 minutes because i just can't understand how they do what they do.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by glatt

That's actually a challange to me. You need the edges of each plank to be very straight, otherwise they won't fit tightly and the glue joint will not be strong. Sometimes you can get away with an edge left by a table saw or that is already on the board when you buy it, but often you have to plane one edge of each board until they are nice and straight. You can then just glue them together.

A joiner (power tool) can make a good edge, but my dad uses a hand plane and a straight edge. Use a long straight edge to find bumps and valleys, and plane them down.

Or if you want the joint to be extra strong, you can cut a slot into each edge and fit a long thin strip of wood called a spline into that slot to support things a little more. And glue them together.

Here's a cross section example.

For me, the challange is when you are trying to put together a whole table top, because you have multiple pieces, and the glue starts to dry on you before you can get them all together properly.

You just have to get it all ready before starting to apply the glue. Or you can do one joint at a time.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Nice work, glatt.

stick a little football shaped disk into those slots when you glue it up.

The "footballs" are beech, I think. They're pressed and dried so they expand to hold tight when they come in contact with the glue.

How do you put two planks together to make one big plank?

If you clamp them up with an overlap then saw down the length, through the overlap, the pieces will match. Same as matching wallpaper without a pattern.

i have to leave after only 10-15 minutes because i just can't understand how they do what they do.

They do it one step at a time. To understand how, you have to break it down into those steps. To understand why, you have to do it wrong at least once.

but my dad uses a hand plane and a straight edge. Use a long straight edge to find bumps and valleys, and plane them down.

Your Dad is extrordinary. Most people would spend years developing that skill and some could never get it right. Knowing exactly what your hand and that plane are going to do before they do it, on every stroke, is damn near witchcraft.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Your Dad is extrordinary. Most people would spend years developing that skill and some could never get it right. Knowing exactly what your hand and that plane are going to do before they do it, on every stroke, is damn near witchcraft.

Tell me about it. I never got the hang of hand planing. Whenever I try, I get chips and skitters everywhere. I put it down to some combination of two factors: 1) I'm left handed while many planes are right handed, and 2) I never practice.

[wolf]

This thread is too cool. I idolize Norm Abrams, but can't personally operate a power tool to save my life.