Yes, I have still been working on the Vanity cabinet during the wrap up of the frame-top tables :)
There are a bunch of photos here so I will keep text short!
Back to the boring machine with doweling jig in place. I just mark the drill bit where I want to stop and watch for it.
Got a little cut somewhere along the way. Can't say I didn't put any blood in this one!
Hopefully I won't be putting any tears into it.
I'm using a Poplar "template" to set my doweling jigs on the top and bottom. There are a number of ways to put "let go" into a cabinet. This time I put that let-go into the template.
Setting the depth-stop on the drill press for the top and bottom dowel holes. Who cares about measuring? Don't make it complicated. I know I want the holes as deep as possible with no chance of drilling through the other side. This is a scrap piece I had for veneer. Set the brad-point to the veneer and lock the stop there. No fuss, no worries.
Yeah! Plane on plane action! Using one of my jointer planes to shape the bottom of the new coopering plane. I will be using this new plane on the inside of the curved doors. This wood is Heavy! I know it's one of the biggest planes I have but man it's got weight! Which is a good thing for a hand plane to have.
Doors! Here is a glue-up applying an outside edge to the door. The inside edges will be larger to accommodate an overlapping rebate.
Ha. Sometimes I just laugh a bit at some of my methods for how simple, crude, yet effective they are. I've seen some people use washers to mark lines, but how many choices do you readily get in size of washers? You can grind them down but that takes some time and effort.
This took me about 30 seconds to make and to any size I want. Done.
Took the carcass pieces to the router table to make rebates to accept a back panel in the cabinet. Using stops for the top and bottom rebates you end up with round cuts that wouldn't work. So you finish the job with hand tools! It was very enjoyable for me. The Pear works so well, my tools were sharp and my lines accurate. It didn't take much time and I just get a kick out of seeing the fit come together so well :)
Fast forward all the scary mortise and groove making for partions, hinges, levelers, and flipper-floppers. It all seemed to go well, it's just that these kinds of operations you may only get one shot! It is a tense time for me.Anyway, There isn't a whole lot of shelves or drawers going into this cabinet. The little area that needs to be taped off is and finish ready to go on. I'm going for a pretty minimal finish here (even less than normal) so I think just three thin coast of shellac and a thin coat of wax for some more protection will be nice.
So far I seem to be on "schedule" to take this to the show in Toronto but I can't hold my breath!
2 comments:
thats what i love about solid wood....no veneering aka no waiting time!
veneering becomes pretty rigid and stale after a while, well not the finished piece, but the whole process.
i need a little fun happy time solid wood cabinet, theyre therapeutic!
i was wondering if you could be me a blogger favor..well me and the rest of your fans.
A drawer fitting entry or something, cause a fitted drawer it's a very elusive creature. im thinking of trying out the "alan peters" drawer fitting way. meaning the back and front already fit the pocket snuggly, and when you cut the dovetails, the sides protrude rather than the end grain, so when you take that down you SHOULD get a perfect fit.
I hear what you're saying about solid vs veneer. There's a little mix of both in this cabinet. It's true that it is possible to get more out of and more flexible with the wood when veneering but as you said the process can get a little stale to me as well. The next couple little cabinets I have in mind are to be veneered so I was pretty disappointed when I didn't get to shape solid doors.
Drawers ha there will be a couple drawers in this cabinet. I hope to get to them at the beginning of the month.
You know I've never read anything from Alan Peters but I have thought of doing drawers that way too. My reason is a little silly... I just hate making dovetail cauls HA.
I think I'll be doing them the other way though. I think that keeping the pins (end grain) proud of the tails when making that final fit you can really see what's going on. You KNOW what they are going to look like glued up. If you are unhappy with the result you can cut them off and try again.
Sometimes being brutally honest with yourself is tough but it's better than an unpleasant surprise.
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