Dowels lined up for the carcass assembly. This glue-up was a bit more... "exciting" than I would have liked. One thing I learned about Pear is that it REALLY soaks up any moisture you give it! The once nicely fitting dowel holes swelled up right and quick making it very difficult, and scary, to bring things together. :/Next time I will definitely fit the dowels looser.
A nice little piece for the main partition. Because the cabinet sides splay a little towards the back you need to match those slight angles in your partition, that is if you want it to fit properly ha.
This slight tapper also allows one to more accurately creep up on the fit. Slide the piece in until it's snug and wont go forward easily any more and take a look at what's going on then plan accordingly. In my case I intentionality made the front of the cabinet pinch in ever so slightly opposed to a straight taper. The intention being to aid in drawer action. So being able to see what's going on is very helpful!
Spline joinery for the partitions. Pear isn't the strongest wood out there by far. The spline is only 1/8" thick so I opted for a stronger species. Ash in this case. Ash is great. It works well, it's strong, relatively resilient, AND it's pretty cheap due to it's abundance. Also I like the smell of freshly cut Ash heh.
Fast forward the vertical partition. (I may touch on that again with a drawer related post)
I used a piece I cut along with the veneer for the doors to make "risers" or "shims" for the drawers. This will set the drawers above the original cabinet base and clear the levelers that will be in place. This one of the ways to avoid wear on the visible portion of the cabinet base. Also the step can be a nice little detail.
With the first riser clamped up I went ahead and started some drawer work prep. The drawers will have convex fronts. I cut off a piece of the form I used for the doors to make another form. I will basically only be using this to hold the work pieces as I shape the front side of the drawer fronts. It doesn't need to be perfect. With a steady hand on the band saw it didn't take much time to get the surface smoothed out and more than acceptably planer.Still a lot of work to do but it's finally looking like a cabinet :)
5 comments:
Looking great! I really like the colour of the pear. Nice to see that you are continuing to make good progress.
Dan
you know i wondered if anyone made wood splines instead of ply-wood. im guessing you did that for wood movement, which makes sense. i put in ply-wood splines in my beech cabinet...all is fine for now. but do you think it really makes a difference? like..REALLY?
Thanks guys!
Nick - I can say that theoretically a solid spline should be used in a solid component, but I've never tried a play wood spline in a solid piece. The species also makes a difference. There is a box at IP made by Mr. Budlong I believe. I was surprised how much the lid moved! I don't remember what it was made of though. Some move more, others less of course... I just want to play it safe.
Dale - Yeah the Pear is kind of sexy heh, not cheap though!
Fox tenons for carcass joints? I don't think I'll ever be doing that. I my opinion they are simple unnecessary and would make things more complicated than need be. If a cabinet is being used to store something so heavy that might "warrant" a more mechanically strong joint, it would probably be floor standing and supported from the bottom anyway.
Buuuuutttttttt I'm into finding simple answers ;)
Wow right after I get out of bed isn't a good time to "write" anything ha.
ply wood*
in my opinion*
Nice! I'm exited to see these pictures - because I remember when this was just a drawing. :D
That is scary though about the holes, I can just see you waking up to that mess -
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