Accidental Woodworker

 I got my Lee Valley order yesterday but no hinges. LV had split my order and the hinges were in the 2nd half. I got the shipping notice from LV but UPS says that they haven't received it yet. If I don't get it by friday it will be early next week. That put a crimp in my plans for finishing up the glass door cabinet.

part of the first Lee Valley order

All I wanted were the red #2 Robertson drive bits. I had lent my 2" stubby to my wife and she is clueless as to what happened to it. While I was at it I bought a #0 and a #3 driver bit, both I didn't have.

back door

Got the casings on the door nailed off and up next is dealing with this where the baseboard needs to go. I got two 2x2 foot 1/2" gypsum boards for this. The gypsum board I had is 3/8" and the repair boards had to be 1/2".

half done

This small job confirmed for me that I hate doing sheet rock repairs. Especially ones at floor level. Working on my knees to do this sucked pond scum. I thought I had some mud but all I could find was the tape. I didn't feel like driving back to Lowes so I'll get a pail of it in the AM.

oops

Confused myself here - I thought I had to shorten the coat rail by 3/4" because of the hinge side casing. FYI - I didn't have to do that.  The coat rail being short by 3/4" but (IMO) doesn't look out of place. Coats will hide the gap and it will look like a board with coat hooks on it.

2nd choice

Thinking now of using this instead of the big oval brass knob. If I use the brass knob I will also have to figure out a way to keep the door closed with a magnetic catch or something else. With this one I get a knob to open/close it and also a way to keep it closed.

3rd choice

This is the one I think I'm going to use. The 2nd choice lost because I don't have any dark bronze hinges. (I have one but I need two). I get the same benefits and I have hinges that match this finish.

first one done

This one was a bit fiddly to do. It rocked when I initially checked the fit in the gain.

done

Just a teeny bit of rocking on this hinge. Both of these hinges have loose pins which I don't like. Mostly because you have to check and make sure that the loose hinge pin end doesn't face the bottom.

 accidental woodworker

 Slow day and I didn't get much done. The PM session was a hurry and wait for my annual CPAP check up. Just like the cable company it was I'll be there between 1400 and 1600. I didn't set the world on fire in the AM session either. The House of Glass is still open and still in business. I got 1/8" glass and it was $78 which was twice what I thought it would cost. I had to go back after lunch and pick it up. They don't do wait while they cut anymore.

coat rail

Scraped it clean and smoothed it out with 40 grit. Happy with how it looks and how it feels. I filled in all the holes with wood putty. 

it's gone

Used the skilsaw to zip off some of the overhang. I am surprised by how smooth of the edge the saw left. The big bonus is there were zero fuzzy wuzzies.

looks better

The side overhang looks wider than it does on the front. But it isn't - I measured both and there is less than a 32nd difference.

the baseboard

Three of coats of paint plus one coat (or more) of a clear coat, possibly shellac. This paint/shellac scraped off easily.

from ACE

I thought I had bought a box of 4d and 6d finish nails. I was wrong and bought two boxes of 4d nails. Which are too thin and too small for nailing the casing to the door jamb. Rather then return the extra 4d box I'll just buy a box of 6d in the AM.

tomorrow's work

Filled in all the holes and a bunch of divots and ruts. I have to replace a strip of the drywall behind the baseboard. I saw some 2 foot square pieces of drywall at Lowes the other day. I have some at the house (?) that I hope will be enough though.

got it

I cut my post lunch stroll short so I could go and get the glass and have time to check these before the CPAP rep came. Good fit of the glass in their individual homes, just need to buy some glaziers points to secure them.

The hinges should be coming today according to UPS so maybe I'll get them installed in the AM. Time to start thinking about what will occupy my time in the shop next?

accidental woodworker 

 First thing this AM, after breakfast, I went to the House of Glass to get the lites I need for the cabinet. Closed, in fact it looked like it was a ghost town. Went home and found the next nearest 'house of glass' was over in Cranston. It was closed too when I got there. Then it dawned on me, today is Labor Day. A national holiday which explained why there was so little traffic on the roads. I'll try this again in the AM - fingers crossed the House of Glass is still in business because it didn't look like it was just closed for a holiday.

Got a shock on sunday when I went to Lowes to get the glass cut. Found out that they no longer cut glass. Gone, no more, no notice, and it has been gone for months according to the rep that told me that tidbit. 

After my post lunch stroll I jumped into getting the casings for the back door done. That turned into a 3 stooges routine in a heartbeat. Spoiler alert - I got it done just before 1600 rolled around.

lock side

This is a good fit and it aligns with the 1/4" offset layout marks dead on. It also lays up almost flush with the horizontal board on the right of it a little ways down from the top. 

I ran out of nails and I couldn't nail off the left side of the casing into the door jamb. I could have used my finish nailer but I didn't feel like breaking out the compressor and cluttering up the limited space in the back hallway. I'll go to ACE and buy some overpriced penny nails in the size I need.

sigh

Can't get the hinge side casing in place. The horizontal board is in the way and I would have to remove it to get it in place. The other choice is to remove the door from hinges. I would have to remove the butt hinge at top on the door jamb along with removing the door. Decided that removing the board is the better choice. I always leave taking a door off as an absolute last resort.

surprise

I brought 3 saws to do this and I got it all done with this one. I was floored that I was able to make the saw cut with it. 

expended a lot of calories

This is a carbide scraper and it took me seemingly a bazillion years to scrape this and I didn't scrape it all neither. I found where the studs were behind the board and hunted for nails or screws. News update - I found zero evidence of either one.

ta da

Got it off finally and there were only 3 nails holding it on the wall. And one of the nails was a small piss ant penny nail that only went into dry wall. I still couldn't see where the nails were on the face side, based on where the stuck out on the opposite face.

hinge side casing

 Fell onto the door jamb easy peasy. Remember Alka Selzter -  'oh what a relief it is' - that is what this popping into place was like.

hmm....

A 1/4" gap here at the bottom. The right side of the casing against the hinges is straight but the left is tapered. It goes from wide at the top to thin at the bottom.

not as wide

I'm leaving this as it is. Once all the coats go back on the board here, it will be invisible. I will fill in the gap at the bottom with backer rod and caulk. At the top I think I can get away with just caulk.

hmm.....

Used pine for the head casing but it is not wide enough. This is tapered too with it 1 1/2" on the left side end and 2 1/16" at the right end. The top of the casing is parallel to the ceiling L to R but I don't want to use backer rod and caulk for this. It is too visible and it may pop out too much.

grabbed the wrong one

The left end of the right one is 1 1/2" and it is the one I should have put in as the head casing.

done

Nice fit with a much smaller gap that is parallel to the ceiling. This one will fill in smoothly with caulk and not be visible. 

I'll get the hinge and top casing nailed tomorrow. I cleaned up my mess, put away my tools, and rested my hands quietly. My carpal tunnel in my right wrist started protesting and my right thumb was humming arias. Grateful it wasn't singing and I could still pick up and hold my coffee cup later.

accidental woodworker 

the forgotten pic

Along with forgetting to snap and post his pic several posts back, I forgot to apply glue to the back edge. The only thing holding the top down are the screws. It feels solid and I doubt it will give up the ship for a few decades.

2nd putty run

I sanded the first application and it didn't look that bad. With it horizontal I saw another hole underneath on the bottom round over. I think this will do and I won't need a third run. Updates and pics on the 11 o'clock news.

hmm.....

Made a command decision and I'm cutting down the front to match the sides. I don't like that the front overhangs this much. I don't need it be as much as it is because the door will be insert.

sigh

I got lucky on this because it is facing down and not readily visible. On the fence about whether to fill it with a shim or caulk. I have time to decide without calling a full board meeting.

done

Planed this down to the same thickness as the pine board I'll get the hinge side casing out of. This will give up the lock side and top casings with something left over.

divot

A chunk of this popped off when I ran this through the lunchbox planer. I can still use it and place this defect down and against the wall. I will saw out the casings I can get out of in the AM.

I struggled getting the lunchbox planer out of the back hallway and on to the stand in the driveway. I felt a couple of sharp pains from my groin and the old hernia repair site. I didn't sense/feel any aftershocks though. It looks like I might have to hire someone younger to haul it out and bring it back. I can pick up and move it but the initial lift didn't feel all that good. Oh well it is just another concession to age. 

accidental woodworker

ready

Changed my mind on veneering this box. I was going to use walnut but I don't like the dimensions of this box. This one is too wide and long along with the height being too short. I cleaned the box up, planed the sides smooth and the top and bottom flat/twist free. I will try out the LAP wax on it to see if it will pop on this light wood.

new jig

I finally found some small quarter round. I bought four, 48" long 1/4" quarter round moldings from Rockler for $7 each. I made this jig to clean the miters smooth at 45°. The moldings I have coming are supposedly a 1/4" on each flat and the groove is just shy of a 1/4" in both directions. I practiced on some 3/16" square pine scraps and I got a 90° corner. The moldings coming are birch (no pine available) which is a lot harder than pine so I will hone my chisels when they come.

need some casing stock

Pine is (IMO) too soft to use for door casings. I am going to use this poplar board I bought a few months ago. Step one is getting one face kind of flat and thickness it with the lunch box planer.

switched

Initially I started working on this face with my Lee Valley scrub plane along with my Stanley #6 with a cambered iron. Working this poplar was like scrub planing stone. Ornery and stubborn with swirling grain that grinned back at me. 

Then I remembered that my sister had given me this Wen hand planer. I set the depth of cut between 1/64th and a 32nd and went to town with it. I had expended a ton of calories for almost and hour and I barely made a dent in half of the board. The Wen impressed me with how well it worked. I was expecting it to be a total piece of crappola but it sung a #1 hit tune eating up this poplar. 

15 minutes vs 42 minutes

Got the board smooth from end to end with the Wen planer. The shavings are stringy but not wispy. The board is smooth but it is twisted with two humps, both on the right side edge that I had to deal with.

half done

Because of the length of the board (82") I checked and corrected for twist in quarters. I got the first 40" twist free along with flattening one of the humps. I did all of it with the Wen. I did try going back to the hand planes but this poplar was not cooperating. I have a ton of empathy for the old guys that had to do this strictly with hand planes. 

PITA half

The first half from the top to the middle is twist free. The half from the middle to the near end gave me fits. I was seesawing until it finally dawned me that there was a 3rd hump centered around the middle to the 3rd quarter line. I got rid of that but it took a while before the twist went bye bye. I must have planed and checked my progress 8-9 times. I'm more than happy that this poplar board started out thicker than 1" because I ate up over an 1/8" flattening it.

sigh

From the half way point to the far end I was reading twist free. In between these two I wasn't twist free. I spent 6-8 times as long removing the twist and the last hump on this end than I did on the top end. Again the plan wasn't to go anal and get this dead nuts flat end to end. I was just shooting for flat-ish surface to run through the lunch box planer. Once I got that I put the Wen away.

what a mess

The Wen did the job well and I was surprised by its performance. I don't think that it would ever survive being a daily user but occasional use for stone like ornery wood I will definitely use it again. And I have two spare sets of carbide blades for it too.

The board is twist free from end to end. I checked it first every 10", then at 20", half way, and finally end to end. All read twist free.

using it again

Epoxy and silica filler. I like this epoxy but not the cure time. Which is ~24 hrs but you can play with it for around 30 minutes to reposition or add to it.

where it is needed

I didn't think I would have exposed any dowels when I cut the top of the door. I packed the epoxy in the gaps at the ends of the dowels and along the tops of them. I did this because the top of the door will be visible to anyone over 5' foot tall.

clean bench and shop deck

The shavings didn't blanket the shop like when a router is flinging its bits of wood all over creation.

tomorrow

It has been a while since the door was installed. It has held up nicely since then through several days of rain and a few thunderstorms. No water came in anywhere around the perimeter of the frame. I also found no evidence of air leaks. Come this winter the back hallway should feel considerably warmer.

I have enough poplar for the lock side and the top. The hinge side I will use pine. It is out of the way and it shouldn't get any dings or bumps where it will be. I didn't feel like bringing the lunch box planer out this PM so I'll do it in the AM.

accidental woodworker 

can you guess what is coming

Decided to make the glass retainers myself and I need to make thicknessing jig first. The one I have here is for a Stanley #4 and the Lie Neilsen #4 won't fit in it.

almost done

I had a 1/4" rattling around in the brain bucket. I made this sled a 1/4" too wide. My 5 1/2 is too wide and my Stanley Bedrock #5 is too narrow. Having it this same width as the plane is not 100% necessary.

a little help from my friends

I glued two 1/8" thick pieces of plywood to the side walls. The plane is now a nice slip fit end to end.

glued and cooking

I feel like I made a bridge truss. I only have 6 of these small spring clamps and the ghost strips did a good job applying even pressure against the 1/8" plywood.

hmm.....

Here's the plan for the retainer strips. Thickness a piece of pine to a 1/4" thick and mold a round over on the top and bottom edges with a beading plane. Saw that off and a small 1/4 round molding is my reward.

Houston.....

I like the round over but this is a 1/2 round and not the 1/4 round over I wanted. I figured it out (after minutes of giving it goofy looks) that I have to saw if off to get this and then saw this in half to get my 1/4 round.

too small

Got my 1/4 round but it is way too small to use as a glass retainer for this door. At least I got it figured out how to make it.

2nd attempt

This is better size wise but it is taller than it is wide. I want both flats to be the same or within a few frog hairs.

I like very much

I like that the height is just a frog hair below the top of the muntin bar. I also kinda of like the bit of reveal that is in front of it. IMO the quarter round is a bazillion percent better then caulking or a square retainer.

nope

Bumped the bead up from 3/16 to 3/8. I thought I could get two from each side of this donor scrap of pine. Not going to work because the quirk (the middle flat thing) doesn't extend to the same depth as the round over does. I can only use one of them to make a quarter round.

wrong pic should be a hand plane

This is a hand planed astragal which has the same problem as the beading plane. The quirk is not to the same depth as the 1/2 round is. But here it doesn't matter because I can only get one profile here. However, sawing this one out should be easy. I will have to set up and saw out all of them first for one saw cut and then repeat for the second one so they stay consistent.

Tried to do that and it turned out to be burnt toast. The first cut was a breeze but the 2nd one sucked pond scum. It was small and difficult to saw the second cut. It came out wavy and corkscrew like - it was burnt toast and unusable. On to plan 3A.1, rev 2, alteration 5Vii.

router beading bit and true 3rd candidate

Same problems sawing this out as I had with the hand plane astragal. I refused to accept defeat and I entertained making a router table. The thought was to put a quarter round bit in the table and rout a round over that covers the entire edge eliminating the second saw cut. I didn't get past doing some layout on a plywood router table top.

bringing up the rear

I made two cuts on a 3/8" dowel and it didn't come out that bad. I ended up with two sets that were pretty much the same size. However, I will need 32 retainers for the door and I doubt I would get any consistency sawing them out free hand from dowels. I would need a jig of some type to saw them out repeatedly on.

first one done

I now have two thicknessing jigs for a #4 bench plane. This one will take either the LN #4 or a Stanley #4 and thickness to a 1/4". The older one can only be used with a Stanley #4 will thickness to 1/8".

why not?

The plywood under the #3 I had used as a caul to glue in the 1/4" thick strips for the #4 to ride on. I noticed that it was wide enough to make a sled for the LN #3.

not quite a 64th shy

I thicknessed two pieces of pine and they both ended up being barely a 64th over 3/16" thick. I measured the side strips and they were both a 64th over 3/16" thick.

close

It is about 1/2 a frog hair from being dead on flush with each other. Threw it back in the planing jig and made a few more shavings.

sigh

Needed a piece of 1/8" thick plywood and look at what I found. 6 panels of 12x24 6mm plywood. Forgot I had it and I didn't need to make two trips to Walpole to get some 6mm. Now I have a boatload and these are all different thicknesses too. But they are all pretty close to each other.

1/8" thicknessing jig

I needed a 1/8" thick piece to act as a stop for the LN #3 jig. I prefer these jigs to use bench planes. I've found that the LN102 will plane a high/low outside edge like it did on this one. A few taps with a plane iron setting hammer and all was well in Disneyland.

perfect fit

A slip fit that is a wee bit below the side strips.

ditto

The LN #3 performed planing to a 1/8" as well as the LN #4 did planing to a 1/4".

experimental box

The hinges won't be here until tuesday. That will give some time to rethink how to make my retainers and while waiting I'll work on this box. The plan is to veneer it with whatever catches my fancy from veneer filled pizza box. What type of lid is up in the air but I'll think of something to match the veneering.

accidental woodworker

stopped chamfers

I used the router butting against the stop to set the stopped chamfer. Added bonus is I get somewhat of a lambs tongue at the end. 

attaching the top

Eight holes - the back one three are 5/32" (same size as the screw) with the middle two and the three at the front 11/32".

pan head machine screws and fender washer

The back screws will keep the back edge of the top flush with the back of the cabinet. The middle and front holes are oversized and will allow for expansion and contraction of the top. The fender washers span the 11/32" holes and they are not that readily visible. I bought 1" machine screws because ACE didn't have any 1" wood screws with a round head.

2nd use

I have 6 of these bar clamps. I had bought the pipe and the heads 30 years ago when I was going to make a bed. Didn't make the bed and only use one of the six clamps once before today.

It took me a bazillion years to get the top on, aligned, and dry clamped. Incredibly frustrating as a tap in one direction caused another to go OTL (out to lunch). Finally got it and I'm still sane and the cabinet didn't get free flying lessons.

the winner

I bought a box of 12 of these from Lowes on the clearance shelf a few years ago. You can't go wrong with shiny brass. Even after having these for a couple of years there is zero evidence of tarnish on any of them.

found the glass knobs

I don't like any of these for this cabinet. These knobs are quaint and artsy fartsy IMO. My daughter gave these to me for xmas. Still haven't find a project for them.

poor man's miter box

Attaching the cove moldings on the base and I needed a miter box. I am getting better at sawing the miter saw kerfs. Still not exactly spot on vertically - I don't seem to have a problem getting the 45° dead on. 

dry fit

This was a PITA doing. The miter work was fine but the up down and fighting gravity sucked pond scum. My ceiling is too low to put this on my set up table so I had to do up/down clown routine.

switched

I was trying to nail on the moldings and only succeeded getting one on. Kneeling and holding the brads with needle nose pliers wasn't working and I quit on trying the first nail on the second molding. I broke out the 22 gauge pin nailer and got the last 3 on easy peasy.

gap filler

I glued in this strip of pine to fill a gap at the left front. I thought of using caulk to fill it in because I'm painting it but decided to fill it with wood because it is on the front. There is a gap at the back that I will fill in with caulk.

top molding

Maybe a boo boo but maybe I dodged a bullet. I made the side overhang one inch. What I forgot to do was to add 3/4" to that for the molding. As it is now there is a 1/4 space on the sides and 3/4" at the front.

ugly looking

I think this is going to take a few rounds of putty work. The first one didn't hide/fill in everything.

sigh

Wasn't expecting this happen. I think this will be up against a wall but in case it doesn't, this gap can't be seen.

the gap cause

This was misaligned and I used the 4x24 belt sander to flush it. In order to do that this outside edge got rolled down a bit leaving the gap in the above pic.

glass measurements

This is the second measurement list, the first one is MIA. My usual place to get glass closed last year. I will check on line to see if there are any other glass houses and if not I'll get it from Lowes.

plywood edge cover

For just in case - I'm going to put a thin piece of pine to hide the plywood.

chamfered

I don't think this looks that bad. It doesn't look like it is applied but is for a purpose. The plywood is covered and I dead ended it a 16th into the ends of the side moldings.

glued and nailed

I'm basically done with what I can do on this. Until I get the new hinges from Lee Valley I am dead in the water. 

accidental woodworker

 Yesterday I ordered some goodies from Lee Valley. Today I updated it because I inputted my credit card number wrong. So my order will be delayed and I doubt I'll get this week now. Which will delay finishing the cabinet. I bought a new set of brass extruded hinges and I paid $51 for them. That was the price I saw (+/- $5-$7) checking various web sites. Sure hope they are worth the shiny brass they are made out of.

got lucky

When I had eyeballed this a week or so ago, I thought I would only be able to fit 2 frames across but I got 3. There is 1/2" gap around the middle frame and the two outside ones are tight against the corners.

6 of 7

Ran out of room to get the 7th frame here. I have another tool frame at Maria's being done with two more to follow. I'm doing those one at a time. I have the two walls (R/L) to populate with those along with the orphan 7th Stanley poster one. Plus I have additional real estate for more.

got lucky again

I figured out the R/L length and this back stop is only about 1/8" longer than the top. I can easily blend the ends of the stop flush with that.

checking for square

Penciled in the new outline and rasped and sanded it down to the lines. I'm getting better at eyeballing work like this for square. The right side is a wee bit high - that is usually the case. The lead in side that I rasp from tends to be higher than the exit side.

sizing the top

The molding wrapping the top is 3/4" thick and I made the overhang plus 1". The last step was to sand the end grain ends with my sanding sticks.

bisecting to find the angle

The last time I did this was when I was doing baseboards. One corner of the cabinet (right side) isn't square. It runs inward from the front to the back a couple of degrees.

glad I'm painting this

I don't have a shooting board that will let me shoot an angle more/less than 45. This isn't off much but enough that I have to allow for it. I was expecting gaps and some misalignment to come.

top is sized

I put the top on and placed a molding at the front and it overhung too much IMO. I changed it so that it overhung the molding by 3/4" vice 1". I left the sides overhanging 1".

1/4" round over

I wanted to break the square edge look of the stop. I ran a 1/4" round over on just the front face. I left the back squared off.

molding fitting time

Cut the miters with the Ryobi saw. I wasn't trying to get a perfect fit off the saw. I was prepared to chisel, sand, and fill in with putty to do them. A couple of coats of paint will hide all my sins.

front one first

This is the side that was off square and the fit off the saw was much better than I expected it to be. Two down and one more to go.

42 degrees

The angle on the front molding was 48 degrees. I checked them with a fancy protractor I had bought a couple of years ago. It was the first time I used it and I didn't have to make this jig. Forgot to snap a pic of that.

last one

When I shot this on the shooting board the profile torn out crazily. I had to trim it a bit on the backside to close up the toes. I might use epoxy on filling the gaps on the miters.

back stop

Glued and cooking. I will rout the chamfer on the sides and front after it has set.

the base

It was a bit tricky attaching the base. The first 3 screws missed and came out the sides. No glue and only four screws to keep it in place.

hmm......

I have been running paint colors through the brain bucket over the past few days. Thinking of painting this with two colors - black for the base and back stop and a teal for the rest.

sneak peek

The door doesn't seem to fit as well as it did yesterday on the width. The top to bottom is ok. Still haven't found a knob I like for the door. I have some but 99.9% of them are too small. I have some antique glass and colored glass knobs but I don't remember where I hid them.

I'll have time to hunt for them because I'm basically dead in the water now with this. I need the hinges before I can finish this up and they are delayed now. I don't want to use the hinges I bought from Horton Brasses because they take #4 screws. I don't want to risk hanging a heavy door like this with screws that size.

accidental woodworker 

hmm......

I'm kinda liking this reverse look of the base. Cleaned and sanded smooth, ready for the oohs and aahs.

nice

I just realized looking at this pic that I had screwed up. The follow up to this was to rout a 45 ° chamfer on the front and up to the back stop. As I was envisioning that I saw that I hadn't trimmed the top to its final size. I don't think I'll be able to redo the pattern on one end. If not, I'll save it for a future use and make another one.

cleaned up

The epoxy didn't like being rasped so I did most of the smoothing with sandpaper starting with 80 grit. I was able to smooth/flush the epoxy on the knot with my violin plane.

warm and fuzzy

I added two more screws (total of 5) to each of the bearers. The weight of the cabinet and its contents will be felt on the four of them. Feel better knowing I added the extra ones. No glue - just screws.

something is awry

I checked the front rail and it was square to the sides when checked from the R/L. I checked the door and it was not square. How that happened I am clueless. I had checked that the layout line was square but I missed it somehow. Easy fix and I had some wiggle room to square it off again.

got lucky

Squaring off the top proved to be exactly what I needed. The margin at the top and bottom is perfect. Both the top and bottom margins are consistent and even from R to L.

working the long sides

The door was a hair over a 1/4" wider than the opening. I ran both long sides through the tablesaw taking a wee bit less than a 1/8" off each one. That left the door a few frog hairs shy of fitting the opening. On the first plane and check run I planed 3 shavings off of each long side.

2nd run

Got a snug fit after the first plane run. Got a slightly better but still too tight of a fit on the 2nd run. I only did 2 shavings this time. 3 times was the charm again.

almost there

The margin R/L isn't consistent top to bottom. The left side (which will be the hinge side) is good until the top 6-8 inches were it is tight against the side. I planed that area and checked it again - good margin top to bottom. The left side has about a 16th gap and the right is tighter. I am going to leave it as is for now until I get the hinges installed and door hung.

home depot

I bought 13 feet of this molding this AM. I couldn't find any of the small moldings that I could use for glass retainers. The smallest quarter round available was too big - that I what I wanted to use. This molding appears to be maple and it is for underneath of the top.

I was looking to buy a large cove molding but the selection at HD is smaller than what Lowes offers. I have to go there to get the glass cut so I'll check what they have for any large cove moldings.

profile

This is a baseboard cap molding and it was cheaper than I expected. 13 feet cost me $25. It is also 1 3/4" wide and the top rail is 2 1/4" wide. This will break up the wide flat expense of the top front rail and the top rail of the door. 

I was wrong

I thought I wouldn't have room for the pins and cups. I was hung up on the insert door sticking in too much but I now can see just how much room I have to play with. I am also playing with the idea of making adjustable wooden shelf supports. That is something that I haven't done before.

shelf pin drilling guide

I have a couple of these already but they are all too short. This one is 41 inches high. The lowest the bottom shelf height can be is 10" and the highest the top shelf can be from the top is roughly the same.

I will need 64 cups and 12 pins for this. I ordered some from Lee Valley along with a new set of shiny brass hinges. Hinges are getting expensive and the ones I bought from LV don't come with screws. I bought 40 #6x5/8 flat head brass screws because I didn't have any this side. I'll need these for the hinge leaf attached to the side which is 3/4" thick.

almost done

I gave the first couple of coats of finish a few days to dry before applying this hard wax to the box. I like how it looks on the darker wood but the white wood still looks unfinished to my eye. After a couple of days I'll mail this out to my sister.

accidental woodworker

I've been thinking about the shelves for the glass door cabinet. At first I was going to use shelf pins but I'm shying away from that now. There is a space limitation due to the insert door and the groove for the panels. Instead I'm now thinking of using fixed shelves - 2 definite and one maybe. News and updates on the 11 o'clock news.

bad oops

I tried to cut too tight of a curve with the bandsaw and this chip popped off. I tried to glue it back on with superglue first but that failed. Used yellow glue this time and I glued this yesterday and gave it 24 hrs to cook.

glad I'm painting this

The kerf says it all. If I left it off the hump would have been smaller than its sibling on the other side. 

both sides

I had to do the layout on both sides of the long base sides. The throat on my bandsaw isn't wide enough. The good thing is it turned out pretty much dead on both sides.

cleaning and smoothing

Doubled up and did the front and back as one. There is no way that any of the sides can be compared to each other.

sigh

I soaked this knot with super glue a couple of times yesterday. Today it seems to be tight and solid. Unfortunately I thought this was going to be on the back but it ended up on one of the short sides. A headache to deal with.

epoxy and silica dust

Using this to fill in the saw kerf, add some to the hump, and slather all over the brown knot.

insurance

I put it on with a wooden stick and then pressed it down into the knot as hard as I could with a putty knife. I put epoxy on the two sides and the top of the knot.

rethinking the top

Initially I was going to wrap the top (all four sides) with a molding. Instead I'm going to only do the sides and the front. I will wrap the bottom with a cove molding.

hmm......

The top now overhangs each side 1 1/2". I don't need it at the back and it is probably too much for the sides/front but it offers some wiggle room. It is still possible that I might make a left hand turn on this again.

hmmm.....

This is interesting turn of events. I ordered these hinges from Horton Brasses and got a shipping notice from John Wright and the package came from Amazon. I thought I had ordered bright brass hinges and these are satin. And I just noticed that I didn't get any screws!!

forgot one

I didn't do the short leg with the epoxied knot because it hasn't set up yet. I'll do that one in the AM. I thought I had done this short side - duh.

no twist

I flushed the four corners, top and bottom, and checked both for twist. Where I was expecting some due how much I had to plane off one corner, there was none. 

bearers

Screwed the bearers in with 3 screws in each one. I may add two more to the long ones but for now this will do. No glue, just screws, in case I want/need to revisit this.

fits

I set the bearers down from the top 5/16" and with the cabinet in place the base covers about half of the 1/2" plywood.

the cove molding

The cove molding completely covers the 1/2" plywood bottom with a reveal in the bottom front rail. 

using gravity

There is still a considerable amount of glue left in this bottle. I will leave it as is to drain down and I'll empty it in the AM.

came back for this

 I had killed the lights and I was going up the stairs when I thought of this. Invert the pattern and trace it on the back stop for the top. If I don't like I can think of something else. But I do like the look of the penciled layout.

accidental woodworker 

hmm......

A bit of an experiment to see how it would go. The thought of the router tipping on the thin muntin bar wasn't far from my mind doing these two bottom lites. The first run wasn't too bad but the second one on the opposite side was the worrying one. I survived it by going as slow as pouring molasses in winter. After a bit of contemplation I jumped in with both feet and did the rest of them.

2nd potential hiccup

Wasn't sure how well the chiseling on both sides of these would go. I sharpened the chisel before diving in. Whatever chiseling stress there was it didn't seem to matter. The corners are clean, crisp, and square.

survived

No weeble or wobble - no divots on any of the muntin bars. It took a while but I got it done hiccup free.

done

All the corners chiseled and I'm happy it is over. The biggie is I don't have to make another door.

one of two hiccups

Two chips popped out when chiseling this and another corner. The knife lines from the half lap layout were the cause. Glued the two of them back on with super glue. 

sneak peek

I like the door and the lites. I measured the small and large one lites and all were within a 16th of each other.  I don't like the top front rail of the cabinet. I think I made that too wide. I made it that wide for a molding but it will allow me to put a large one there.

top

Made the top oversized by 2+ inches on all four sides. A lot of wiggle room that is dependent upon the size of the planned molding.

base

The base is 3 1/2" high and it will wrap the four sides. This way the cabinet can be positioned so the back can be visible.

ready for dovetails

I sized the base so that is will be an 1/8" inch more in the front/back and side/side inside measurement. The gap will be hidden with a cove molding.

oops

This is the door stile I screwed up and I was going to try and get molding stock out of it. Forgot that there were three 1 1/2" mortises in it. I did get one piece long enough to use to make moldings.

cove molding

This is a 1/2" cove molding and I just realized today that the other 3 cove molders I have are also 1/2". This one is too small to use as the molding under the top. 

4 profiles

I like the two top ones but again I feel that these are too small to go under the top. The two coves on the bottom are toast. The left one is uneven and the right one is tapered. Glad I experimented first with the molding planes. I'll need to make a few more practice runs to get the feel for them.

I like this one

Totally clueless as to what this is called. I have something to say about the width of it and I can use that to size it to fit the underside of the top. This one is in the top two choices.

a 'S' curve molding

The 2nd one in the top two. I like this too because I can vary the height of it. However, I'll have to practice more on making it. The left side is a bit higher than the right side. In other words I have a wonky looking tapered S molding. The ends will be mitered so it has to be a consistent thickness end to end.

what I wanted

I found it - my large cove molding plane. This is my preferred molding for the underside of the top. This one looks decent to my eye. It isn't tapered and it is acceptable in evenness from left to right. However I think this plane was made for stock thicker then 3/4". The bottom edge of the cove is awfully thin and the plane hadn't bottomed out yet neither.

I really don't want to buy any moldings but I may have to. All my other choices for molding planes is limited. Most of them make too small of a profile and I need (IMO) a large molding for under the top.

ready for the tails

I've been using the Moxon vise more and more for dovetailing. I used to do single tails (like this base) in the face vise. But lately my back has been protesting doing them in the vise. I don't have my back talking to me when I use the Moxon vise.

last pin chiseled away

Just had to clean up the pin sockets and do a dry fit.

dropped over easy peasy

Got the fit I wanted - there is roughly a 16th gap all the way around.

left over moldings

I will use the cove moldings for the hiding the gap on the base. The quarter rounds to the left of them are too big for the glass door lite rabbets. I'll be making a run to Home Depot because they have a nice selection of small moldings, smaller than what I have here and the prices aren't prohibitive. 

patterns

I made most of these patterns after I got out of the Navy in 1994. I made them after seeing them in a book on colonial furniture. I only used four of these and all were for a bookcase I had made for my daughter Wendy. Time to pick one for the cabinet base.

the winner

Looks better than just a simple half round into a straight run.

accidental woodworker

muntin bar layout

The center vertical muntin bar is fitted. In the batters box are the 3 horizontal muntin bars. I was apprehensive about marking this layout because the vertical muntin bar laid across the center one. Upcoming was a half lap, two notches, and tenons. All dependent upon how well I did the marking times 3.

none fit

I would rather deal with a too tight, non fitting half laps, then one that is sloppy and loose. The center muntin half laps are ok, it is the horizontal ones that are too small. Notches and tenons after tweaking the half laps.

after a bit of fussing and tweaking

I got the half laps done. Overall I'm pretty happy with my results. I didn't see any gaps on the front face but a few popped out on the back notches.

teeny bit proud

The ideal joint would have it flush on both the front and back. The front face is dead flush but the back is less than a 32nd off. Since the front is flush and that is more important than the back, I'm leaving this as is. After it glued and cooked I will plane the back flush.

notches done

I chiseled all the notches splitting the pencil lines. Need to make tenons before I can check the fit.

splitting the tenon cheeks off

All the cheeks split off easily and cleanly with a chisel. 

wee bit proud

The fit of the muntins in the notches is good but all of the horizontal ones are proud. I don't understand it because the half laps are flush on the front and almost on the back along with the tenons laying flat in the bottoms. I tweaked the tenons by removing more with a router and dropped it some more but still not flush. Another thing I'll leave as is and plane flush after the glue has cooked.
 

smiley face on

The layout/chiseling was spot on and the muntin bars dropped into their notches without any hiccups.

sneak peek

I like the look of the lites but after seeing it I think I could tweak it some more. I would only use a top and middle horizontal muntin bars - leaving 3 graduated lites. Baby bear at the top followed my Mama bear in the middle, and Papa bear at the bottom. Something to think about if I make another one of these.

glued and cooking

A productive AM session and goal met. Door is glued and cooking and I'll be able to play with it when I get back to the barn after my lunch time stroll.

notch gap

Out of 8 notches I had to fill gaps on 3 of them. This is the last one to be filled with a wooden shim.

flushing

No hiccups with the flushing. I didn't get any tear out planing the muntins where they terminated in the notches - planing from with the grain to across it. However one muntin bar didn't cooperate and I got some tear out due to reversing grain. I was able to smooth that somewhat by planing in the opposite direction.

hmm......

I had planned to do the rabbets on the back side with the electric router. But seeing how many I had to do and the narrow width I had for the router to sit on, time to back up and implement plan B.

plan B

The plan is rip out the rabbets and glue and nail them in place. I made these muntin bars differently than I did the book case doors. On them I made the vertical and horizontal muntin bars thinner and secured them on top of the rabbets. I applied the front face of the muntin bars with a thin piece of stock completing the rabbet. I need a bunch of 5/16" x 7/16" 'rabbets' with plan B.

4 long ones

16 short ones

Got two extra long ones and a boatload of the short ones. I can oops quite a lot before I get bit on the arse.

planing gauge

This is what I will use to smooth the bandsawn face down to. 

Houston we have identified a problem

My idea wasn't thought out fully. If I add the 'rabbets' it will make the front of the muntin bars too wide. It will also be unbalanced because there are only two added 'rabbets' per lite. I thought of checking this just before I was going to kill the lights.

back to the electric router

This rabbeting bit is already set for the depth and it will cut a 1/4" rabbet. They should leave a 3/8" center shoulder on each muntin bar. I still have a mismatch in that there will be different sized rabbets in each lite due to the rabbet I did before. Dealing with that won't be too big of a headache as the next step would be to start over and make a new door. Hope to say that ain't happening boys and girls.

I'll deal with this in the AM.

accidental woodworker

Made good progress on the glass door cabinet today. Door is half done and I put a decent dent in getting the muntin bars done. Happy with how this coming out. There isn't much more to do. I'm sure the door is going to consume the most time to finish this cabinet. I ordered the hinges from Horton Brasses and they should be here the first of next week. Hinges don't fill me with dread anymore. I'm looking forward to knocking them out easy peasy.

door rail measurement

The door is isn't dead nuts square. It is off about a 32nd which isn't that bad. I decided to make the door oversized by a 1/8" in the width and height. That should be sufficient wiggle room for trimming and fitting the door to the opening.

dowels

I have never doweled a door of this size together before this. Four dowels in the top rail and 5 for the bottom rail. I didn't screw this up and drilled the all the holes correctly.

set up and rock hard

All of the holes I filled in with the epoxy were all still proud. None of them had sunken or dripped away. Flushed them with a blockplane and touched them up with some 120 grit sandpaper.

dry fit

hmm..... it would seem that I made the door a 1/4" wider than the opening. Not a big deal because I made all the stiles and rails a 1/8" wider. 

glue up time

I thought doing this glue with yellow glue might be a PITA due to open time. I wasn't sure that I could get glue on all the dowels and in some in the holes before the glue froze. I managed ok and no hiccups. Did the dowels/holes on one stile, added the rails, and repeated it on the other stile. Worked well and nothing froze and I got a got a nice line of squeeze out on all four corners.

center rail

This rail is dry - no glue or dowels. It is to help keep the stiles from bowing in/out and from twisting during glue up.

glued and cooking

I clamped the the top and bottom over and under to keep the rails straight into the stiles. I also made sure that the door was laying tight against both clamps. Trying to fix a door that is twisted is like trying to put socks on a pig. 

bottom front rail

This front bottom rail ended up proud of the bottom of the two sides. Used my big LN blockplane and frequent checks with the straight edge to flush it.

door stop

I'm thinking of two more door stop possibilities. Maybe another full width one at the bottom and a partial one on the stile where the knob will be. The partial one is a definite maybe because it will also have the magnetic catch to keep the door closed.

muntins

I made the muntin bars 7/8" wide and 3/4" thick. Still running how to do the muntin bar rebates for the glass through the brain bucket. Going with wide muntins to help stiffen the door. 

asymmetrical layout

The top and bottom muntin bars are 7" high with the two between them about 13" high. I may change the height of the top and bottom after the center vertical bar is installed.

1/2" plywood

The bottom isn't going to be visible and short people won't be able to see the top. Either way both are getting painted and that will hide what type wood it is. Glued and nailed both of them in place with 1" brads.

top done

The top overhangs on 2 sides because neither the top or the bottom is square. 

flush trim bit

This plywood is a )(@&%&)@Q&%*)(Q@_ to hand plane. Decided to flush the sides and front with some electrical help.

no twist

It looked flat/straight to my eyeballs but I wanted confirmation. The sticks said that there is zero twist in the door on the either face.

a wee bit proud

3 of the 8 rail/stile connections were a bit proud. Scraped the glue off first, then knocked most of the proud off with the block plane, and followed that up with 120 grit sandpaper.

what a mess

I had planned to do the rabbet in the door from the git go with the electric router. I couldn't come up with a game plan for doing the stopped rabbets by hand that I liked. After listening to the router scream and the mess it made in the shop maybe I should have brain stormed a wee bit longer.

last corner squared off

The rabbet is 1/2" deep and 3/8" wide. 

vertical muntin bar

The ends will be buried in the top and bottom rails about 3/4". That should be enough to provide a secured glue joint and keep the muntin bar from twisting.

will it fit?

 

Got the tenon and the notch chopped without incident.

hmm.....

Top was too tight and I had to plane the top outside faces before it fit in the notch. I didn't make the tenon long enough. The bottom face of the muntin bar needs to be flush with the face side of the rails.

it fits

There is slight gap at the top and bottom where the muntin bar shoulder meets the rail. I will epoxy a shim in them when I glue the muntin bars in.

less than 16th

I purposely marked and sawed into the waste side when I did this. I thought I would end up having to trim it to fit but I got a couple frog hairs worth of a gap to deal with.

I'm hoping tomorrow that I'll be done with the muntin bars. So far it is going much quicker then I expected and with no screw ups. Fingers crossed that joy continues in the AM.

accidental woodworker

 About 49 (wowie?) years ago while I was in BEE school (basic electricity and electronics) in the Navy I was late for school one day. There were 11 other late comers all in a line being drilled by the Master Chief as to why we weren't where we were supposed to be? I was 4th in line and 3 previous all said the alarm clock didn't wake them up. When he got to me I told him I had no excuse I wasn't where I supposed to be at the time I supposed to be there. Me not having an excuse threw him for a loop and he  asked me if I would do it again. I told him no because I didn't like the idea of having to stand here explaining why again.

When the Master Chief got done he let me go and kept the other 11. I was the only one to own up to being late with no excuse. All of them blamed their problem on alarm clocks. That was the only time I was late or missed an appointment until today. I woke up at 0705 having a podiatry appointment at 0730. I couldn't get a hold of the clinic until 0816. Embarrassed to have to make that call and reschedule. I don't oversleep often and I certainly didn't think I would do it today. I'll blame it on being 70+ years old and not setting the alarm clock.

last dry clamp

Got all the biscuit slots done and did a dry clamp to rehearse for the real one with glue. Did it twice hoping that hiccups would bite me on the arse.

needed two more

I forgot the biscuit slots for the bottom front rail. The backer was to allow something for the entire fence of the jointer to rest on. Without it, almost half of the fence was hanging out in the air. This is a pic of the top front rail slot. I found I hadn't done the bottom ones on the dry clamp run.

glued and cooking

Got this done just before the lunch bell chimed.

hmm......

Checking to ensure that the door stiles have lots of wiggle room.

hmm......

Happy with the diagonal report - less than a 16th off from each other. Repeated the same for the back.

sneak peek

There is a base coming for this that will raise it up 4-6". Haven't decided on a design for it yet but it will be something simple.

side sneak peek

I just realized that with the back I did this could be viewed as finished from all four sides. There won't be a need to bury the back up against a wall.

with home made filler

I was going to buy some Bondo to fill in screw heads and biscuit slot ends but then I remembered this. Epoxy and silica dust will work just as well and save me a few $$$.

over filled

I am not sure how well this will stay in place. This will go vertical and the filler may flow out with gravity helping it. This epoxy also takes 24 hours to set up and stays workable (from past uses) for at least 45 minutes. I'll find out in the AM if I need to do another round.

accidental woodworker

out of the clamps

There is a slight gap at the shoulders. The cheeks are tight and gap free. I planed the the two arms flush. 

one point for the home team

The wooden square is still reading 90 degrees according to Big Red. And it still read 90 with the legs switched.

smiley face on

Found my Union saddle square on the tablesaw fence this morning. I almost bought one last night from Lee Valley and I'm glad I didn't.

cross brace

Laid this out based on the brace and arms being 3/4" thick. After I laid it out I realized that I had planed 1/8" off the legs. So I ran a second gauge line on the brace above the pencil line to compensate.

nope

I have a bazillion routers and none of them had a base plate long enough to span between the shoulders. The LN rabbet blockplane worked flawlessly after removing the bulk of the waste with a chisel.

too small

The LN rabbet blockplane wouldn't fit and I reached for the Record 073. I didn't bother to check doing it with a router plane.

first dry fit

The brace is a wee bit proud. It is a strong 16th shy of being flush with the bottom. Did a second leveling of the brace half laps.

still reading 90

I didn't get the top flush but I was ok with that. I stopped once I had removed 1/2 of the brace half lap. The brace doesn't have to be flush with the legs top or bottom.

clamped and cooking

I screwed the half lap on the legs on both sides but no screws for the brace. I am going to rely solely on the glue to keep it together.

ring box

This doesn't look too bad with one coat. The 'white' on the box sides doesn't show much evidence of a finish. Another coat in the AM and then a coat of wax. I am going to give this to my sister Donna.

don't remember this

This was kind of square, only a few spots needed to be knocked down. The pine is beat up a bit and there was a split on the end of one of the legs. Both legs were also out of square on the face. I could see it without needing to check it with a square.I must have made this just to see if I could do it. I don't recall needing a square of this style or need.

fixing the split

There is a partial rabbet on both legs for 3-4 inches at the ends. Can't think of any reason for them which makes me think this was an experiment. Maybe I knocked this out when I went nutso and made a boatload of wooden squares?

 

flushing the brace

I'm not doing any round overs or other design on the ends of the legs. I want that part to stay flat so I can put a clamp on it.

top front rail

Placing this rail as is and the door will be an insert one. This rail will also provide the space to put a molding and not interfere with the door opening/closing. It will also shorten the length of the door stiles which should increase them staying straight and flat.

bottom rail

I don't want this one to be the same as the top rail. If it was it might be a pain in the ass to lift things over it to put them in the interior and to get them back out. There shouldn't be any stress on either of these rails. All they are doing is keeping the sides parallel top to bottom.

oops

I don't use biscuits that often anymore and I screwed up setting the height of the biscuit jointer. I initially had set it for 3/4" thinking the jointer saw blade would centered on 3/4" thick stock. I was wrong again and it worked as it should when I set it for 3/8" - now it was centered for 3/4" stock.

glued and cooking

I wasn't going to glue a biscuit in this errant slot but changed my mind. I'll do the correct slot in the AM.

biscuits laid out

The sides will get attached to the back with a biscuit every 7-8". I was hoping to get that done today but it didn't happen boys and girls. Maybe tomorrow where I should be able to get a rough idea on the height/width of the door. The stiles for that still eyeball straight and flat. 

accidental woodworker

 

squaring them up

The plan was to square the bottoms of all three and then get the height adjusted and finally square off the tops. It didn't go as to plan. I couldn't get the bottoms of the sides to read square. I could read square from one long side and the opposite one was slightly off. Just enough to be annoying and needing attention. 

I went back and forth seemingly forever trying to adjust this. I ended up sawing the long sides (parallel) on the tablesaw. When I had measured them the sides were a strong 16th off from top to bottom. After I got the sides parallel I had to square the bottoms again because both ways were off.

Now I got square from both sides. Then I got the length of all three the same and finished by squaring the tops.

making the battle plan

Decided to use biscuits to attach the sides to the back. I'll biscuit one side and let it cook before doing the opposite one. Got both sides dried squared here to get the length on this top front rail. Switching from dowels to biscuits and screws (?) to attach it.

The biscuit operation didn't happen. I didn't have enough to do the sides but it worked to my advantage. I hadn't sanded the inside faces of the three panels yet. That was next and I only sanded it with 120 because this is getting painted.

need a bigger square

The black ones work for keeping the ends square but I don't have anything for the middle. I didn't feel like making a road trip for biscuits so I made a larger clamping square.

oops

I sawed the half lap on the bandsaw, wrong. I thought I had set the fence (with 3/8" set up bar) so the half lap would be strong. I positioned the set up bar so the blade was past it by strong 32nd (wrong way). I should have did it so the blade was a 32nd the other way. I'll plane the two legs flush after the square has cooked.

only need the outside

Dry clamped to see if this was feasible. This will work - I'll be able to glue the half lap and clamp it while also clamping the wooden square to Big Red.

yikes

Where is the missing tool? FYI - it is my Union 90 square. Lost an hour scouring the shop trying to find it and nada. I even emptied two shit cans sifting through them to check I hadn't swept it up. I couldn't find it after spending over an hour searching. On the flip side of the coin, the shop is swept clean and tidy now. I'll give it a few days before I buy another one - I use this constantly and the Blue Spruce one I have is too big.

accidental woodworker

 What a miserable way to spend more than half a day. At 0830 I was at my local Firestone tire store because my driver side rear tire wouldn't hold air. While I was there, I noticed the passenger side rear was looking soft and sad. To shorten my tale of woe, I got back to the barn just before 1400 - $497.37 lighter with two new rear tires, OUCH, OUCH, and OUCH again. I wasn't expecting to spend this much and it will put a serious dent in my discretionary $$$ for fun stuff this month and maybe a part of september too. 

after dinner last night

Went back to the shop to glue that weird hiccup on the edge of this ass'y. It looked good after the clamps came off. I could readily pick out it still and I'll have to use some putty to flush it. Paint will hide any evidence of it after.

afternoon session

Stayed late in the shop today to have something to show for it. Clamps off and used the LN 102 to knock down the high/proud on the rails/stiles.

too much twist (?)

I'm not sure if this came from me when I clamped this. I do know that I didn't check the glue up to ensure that it was laying flat/tight to the clamps. Regardless I will have to deal with it.

bottom

Not as bad as it is at the top but I still have to flatten it out.

better

There is almost nothing here at the middle rail. The plan percolating in the brain bucket was to try to spread this out across the width of the back. I didn't want to take all the wood off the uplifted side stile.

it is working

Definitely had to remove more on the left side than the right but I think I balanced it pretty good overall. I didn't go nutso trying to get it flat +/- an atom or two. I concentrated on outside 1" getting that flat between the left and right stiles.

stopping here

Nothing is married to the face side of the stiles. The outside edges will be secured to faces of the side rear stiles so it is only important that these two surfaces are square to each other.

dead square

The back panel ass'y is dead nuts square. The diagonals were barely off the width of a black division line on the tape.

back

The two sides are pretty good on size, both width and height. The back is 1/8" taller than the sides. Not sure if I want to leave it and plane it square after the sides are attached or plane it off now. I got time to figure it out.

sneak peak

This needs something at the front to help hold it together. A rail at the top and bottom to keep the sides from folding inward or falling outward. Just thought of another issue that has to do with the door. Should it be a overlay or insert door? I had planned on an insert door but an overlay door would be easier than an insert one.

door stock

The two long ones are the stiles and they look straight and flat to my eye. Fingers crossed that they will still look the same in the AM.

muntin stock

This should be more than enough for the muntins for the door. I even have extra for several oops if need be.

garbage and ....

The left one is the plywood I got sunday from Woodcraft. Two thin veneers for the outside faces with a single ply between them. 6mm plywood on the right, 5 plies. Two thin outside face veneers with 3 plies between them. Should have bought the 6mm and sanded/planed it fit the grooves. Sigh.

insurance

The bottom rail for the door is 3 1/2" wide and got two of them. Got two top rails at 3" wide. All of them look flat and straight for now.

maybe

I might be able to use one or two of these as a back stile. One of them has a groove so that one isn't a good candidate. 

wonky

All three of these are straight and flat until this short area at the end where it wanders out into left field. I didn't measure it to see if it is long enough because I didn't want to find out they were a 1/2" short. 

needs some attention

The back bottom isn't square and one side ass'y is out of square at the top. Tomorrow I'll square up the bottom edge and set the height too. I'll then saw the two sides to match it. The top and bottom rails are an 1/8" wider - the top at 3 1/8" and the bottom at 3 5/8". I did that to allow for trimming and squaring things up.

accidental woodworker

old bookcase

This is the only project that I made with divided glass lites. I have made several cabinets with glass doors but all were made with one piece of glass. I made this 10+ years ago(?) and I eyeballed it to see how I did it. I had been thinking about it for for a couple of days and nada. Once I saw this the light bulb finally came on.

glazing putty

I put on rabbet all the way around on the inside. Then I put in the glazing bars - two pieces, a front flat one and an thin inside one. The panes are held in place with glazing putty and glaziers points. I want an unsymmetrical arrangement of lites for the current cabinet too. Now I have a starting point for making the current door.

hmm......

Yikes! This is a screwball type of a hiccup. I only found it because it stuck a sliver of wood into my index finger. Now that I'm typing this I realized I totally forgot to fix it. I'll have to make sure that I do it in the AM.

happy face on

Fiddled a bit more on the tenons and did a dry clamp up. Happy with how all the rail/stile connections look. Any misalignment I'm sure I can easily feather out.

width measurement

I thought both the upper and lower width were dead nuts.

I was wrong

 Almost a 1/8" difference, but how? I checked it again and I hadn't fully seated one of the sticks in the groove. Checked the two of them again and now they were dead nuts on.

height sticks

Didn't make the same mistake with the height. I put the top measurement on one side and the bottom one on the other face. The top panel is 1/8" taller than the bottom one. 

experiment time

I want to use a dowel joint but I wasn't sure how to do it with the dowel max jig. It is a 'T' joint. The first part was easy but the 2nd mating one made me feel like I didn't haven't an IQ with double digits.

hmm.....

My jury rigged test failed. I don't know how I ended up with this offset. I was feeling a little smug before I saw this. When in doubt, RTI (read the instructions) as the last resort.

T joint instructions

These were initially as clear as mud. I read them a bazillion times and nada - I was still clueless. One thing I couldn't reconcile or understand was the drawing on the right side page. 

5.67mm plywood

I set aside the dowel max and made a road trip to Woodcraft. There was one 30x30 6mm plywood panel but it was too thick at 6.43mm. I bought a 1/4" thick 24x48 plywood panel that measured this. The panel edge plies look liked complete garbage compared to the 6mm edge plies. However, it fit snug and is self supporting. The other bonus is I got all 4 panels out of this with some box making stock left over.

dry fit

Got a good fit with all four panels. I checked for square measuring the inside of the panels and all said I was square.

glued and cooking

Met my goal of getting the side assemblies glued and cooking. I'll start on the door tomorrow. I think I will only saw out the stiles and rails. I won't make it until I have the sides and back together. I'll need to have that to get the final size for the door.

ta da

Finally figured it out. Turns out the drawing and the instructions don't tell the complete story to do a 'T' joint. You have take one part of the jig apart and put it back together so you can drill the dowel holes in the face of the mating piece. Nice feeling to see the joint come together correctly.

the 'T' joint place

I have been thinking about using this joint at the top front of the cabinet. Still undecided about whether or not to place it horizontally or vertically.

it will work

As I was looking at the placement of the rail (above pic) I thought that the jig wouldn't fit for the 2nd part of the 'T'. The excess horns did a job with my head making me think that it wouldn't fit where it should. I was wrong and the proof of the pudding is the jig placement itself.

accidental woodworker 

 

first side panel ass'y

Initial check of the tenons said that not only did they fit but they were snug and self supporting. In the on deck circle was trimming the tenons and checking the fit of them fully seated.

first dry fit

Happy with this. The tenons haven't been sucked down fully but they look ok at all the rail and stile connections. This first dry fit confirms that the tenons are good as is.

fully seated

No hiccups when I clamped across the three rails. The rail/stile joints are dead nuts flush and none are off more than a frog hair or two.

2nd side panel

The bottom rail/stile connection (IMO) is unacceptable. It is about a strong 32nd on both faces and the same headache on the opposite end. The difference is too much to sand/plane and feather out. The other four connections are acceptable.

plywood fits

I got the panel to slide into the corner without having to beat into place with a mallet. However, I don't like this as I can see a slight misalignment between the rail and stile groove walls. Most likely I sawed the tenons of this one wrong from the other two in this set.

see it?

I got the thin and thick walls between the rail and stile as it should be. I don't like not having the groove walls aligned. This little bit may bite me on the arse at glue up if I leave it. The fix is to either remove some wood from one face of the tenon and shim the opposite face or enlarge the mortise and shim the tenons afterward.

and the winner is....

Decided to avoid thinning the tenon and reducing its strength. Instead I am going to enlarge the mortise but only by removing wood from the thick walled side of the groove. A bit tedious removing some wood and then checking the fit repeatedly.

oak veneer

When I got close I checked the fit of the tenon and it was decent with this oak veneer. I still had more to go and in the end the oak veneer turned out to be too thin.

bandsawn veneer

I only needed two shims, one on each tenon. I sawed these a bit fat so after they were cooked I would have to trim them to fit.

almost

Slow going moving the rail flush with the stile. I think at this point I had moved it forward about 3/4 of the way. I was using a chisel and a rasp. One problem I had was I went from a tapered wall (side to side and not up/down) to one with a hump. Removing the hump tried my patience big time.

done

There is a huge improvement in rail/stile flush. It is close enough that I can feather it out flush with sanding. It took me over an hour to get this rail flush with the stiles.

cooking

Glued on the shims and set them aside to cook for a couple of hours. Killed the lights here because watching glue dries sucks.

90 minutes later

I am liking this LN rabbet plane more and more for trimming tenon cheeks every time I use it. It took almost no time at all to get both cheeks fitting snug and almost flush.

first one fitted

Haven't decided yet but I could place this on the inside of the cabinet. That will depend upon how it looks after it is glued and sanded smooth.

done

Got the second one fitted quicker than the first one. Both of them came out snug and self supporting.

I only have one 30x30 6mm plywood panel which will only give up two panel inserts and I need 4. I will make a road trip to the Walpole Woodcraft tomorrow. On sunday the traffic will be almost nonexistent. I'll saw up the panels and get the two assemblies glued and cooking. Then its on to the door.

accidental woodworker 

 

out of the clamps

I was mildly surprised by how the rail/stile joints looked after coming out of the clamps. I didn't see/feel any of misalignment seen/felt on the dry fit up.

the worse one

This rail/stile is misaligned about 3 frog hairs. Happy with how it turned out. I think the stiffness of the  6mm plywood had a lot to do with it.

6mm  fillers

I got the fillers from ripping off the walls on the off cuts from the rails. They are almost a perfect fit - I'll just have to shave a wee bit to flush them.

 

sawing the horns

I laid out a pencil line a few frog hairs proud. Sawed it off on that and planed the stile ends flush with the bottom of the rails.

done

Much easier than I anticipated. In the back of the brain bucket I envisioned a lot of scenarios where I butchered this saw cut. Out of square in a bazillion directions were the headliners.

last one to smooth, flush, and square

I'll have to repeat this dance steps when I do the sides. I think I'll approach them with a lot less apprehension.

6mm fillers

I didn't leave the stub when I sawed the tenons to width. Once the cabinet is together the empty hole will never be seen. Filled it in mostly to give me a warm and fuzzy about keeping the bottom from twisting.

side project

Both of these are covers for my cell phone. If I put the cell phone in my pocket, as I walk it will intermittently shut off, lower the volume, or load a new you tube. Putting this on top of the phone between the screen and my pocket shut down 99.9% of this nonsense. I listen to podcasts on You Tube on my post lunch strolling - the cell phone blue tooth goes right to my blue tooth hearing aids.

chopping side mortises

I got two stiles done before lunch time rolled around.

3 coats

I'm going with 6-7 coats on these. I sweat a lot on my strolling and shellac doesn't like moisture. Hoping the multiple coats will help.

sigh

I screwed it up again. I want to scream and I did along with a barrage of expletives not to be heard in mixed company. The quirk making all the problems - the 6mm groove isn't centered. When I made the test groove a couple of days ago I didn't center it before plowing the grooves in the rails and stiles. I just ensured that I marked an X on the reference face for the fence.

That hiccup made for a lost interchangeability, that I had to check to make sure as I laid out the mortises. Here the grooves - the wide and skinny walls aligned but I laid out the mortises opposite. I put the top at the bottom on one and the opposite on the other. Result is the groove walls don't align with the mortises. I had to make a new stile.

FYI

One thing I've learned over the years is to leave the tools set and don't change them. If I need a different groove set up I will set and use another plow plane - I have five of them. I will not break down or stow a tool until the project is complete, finished, over with, a check mark in the done column. And it seems I lost my ability to count again because I have 3 extra stiles so I guess that is serendipitous.

double, triple checking it

There isn't a huge difference in the groove walls but it is enough to throw off sliding the panels in place. I stopped and walked away 4 times before I said it was aligned and it was ok to lay out the mortise locations.

side rails

Before I started the tenons I checked that all of these aligned. I used the X reference face to ensure they matched.

snug fit

Cut the tenons on the tablesaw and got a good fit and it is also self supporting.

sawing the cheek waste

old habit

I will save the off cut waste for just in case. I checked two more tenons for fit and I was happy with them. Probably won't need them and the pack rat in more says to save them for .......

chopping mortises again

Here you can see the two outside walls are just a wee bit fatter then the two inside ones. A subtle difference that will bite you on the arse and draw blood.

sigh or oops

These two rail tenons are too thin. They are a strong 32nd or more too loose in the mortise. The thickness of these two rails is about a strong 32nd more than the 3rd rail in this series. Hence the loose fitting tenons. Rather glue veneers on the cheeks I opted to make two new rails that are the same thickness as the 3rd rail (the bottom one).

extra rail stock

These are unused due to the change in the layout for the panels. I can get both the middle and top rails from these two.

done

Replacement rails done and test fitted. Snug and self supporting. All is well in Disneyland again.

6mm filler

The replacement rails came from stock that was grooved on both edges. The top edge of this one (which will be the top rail) I will fill in the groove. It will never be seen once the cabinet is finished. Filling it in will allow me to nail, screw, or glue along this edge as needed.

Looking ahead to tomorrow to finish chopping the mortises and get the side assemblies glued, clamped, and cooking. Then I can start on the door and how to make the divided lite glazing bars.

accidental woodworker