Popular Post Pwk5017 Posted August 15, 2016 Popular Post Report Share Posted August 15, 2016 This will be my first journal, not to showcase any skill or talent, but more for the general public to help walk me through this simple project. Ive never made a cabinet case or doors before an that is essentially what this will be, a big cabinet with doors. My wife and i bought our first house 3 years ago, and completely gutted and remodeled it--except for the basement, thankfully the basement remained bare for what was to soon become my woodworking hobby. Unfortunately, the house only had 1 bathroom, and it was tiny. Our remodel involved eating into a few existing closets to enlarge the existing bathroom and create a master bath. Really happy with the decision, but it left the bedrooms a bit smaller with smaller closets. Each bedroom has a 2x8 closet now, which might be enough for normal folks, but not for a 28 year old girl with a shoe/frye boot fetish. I dont have much room to talk, because my clothes take up more than our bedroom's closet. Alright, there is the back story, now on to my attempt to alleviate the problem. I dont have my rough sketchup file on hand, but it will be an armoire that is about 83" tall and 26" wide to fit between the closet door and the window. In the future, i want to make a secondary piece 40" tall to fit under the window and in between my wife's dresser. I started milling the boards for the sides, top, and bottom last night. I looked at my walnut inventory, and decided to do this whole build from cletus wood. I had 4-5 boards leftover from my first lumber purchase. They remained unused for 2+ years, because they are all 13-14" wide. Alas, this is the first time in a year of ownership that I have surpassed my 12" jointer. It was a sad day, but off with the guard! I dont know why, but running this machine without a guard intimidates the hell out of me. I never had the guard on my 6 or 8" machines--ever--but the 12is frightening when it's uncovered and spinning. I cant imagine the 20-36" jointers without a guard. I stopped when the clock hit 10:59pm after noticing my cyclone bin was close to filling up the hose connection to the cyclone body. I need to do one more pass through the planer before joining the panels tonight. I will attach rudimentary sketchup model tonight to illustrate my questions, but here they are. Are there rules to matching proportions with rails/stiles/panels? My doors will be about 13" by 41". Next, I guess it has to be this way, but will the piece look dumb with two stacked sets of equal doors? Im hoping to pull out the door panels from the latest cletus batch from the weekend. I noticed all the boards are from the same 6' log with crotch figure at the top of the board. I want to use 4 of these pieces to create a semi bookmatched set of 4 panels. We will see what the boards give me, but im hoping the symmetry of 4 book matched panels from the same log makes the 4 equal doors look ok. Typically, most pieces i look at have drawer size gradient from top to bottom or bottom to top. Larger drawers at the bottom make sense to anchor the piece, but in this case form needs to follow function. Next, I will have a top, middle divider, and bottom that I plan to use the new-to-me domino 500 on. This should be straight forward, but i might have questions on lining up the dominoes on the case sides when i get to it. Lastly, what should I do for the back panel? Can I run a dado through the sides, top, and bottom to accept 1/4"-1/2" ply, or should I do something else? Would this look lousy if it was a basic borg maple/birch ply? Finally, I am going to have 20 questions on installing and selecting cabinet hinge hardware. The doors themselves will be a flat panel per the wife, and either shaker rails and stiles, or a ogee profile. I have 3 different sets for cabinet doors i can choose from. Phew, hopefully the next posts arent as long winded. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted August 16, 2016 Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 Off to a good start! I think you will get more good responses after we see a sketch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted August 16, 2016 Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 I look forward to following along ! Thats some nice walnut you have there !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick S Posted August 16, 2016 Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 Sounds like a great project and I'm eager to follow along. My advice - stop, make some drawings before cutting anything else. Know where you're going - you owe it to the wood. I hear you about the jointer. We have a 16" Northfield at school. Leaning over that thing is an exercise in focus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwk5017 Posted August 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 Holy hell, just used the domino for the first time on a panel glue up. My mind is in one hundred pieces on the ground right now. I've never had things go together that perfectly before. I've had things to within 1/32"ish, but this is perfect for 80" with 1/32-1/64" for the last few inches. Had a brain wave at work and I'm going to add a narrow drawer in the middle of the piece to hold ties. I'm thinking about 4" high by the width of the piece split into compartments. Yes, I need to hit the comp for a bit and finalize things, but I wanted to have my panels glued and ready for joinery by Friday or Saturday morning. Glue curing takes time, which is what I don't want to wait on this weekend. My rough dimensions are set in stone. The outside case doesn't need additional thought to get going. I hear you loud and clear though, 'measure twice, cut once'. My grain and color match is fair to ok on both panels. I will be much more particular about the door panel and frame selection. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted August 16, 2016 Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 I often wipe the selected boards with a little water or spirits to see how good the match really is. The appearance can change radically once it's wet. Finish coats will have a similar affect. Sometimes flipping a board end for end is all that is needed. Nice project to follow along ! Thanks for sharing it with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 16, 2016 Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 When gluing up walnut panels, focus on 1) avoiding sapwood at your joints (don't butt sap against heart) and 2) find a pleasing overall grain pattern. Don't worry about color too much. Walnut tends to mellow with age and the color of the heartwood evens out over time (but sap won't change much). Its kind of a given that walnut grain/color is a bit crazy so just go with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwk5017 Posted August 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2016 Took Micks' advice and modeled a bit tonight. In both scenarios, the doors are the the same size with 2.25" rails and stiles. Option one hides the tie drawer behind the doors, and offsets it in the vertical axis. In this version, I think i want the drawer front to be something other than walnut. I have some figured maple that might work. A couple pieces of leftover bubinga that are the right dimensions too. Option 2 centers this drawer in the same plane as the doors. In this case, I would want a piece of crotch walnut for the drawer front to match the door panels. I like option 2, because it breaks up the monotony of four same sized doors. On the other hand, I like the surprise and nestling of the tie drawer option 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elroy Skimms Posted August 17, 2016 Report Share Posted August 17, 2016 I'm generally a function before form kind of guy. How often will you find yourself coming back to grab a tie after you've already picked out your clothes and walked away? If you are like me and make 8 trips to the closet for pants and a shirt, I can see Option 2 being more convenient. If you are less scatterbrained than I am, Option 1 might be a better scenario. That's just my $0.02 -E Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwk5017 Posted August 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2016 Brother and wife voted on #2, so it will be a 5 drawer/door front. I might photoshop the wood onto the sketchup model to get a feel, but the 4 main doors will be walnut with crotch figure, and the middle skinny tie drawer will be a bubinga front. I have a random 36"ish long by 4.5" wide piece of bubinga that will work well. Hope to then make drawer pulls and door handles with some for of bubinga accent to help tie the middle drawer into the rest of the piece. We shall see what this ends up like... If my drawer dimensions will be the width minus the case sides, what joinery do i use to connect the drawer sides to the drawer front? Can you dovetail the pieces if the drawer front overhangs the sides by 3/4" or so? I have the doors going to the outside of the case, so the drawer front needs to do the same. I suppose i might be overthinking this, because my kitchen drawer fronts are screwed/glued to a dovetailed box. Is this standard stuff for drawers? I have only made drawers like the guild build shake table. Attached diagram from google is how my drawer front needs to extend beyond the sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Pwk5017 Posted August 19, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 This has just been a ton of milling so far. I have two brute cans full of shavings in my driveway. I'm surprised my waste management team hasn't crapped on my car one morning. So im primed and ready for actually building something this weekend. I hope to glue the case up tomorrow night or Saturday morning. The rest of the weekend will be spent making doors and a drawer. So I don't know how thick I should make the interior panel. I have the pieces at 3/4-7/8 flat and milled right now so I can't resaw them into 1/2" panels and I'm afraid 1/4" is too thin. Looks like I'll be using all four boards and planing them down to 1/2-5/8" for the panels. Still Intend to do the middle drawer out of bubinga, but I grabbed this board of semi curly walnut from the Cletus haul as a backup plan. Finally, ripped my rails and stiles stock(straightest grain I could find in the pile) down the middle at the bandsaw. This is the first time using the sharpened resaw King and it cut exceptionally well. I ended up with pretty close to glue ready edge off the saw. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted August 19, 2016 Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 Looking good so far. I often wonder what the trash guys think when they dump garbage cans full of sawdust. I've been filling a 35 gal can every 2-3 months it seems like. They probably like it because it doesn't smell like rotting food or baby diapers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted August 19, 2016 Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 Every 2 or 3 months? I've been emptying my 30 gal can every two days for the last 2 months. The trees in my little wooded area are well mulched! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chestnut Posted August 19, 2016 Popular Post Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 That's a lot of sawdust. all the wood i buy is surfaced 3 sides so i don't need to run the planer much. Saws don't really contribute a whole lot to the collector. Dang a can every 2 days that's a lot are you running a wood chipper? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkrusen Posted August 19, 2016 Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 4 minutes ago, Chestnut said: That's a lot of sawdust. all the wood i buy is surfaced 3 sides so i don't need to run the planer much. Saws don't really contribute a whole lot to the collector. Dang a can every 2 days that's a lot are you running a wood chipper? Hey that's my old neighbor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwk5017 Posted August 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 50 minutes ago, RichardA said: Every 2 or 3 months? I've been emptying my 30 gal can every two days for the last 2 months. The trees in my little wooded area are well mulched! Yeah, thats what I left off my statement; I have a brute can or two full of sawdust every single week. It gets so bad that i sometimes dump the cyclone bin into my regular toter garbage can. I need to leave these guys cutting boards this christmas or something. Im just happy i dont live in a state with private waste management. Should have something to show besides milled lumber soon. Get to run the domino through its paces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted August 19, 2016 Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 1 hour ago, Chestnut said: That's a lot of sawdust. all the wood i buy is surfaced 3 sides so i don't need to run the planer much. Saws don't really contribute a whole lot to the collector. Dang a can every 2 days that's a lot are you running a wood chipper? No, I'm building inventory for an art show, it's the second weekend in Sept. and I'll be glad when it's over! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted August 19, 2016 Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 Good luck with the show @RichardA. If you get some pictures of your collection I'd be interested in a showcase. I like wood and i like art sounds win win to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted August 19, 2016 Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 1 hour ago, Pwk5017 said: Yeah, thats what I left off my statement; I have a brute can or two full of sawdust every single week. It gets so bad that i sometimes dump the cyclone bin into my regular toter garbage can. I need to leave these guys cutting boards this christmas or something. Im just happy i dont live in a state with private waste management. Why not compost? You have a backyard, yeah? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 19, 2016 Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 My town has private waste management. I guess my property taxes, which are a full 2% of fair market value (reassessed every 3 years) aren't enough to cover trash collection. I pay $300 p.a. for a yard waste container. My chips go there. Maybe one day I will build a compost bin. Chips are also a good base layer under mulch. Aesthetically mulch looks nicer to me and the chips tend to blow away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted August 19, 2016 Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 7 minutes ago, Mike. said: My town has private waste management. I guess my property taxes, which are a full 2% of fair market value (reassessed every 3 years) aren't enough to cover trash collection. I pay $300 p.a. for a yard waste container. My chips go there. Maybe one day I will build a compost bin. Chips are also a good base layer under mulch. Aesthetically mulch looks nicer to me and the chips tend to blow away. Ouch. The community i live in is filled with a bunch of curmudgeons, our property taxes are like 0.8% which sounds nice and all until you consider that out infrastructure is seriously handicapped because of it. We can't build new roads because the community doesn't have money to do it and the developers won't pony up the cash to build roads so development stops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 19, 2016 Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 2 minutes ago, Chestnut said: Ouch. The community i live in is filled with a bunch of curmudgeons, our property taxes are like 0.8% which sounds nice and all until you consider that out infrastructure is seriously handicapped because of it. We can't build new roads because the community doesn't have money to do it and the developers won't pony up the cash to build roads so development stops. Come to Crook County, illinois. We have toll roads that don't even cover the cost of collecting tolls. Literally. Think about that for a second. Everything here is a jobs program/cronyism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwk5017 Posted August 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 44 minutes ago, Eric. said: Why not compost? You have a backyard, yeah? I dont like chucking that much organic waste either, but i live on 1/4 acre corner lot. My backyard is pinched between the other two owners, and I would require a vast amount of space to compost. When I am busy making counters, I produce atleast 70 gallons of organic waste a week. Take that over the course of a year, and it is a tremendous volume for the space I have. Furthermore, composting is its own science, and one i dont know well. Dumping a ton of fresh wood like that will tank the available nitrogen in the soil. This is where you get into the green:brown ratio of composting. Burning it would probably be the best solution, but i am limited to recreational fires. I had a neighbor kindly remind me of that when i was burning 150 gallons of chips from my bench build. I was new to the neighborhood and moved from a much more rural area. I am probably known as the redneck now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 19, 2016 Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 Does your town have yard waste pick up? If you feel guilty about putting it in a landfill, put it with your yard waste. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted August 19, 2016 Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 1 hour ago, Chestnut said: Good luck with the show @RichardA. If you get some pictures of your collection I'd be interested in a showcase. I like wood and i like art sounds win win to me. I sorta had a plan to showcase what I've done for this show after it was over! I think I'll stick to that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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