Wall mounted Plane and Tool Cabinet

[Coop]

We're just jealous Terry!

Have a great vacation!

[TerryMcK]

Pictures as requested

Malta is an island between Italy and North Africa in the Mediterranean Sea. It's been hard business trying to get these photos but somebody's got to do it.

[bushwacked]

I hope you stub a toe

Beautiful place though!

[Raefco]

"Malta is an island between Italy and North Africa in the Mediterranean Sea. It's been hard business trying to get these photos but somebody's got to do it."

 

​When I was a young man, I was handed an application, one of the those applications you are only handed if you are the person they want. It was to go to Italy and serve a portion of my masonry apprenticeship in the "old country" doing some renovation work. It was 1989,  I was 20 with a new to me house, truck and wife, it just wasn't happening. I will make it over there one of these days.

 

​enjoy the trip and look at some old masonry arches for me

[Coop]

"Malta is an island between Italy and North Africa in the Mediterranean Sea. It's been hard business trying to get these photos but somebody's got to do it."

​When I was a young man, I was handed an application, one of the those applications you are only handed if you are the person they want. It was to go to Italy and serve a portion of my masonry apprenticeship in the "old country" doing some renovation work. It was 1989, I was 20 with a new to me house, truck and wife, it just wasn't happening. I will make it over there one of these days.

​enjoy the trip and look at some old masonry arches for me

He'll be looking at arches but I bet they're not masonry

[wouldwurker]

"Malta is an island between Italy and North Africa in the Mediterranean Sea. It's been hard business trying to get these photos but somebody's got to do it."

​When I was a young man, I was handed an application, one of the those applications you are only handed if you are the person they want. It was to go to Italy and serve a portion of my masonry apprenticeship in the "old country" doing some renovation work.

And that's when you 'renovated' Don Ciccio's guts?

[RichardA]

      Terry, you do beautiful woodwork, and we are all envious of both your work and your vacations. Your reviews of your work, inspires us to do better, your vacations, just pisses us off, because we can't go with you.

[TerryMcK]

Terry, you do beautiful woodwork, and we are all envious of both your work and your vacations. Your reviews of your work, inspires us to do better, your vacations, just pisses us off, because we can't go with you.

thanks Richard. How's your back recovering?

[TerryMcK]

Back from vacation in Malta but lost my iPod Touch on the plane coming home. Fortunately most of the photos I took are in the iCloud so when the insurance pays out I'll buy another one.

 

Before I left I'd painted half of the shop floor in battleship gray. The other half will be done tonight. I've decided to use straight garage paint this time as the epoxy paint I used last time was looking worn in places after 2 years of walking on it and dragging machinery around on mobile bases.

I thought I'd prepared the floor properly for epoxy paint but evidently not. However epoxy is very expensive so cheaper to coat it with garage floor paint this time and use the money I've saved to pay for the vacation

 

Back in the shop next week as I have a relative coming over from Barrie, Ontario for the weekend and he doesn't know what a shop is as he's more interested in a strange game called hockey. I think they use wooden sticks to bash something about on ice.

[Coop]

Back from vacation in Malta but lost my iPod Touch on the plane coming home. Fortunately most of the photos I took are in the iCloud so when the insurance pays out I'll buy another one.

 

Before I left I'd painted half of the shop floor in battleship gray. The other half will be done tonight. I've decided to use straight garage paint this time as the epoxy paint I used last time was looking worn in places after 2 years of walking on it and dragging machinery around on mobile bases.

I thought I'd prepared the floor properly for epoxy paint but evidently not. However epoxy is very expensive so cheaper to coat it with garage floor paint this time and use the money I've saved to pay for the vacation

 

Back in the shop next week as I have a relative coming over from Barrie, Ontario for the weekend and he doesn't know what a shop is as he's more interested in a strange game called hockey. I think they use wooden sticks to bash something about on ice.

 

So that's how it's done. I'm going to Lowes tonight and get a couple of gallons of floor paint to justify my next pheasant hunt  Then I'll return the paint to have some extra spending money!

[RichardA]

thanks Richard. How's your back recovering?

   Went in for the surgery on the 9th, walked out that afternoon. So drugged up, I didn't even know I hurt!  The next two days I was trying to get a ride to the surgeon's office with murder on my mind, No one would take me! Then it started getting better, and better, and now I almost ambulate the way a normal human does. I'm not permitted to pick up anything over 5 pounds, that leaves the 4 1/2 out of my reach, but my 130 is getting a work out.

    So, in answer to your question and thank you for asking, I'm almost back to pre October, which is quite a treat.... Would have liked to have seen some Malta wood working pictures as you did last year.  I hope you enjoyed yourself!

[TerryMcK]

After returning from vacation in Malta (having lost my camera on the return journey) I'm back on the build documentation.

 

Wall mounted Plane and Tool Cabinet - Part 6 - Drawer parts (Pin boards)

 

The front panels of the drawers will have half blind dovetail sockets. The rear will just be through dovetails. The stock was milled to size and cut to fit the drawer aperture. In my country on drawers of this small size 95 deep x 202 wide (3-3/4" x 8") I am able to have just 1/32" clearance on the top of the drawer and slightly less for the sides. We don't get massive swings of humidity so those clearances are fine.

 

There are a variety of methods of marking from the tail boards onto the pinboards - balancing the tailboards on bench plane while holding the pin board in a vise, trying to mark them whilst balanced on your knee, getting somebody else to do it for you - to name but a few.

 

My method of marking

The first thing I do is very lightly mark the end grain with the marking gauge (you remembered not to alter the setting didn't you?) Then I clamp the pin board in the bench vise and have the endgrain end just slightly proud of the vice (only a hair). Then I square the board to the bench top with my engineers square.

 

Then I square the board to the bench top with my engineers square.

 

 

 

Taking the tail board I lay it onto the pin board with the top of the tails just on the scribed line ensuring the bottom end of the tails are lined up with the other edge of the pinboard. Then I square the board to the front edge of the apron of the bench.

 

 

Holding the tailboard down to the bench with some light pressure from my free hand I use my 0.5mm mechanical pencil to mark around the tails. Remove the tail board and then the tails are marked onto the pin board. Put a few crosses into the waste if you want.

 

Then using the engineers square line up with the intersection of the lines and the edge of the face. Draw lines down the face. Then use the marking gauge to draw a knife line across the face. It's not necessary to go to the edges with the gauge line as it will only frustrate you trying to fill in the notch in the top edge of board after glue up. DON'T DO IT

 

I know this is not the way that some woodworkers do their 3 minute joints in exhibitions but it is a method that works well for me and I enjoy doing it.

 

Cutting blind dovetails in the pin board

Return the tail board to the vise with the "open" end facing you - aim to have it protruding above the vise about 3 to 4" (whatever feels comfortable for you). Keep the board plumb if you can. On half blinds you need to start the cut with the saw at around 45 degrees. You also need to angle the cut in the horizontal plane to line up with the pencil line. Practice helps to develop muscle memory.

 

Cut slightly inside the pencil lines on the waste side. You can try to split the pencil line but as it is only 0.5mm (about 1/64") it can be challenging. Keep watching either end of the kerf as you don't really want to go beyond your gauge lines and go slowly trying to keep the blade plumb.

 

When you have cut all the kerfs take the board out of the vise and place it onto the bench. I find it easier if it is butted against a bench dog and then clamped down to the bench top with a holdfast.

 

Next undercut all the gauge lines as described in Part 5 (cutting the tail boards). Now comes the easy bit. Take your favourite  bench chisel and use combinations of chopping cross grain and taking slivers down the end grain. When you are approaching the gauge line on the end grain change to paring cuts.

Then clean up all the internal corners of the socket with skew chisels or a fishtail. You can also take light paring cuts down the face of the sockets to split the pencil lines. Use the marking gauge as a depth gauge (again not changing the setting) to check the depth of the socket from what will become the internal face AND the end grain. See the Veritas gauge is very useful

 

You should end up with sockets cut into the pin board looking like this

 

 

Alternative method of removing waste

Chopping out the sockets is time consuming so there is another way utilizing your favourite small router.

 

 

A random DW670 image lifted from the internet

 

I use a Dewalt  DW670 laminate trimmer with a 1/4" bit to remove the majority of the waste. This router is small and well balanced so can be use on the end grain if you clamp a support across the board. Set the depth of cut to the same as the marking gauge and carefully route away the waste from each socket. Then turn the board thru 90 degrees and route using the inside face of the board as a reference. Finally finish off with chisels to get perfect sockets.

 

The other end of the pin boards

The other pins are very easy to do as they are just simple through dovetails. Again mark out as above and cut on the waste side of the pencil lines.

This time there is no need to angle the saw as you can cut straight. Don't forget to under cut the base knife line as it produces tighter, cleaner finished results.

You can either cut away the waste as before with the band saw (remember that the pins have an angle to them) removing the bits the bandsaw can't get with chisels.

Or you can using a coping saw. I don't get on with coping saws and much prefer the chopping and paring method but that's me.

 

Have the board a little closer in the vice than this. I left a little on for paring.

 

 

Undercutting the knife line on both sides of the board

 

 

The bandsaw only gets so much of the waste due to the angle of the pins. I then chop and pare with chisels.

Make sure you go in from both sides to the centre of the board and work on a sacrificial surface.

 

 

Test fit and you should get it right first time. If not you simply do as I did on this board - pare down the pins a little at a time. Don't worry about the pins or tails protruding as it will be removed with a plane after glue up. Milling marks will be removed prior to glue up. The joints should be a light push fit.

[RichardA]

      Thank you professor, it's good to have you back!

[wtnhighlander]

Nice tutorial, Terry!

[..Kev]

Great job Terry!

[wouldwurker]

Awesome as always Terry. You get 1000 bonus points for making a sketchup drawing to illustrate your squaring!

[TerryMcK]

Awesome as always Terry. You get 1000 bonus points for making a sketchup drawing to illustrate your squaring!

thanks Vin. I didn't take any pictures of that bit and it was quicker drawing it rather than doing a test piece to illustrate.

[Coop]

Welcome back Terry and good job on the DT's.

So the pics you sent back here to the forum of your vacation are the only ones you have? Sorry to hear about your camera.

[TerryMcK]

I have registered the loss with the lost property department of the airline. Fortunately most of the photos had been automatically stored in Apple's iCloud so not much was lost.

The good news is I have bought another one and the photo's I had already taken of this build are also in the iCloud so I don't have to do it all again!

[TerryMcK]

Wall mounted Plane and Tool Cabinet - Part 7 - Drawers grooving and glueup

The next part was to mill a groove into each drawer part to suit the captive plywood drawer bottom.

 

I set the 1/4" router cutter so it was in the centre of the half blind dovetail socket. This happened to be 1/4" in from the base.

 

 

Setting the router bit with a Trend gauge.

 

 

 

A pile of drawer parts ready to be grooved.

 

 

A pile of drawer parts now with grooves in.

 

 

Using a mortise chisel to square the ends off in the grooves in the drawer sides

 

 

Finished groove.

 

 

The drawer bottom was cut from some 5.5mm (7/32") plywood with 1/8" clearance on width and length. All the finished parts were then finish planed to remove the milling marks. The base was lightly sanded with some 220 grit. Then I applied some darkwood Titebond II to the front joints and Titebond III to the rear joints (it being a blonde wood).

 

Then the glueup was left overnight to setup. On a side note I know that Woodpeckers come in for a little criticism but they do make some superb gear. The Woodpeckers clamping squares that I use (see the picture) are awesome. I just wish I had some more of these. The plastic Rockler ones are OK too but somewhat bigger than the Woodpecker ones.

 

 

Next day the drawers were removed from the clamps and planed and sanded to remove the dovetail excess.

The drawers were then fitted into their respective drawer openings on the case.

 

 

 

 

Completed drawers. I must have used some dark titebond on the rear of the lefthand drawer judging by the pictures!

[..Kev]

Looks great Terry!  Those are some beefy drawers!

[TerryMcK]

They are indeed Kev. The beech secondary wood is very nice to work it being very close grained and immensely stiff and stable. The drawers are 1/2" thick sides/rears and the fronts are 3/4" thick. I'm still not sure what I'm going to put in them (probably measuring/setting tools like dial indicators etc). Watch this space.

[TerryMcK]

Wall mounted Plane and Tool Cabinet - Part 8 - Inner door infill piece

As the inner door has quite a thickness I had to build in a clearance of about 25mm (1") when it was closed. This resulted in a large unsightly gap so I ripped some scrap walnut to around 22mm (7/8") wide and fitted it at the front edge with a slight reveal of about 1/4"

 

 

Gluing the infill piece into place

 

 

The finished results

 

I think that the space behind the infill piece could be used to mount steel rules. Also the infill can be used to mount a handle or a pull.

[TerryMcK]

Wall mounted Plane and Tool Cabinet - Part 9 - French cleat and hanging the cabinet

The methid of hanging the cabinet is to make use of the French cleat system. This is where a board has one edge ripped with a 45 degree angle. This board is fixed to the back of the cabinet and there is another board (again with an opposing 45 degree angle) fitted to the wall. The cabinet cleat then simply locks into the wall cleat.

As the cabinet full of tools could potential weigh 200 to 300 pounds both of the cleats need to be mounted firmly to the both the cabinet and the wall.

 

The wall in my shop is a combination of brick and concrete blocks. First of all I had to mount a vertical cleat to the brick work to make it up to the same level as the blockwork.

I used Rawlbolts (expanding sleeve wall bolts) to mount to the brickwork.

 

 

French cleat mounted to the wall. The lower board is not a cleat but acts as a spacer for the bottom of the cabinet 

The cleats on the wall are made from 3/4" baltic birch ply.

 

I mounted the mating French cleat onto the rear of the cabinet using glue and screws from inside and outside for added security.

 

 

Cleat mounted on the rear of the cabinet

 

Finishing

Before I mounted the cabinet onto the wall I gave it many coats inside and out of Arm R Seal. The doors also got the same treatment.

 

Hanging

Then it was a simply matter of lifting the carcass without doors onto the wall cleat.

 

 

Carcass hung. The hinges were pre-fitted. Note the electrical breaker panel above has sufficient clearance for access.

The doors were then hung.

 

 

Inner door closed

 

 

Cabinet fully open with drawers in place. As can be seen the outer door butts against the adjacent wall held open with rare earth magnets. The inner door opens partial obscuring the tool rack in the window. This isn't a problem in practice.

[TerryMcK]

Wall mounted Plane and Tool Cabinet - Part 10 - Rare earth magnets

I will be using many rare earth magnets in the cabinet as they are relatively cheap and work well. Over the years I have found that magnets of 10mm diameter (3/8") and 3mm thick (1/8") have plenty of pull strength and are easy to mount. One thing that you really have to watch about these are the dangers of them causing blood blisters when you try to separate them from the pack. Slide them apart and you should be safe.

 

As the external door had now been fitted I used some blue tape and marked the positions of the holes so two magnets were exactly opposing each other. The holes were drilled with a 10mm bradpoint bit. Then using some CA gel glue and CA accelerator and pressed the magnets into place. The door would then be held closed.

 

 

Marking out the positions of the holes for the magnets

 

 

The magnets fitted in position