Wall Cabinet - Clark Kellogg Inspired - Finished

[gee-dub]

About a year ago Fine Woodworking Mag had an article on a Clark Kellogg piece that stuck in my mind.  I owe the LOML a small cabinet for displaying some personal items.  I am drawing heavily from Clark's design in FWW and on his site.  This is my take.

I will be making it out of some tiger maple that I think I shared earlier.  It has been waiting around to turn into something.

Like Clark, I start with the curved door.  Per his recommendation it is easier to adjust the curve of the carcass than to fit the door to a given curve.  Makes sense to me, I'm going for it.  A curved bottom plane makes quick work of the small door panel.

A more-flexible-than-most Veritas card scraper cleans things up nicely.

The other side is convex so a No4 sized plane takes care of that.

And here's the rough blank for the door.

This is just a demo of how something like a known thickness gift card scrap can augment your setup blocks.  The extra small increment centered my mortises on my layout lines for the Domino.

The dividers in the case are wedge shaped to give me the look I am after.  The same bench plane as before takes care of this.  

The Incra rule is handy for this sort of layout.

I must confess that I had questioned the value of a Domino as I have had it for some time but, never found it quite the right tool for the job.  It really shows its worth in production style mortising.

The layout lines on the dividers are used for the layout on the top and bottom.  Part of the layout work with the setup blocks was the reference line for the marked divider to be positioned.  I just use the same marks for plunging the mating mortises for these slip tenons.

And here's a dry fit.

There are a lot of ways to do knife hinges, here's mine.  I apologize for being picture heavy.  I hope it helps some folks.  I use the washer to create an offest from the side where the hinge will mount.  I do this to achieve an equal reveal all around the door.  These Brusso hinges do not want to give up their washers so . . . 

I use another piece of gift card; perfect fit.

The light blue line you can sort of see is the front curve of the door panel.  The hole in the hinge centers on this line.  A steel rule will help me square the hinge leaf with the carcass and provide a consistent position.

Here's the gift card scrap standing in for the washer.

An there's your spot.

I use a marking knife to mark the position so I can return after the next step.  My fingers show where I will scribe along the front and at the square end.

Here I have marked it in pencil to make it easier to see in the pics.

I stick the leaves on double stick tape.

Trim to fit.

Using a knife in the previously made cut as a stop I position the leaf and press it down to stick.  Now, with the tape giving me super-human strength, I can mark around the hinge easily.

And it's like so.

I'm going to hog out (can you way "hog-out" when it is only about a cc of material?) the waste with a Dremel and clean it up with a chisel.  I zero the bit and use the leaf to set the final depth of cut. 

And there you go.

When you press these in to check the fit you can use the other leaf to lever it back out.

I use the tape trick again for the door half of the hinges.

I use something flat to help me set the hinge flush with the door edge.  The other axis is set by the edge of the door dividing the hinge pin hole in half.

I use a wheel gauge to cut the fibers where the mortise will extend past the face and edge of the door panel for a clean cut.

The door is narrow so I add some scrap for support as well as a backer function.

And it comes out like so.

I use Grandpa's egg beater drill for delicate work like this.

Dry fit the case yet again with the carcass side of the knife hinges attached (I just use one screw for now).

Place the other half of the hinges on the pins and slide the door on.  Again I attach the door with just one screw top and bottom for now.

Open Sesame!

I will add more as I go.  I am only able to hit this project off an on for a while but, I will try not to drag it out too long ;-)

[..Kev]

I aways enjoy your journals!  Always loaded with good info!  Beautiful material selection!

[Just Bob]

13 minutes ago, gee-dub said:

I use Grandpa's egg beater drill for delicate work like this.

Thanks for the write up, I always learn new things from your journals.  And now I  have pulled my egg beater out from under the drill press and I will find a place for it the bits I have on my work bench shelf.  I have always been to lazy to pull it out, thanks for the reminder!  Mine came from my grandfather too.

[gee-dub]

Thanks guys.  I'm just recycling things I learned from others.  The forums are great for sharing what we've learned, learning new things or being reminded that Grandpa's egg beater might be handy.  I had pulled mine out quite a while back during a clean-up-and-organize effort and found a place for it.  It gets used more than I would have thought.

[Bankstick]

Thanks for the photos and the use of some fine wood. I always thought Kellogg made corn flakes.

[pkinneb]

gee-dub you did right by that awesome piece of curly maple!! Looks amazing! I really like all the subtle details that take that cabinet to the next level

[Chet]

Great stuff Glenn.  Glad to see you are finally getting some good shop time after your medical time out.

[wtnhighlander]

Thanks for the pics and detail on the knife hinge install. First time I've seen it done. Very helpful.

[Jonathan McCully]

Great work. I love all of the tips and step-by-step instruction that you provide.  I was actually thinking about the basketball commentator Clark Kellogg when I saw the title. 

[gee-dub]

Not sure how many linear feet of sharp edges I have eased with this little Miller Falls plane.

I resaw a slice off a blank that will become the top and or bottom.  I'll use that slice later on for spline material.

I cut a curve on the front of the top/bottom of the drawer carcass to match the planned arc at the front of the cabinet.

I give the faired curve a profile with a shave.

I cut out and shape the remainder of the drawer carcass parts. 

I use that resawn piece for splines.  The grain runs across the short dimension just as when you use this for reinforcing miters or what not.

I add an 1/8" x 1/8" dado at the joints that will be splined.  I think you can see where I am going with this.

I want the top and bottom a bit thinner.  I thought the profile would lighten the appearance enough but, I'm not satisfied yet.

To be continued . . . 

[pkinneb]

Really looking good gee-dub!!

[gee-dub]

Thanks.  I am at that phase where a lot of activity takes place but, nothing really shows it off.  On a piece with all these curves and angles, I just measure and mark off the piece itself.

A small sled makes these types of cuts safe and easy.

Ta-da.

I plane these sized parts to remove the bandsaw marks.  One is thin enough that I have to jack it up on a piece of hardboard in order to clear the stop.

I use the same spline joinery as the larger drawer unit.

Here's a shot that shows the joint in place.

I fair a curve into the fronts of the blanks that will be used for the drawer fronts.

And another boring shot of the drawer units in place and how they recess in the rear to make room for the frame and panel back.

Time to get ready for holiday guests.

[gee-dub]

I cut the parts and the joinery for the smaller drawer.  I leave the sides long so I can cut them to the different lengths that will allow me to use them as stops for the irregularly shaped drawer carcass.

BTW, I found that the curved sole plane works well as a profile plane for small drawer bottoms 

Here's the parts.

I used DAP Rapid Fuse on the drawer.  My first work with it.  The short full-cure time really let's small assemblies like this move along.  I can get away with the odd drawer-front to side joinery as these little drawers will experience near-zero pull stress.

The sides set a bit proud at the bottom in order to keep the drawer front from dragging when moving in and out.

I'll use a hand plane to clean up and fine tune the drawers fit.

[pkinneb]

Looking good gee-dub! There is a lot to this piece. When complete it will look like a relatively simple piece to the untrained eye which I find appealing. 

[gee-dub]

Thanks pkinneb!  More details but, I may as well be thorough.  Besides, posting here makes me feel like I am making progress.  Someone had asked about the little drawer bottoms so here's a bit of a review.  Here is an exaggeration of the witness marks I use to stay on track.

My progress shows by the elimination of the witness lines.

If I pay attention, I end up here.

The sled and a stop make these small parts batch out pretty quickly.

As on the previous drawer, the sides are extra long so that I can cut them to length as drawer stops.

I want the drawer to set about here.

It is funny how many things I use these 1-2-3 blocks for.  If you ever need to fill out an order somewhere to get free shipping I would recommend that you toss a couple of these in your basket. 

The back is frame and panel.  It is possible that it is unnecessarily complex.  This works well for me right now as I am easing back into things ;-)

A shooting board makes fitting these fussy little pieces very easy.

There is some more frame detail to go but, you kind of get the idea of the feel of the piece here.

 

 

[pkinneb]

Really nice work gee-dub! I have been so intrigued by this project I had to go look up that issue of FWW. Truth be told I like your version and may put it on the list to make one day.

[Mick S]

55 minutes ago, gee-dub said:

A shooting board makes fitting these fussy little pieces very easy.

I got a notice from LV that mine is on the way!

[gee-dub]

A little more progress.  Cut the curve on the top, faired it with a shave, cut the angled ends and then use the top as a template for the bottom.

Roughed out part of the profile at the router table using a portion of a large roundover bit.

And used a spoke shave to get it to where I want it.

They will end up oriented like so.

More to come.

[gee-dub]

This is the finish that won the bake off.  Super simple.  Sand with 220 to open up the material a bit, flood with 1-1/2lb cut of clear dewaxed shellac so that is really soaks into the figure.  I apply it with  squirt bottle and follow with a pad in a circular motion to force the liquid deep.   Sand with 320 and repeat, sand with 400.  I will add a paste wax but, that is not present in the pics. 

The flash really kills the depth of the chatoyance but, you get the idea.

This is just a random cutoff.  I prepared the surface the same as the actual parts. 

[gee-dub]

The screws that come with the Busso hinges are a bit too long for my comfort.  I nip them off.

It seems I have been using this same tin of toilet-ring-wax forever.  I run steel screws in to pre-cut the threads.

Since the supplied screws are typical wood screws I drill a clearance hole for the shank.  These are extra steps but, I cannot remember the last time I broke a brass screw.

The angled sides create a sort of a dovetailed rabbet when I create the recess for the back.

One more dry fit to double check everything before glue up.

I will use a DAP Rapid Fuse and PVA for the assembly to help speed things along.  The inner tenons will use PVA and I will use the DAP product on the outer tenons.  The DAP product fully cures in 30 minutes.  While it is not uncommon for me to remove clamps and continue working with PVA, I only do this on assemblies that do not require a lot of handling.  This assembly does.

This makes the outer tenons act like little internal clamps while the PVA continues to cure and I keep working.

Papa November Romeo

[pkinneb]

Man that is some beautiful curl in that wood! Looks great!! One question why so many domino's on the uprights?

[gee-dub]

The Domino spacing is right out of Clark's play book.  Sliding dovetail is my preferred joint for this sort of thing.  If I wanted to use Dominos and designed the thing myself I might have used 3 or 4.  I will say that, similar to a sliding DT, the joint is rock solid even before the glue. Maybe that was a deciding factor.  I hope to get the back moving along here and there throughout the week.

[pkinneb]

5 hours ago, gee-dub said:

The Domino spacing is right out of Clark's play book.  Sliding dovetail is my preferred joint for this sort of thing.  If I wanted to use Dominos and designed the thing myself I might have used 3 or 4.  I will say that, similar to a sliding DT, the joint is rock solid even before the glue. Maybe that was a deciding factor.  I hope to get the back moving along here and there throughout the week.

Thanks!

[Isaac]

This is really great. How big is it? and where do you see it going when completed? Is it wall mounted?

[gee-dub]

It is about 30" wide and about 8" x 8" high and deep.  Destined for a living room wall.  It is wall mounted.