Popular Post SawDustB Posted February 24, 2019 Popular Post Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 I've been wanting to build a hand tool cabinet for the last several years, since before I built the Roubo. I was originally looking at the cabinet by Mike P from FWW, but the form factor didn't fit my space, so there would be significant changes (and I never got around to it). Fortunately, the space that Matt Cremona has for his tool cabinet pretty much exactly matches the empty space I have on my wall. I figure it's fate telling me to build the cabinet. After my last build, I got a small pile of 8/4 hard maple to take home with me. I was originally going to put it on the lumber rack and buy new 4/4 for this build, but eventually decided that was silly. I don't have much wood storage, and I couldn't bring myself to go buy maple when I was trying to figure out what to do with this (and it's a perfect amount for the cabinet). Here's what I started with: I started by cutting some of the pieces down to rough length. I need to resaw it, then I'll be gluing it up to get the width on the main case. Now, I don't have a band saw, and everything here is six inches wide or less, so I used the table saw. The starting thickness was 1 3/4", so I should have at least 1/16" to plane off afterwards to get to a finished 3/4" thickness. All of the lumber was very flat and straight, although I had two pieces that released a bit of tension when I cut them apart. My process is to use a feather board, the riving knife, and to have good outfeed support. I had the rip blade in the saw and took 1" on the first pass, then 3/4" on subsequent passes, with the last one only being the last 1/4". I felt comfortable doing this, but I also felt prepared that the wood could release tension in the cut. After I finished, all the pieces for the main case were there along with some extras. I'll put them through the planer later, and then start gluing up the panels for the main case. I'm thinking I'll simplify the joinery a bit, and forgo the miters on the dovetails since I'm still new to hand cutting them. It looks like it should be a fun build. I may add some sapele accents to match the work bench, which it will be hanging over when complete. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 I'm looking forward to this. I just built mine a couple of years ago, and would like to see how you come to your conclusions. I admit, I built mine out of the hated "Red Oak", but it works quite well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 This is going to be sweet! Looking forward to the build! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chet Posted February 24, 2019 Popular Post Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 Looking forward to this Brian. Are you following the guild build or just grabbing information from his free stuff? 4 hours ago, RichardA said: I admit, I built mine out of the hated "Red Oak", but it works quite well. I built my kitchen cabinets and more recently my dining table from red oak. I like how they came out and pretty much don't care what anyone else thinks of the species. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 6 hours ago, Chet said: Looking forward to this Brian. Are you following the guild build or just grabbing information from his free stuff? I built my kitchen cabinets and more recently my dining table from red oak. I like how they came out and pretty much don't care what anyone else thinks of the species. Amen! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted February 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 11 hours ago, RichardA said: I'm looking forward to this. I just built mine a couple of years ago, and would like to see how you come to your conclusions. I admit, I built mine out of the hated "Red Oak", but it works quite well. I saw yours posted before Rick, it looked great. There were a few that showed up on the group that made me decide (a while ago) that I needed something better. Otherwise, I would have slapped something quick together. 7 hours ago, Chet said: Looking forward to this Brian. Are you following the guild build or just grabbing information from his free stuff? I built my kitchen cabinets and more recently my dining table from red oak. I like how they came out and pretty much don't care what anyone else thinks of the species. I'm following the guild build on this one, Chet. I bought the project on a whim last year, thinking I might have built my cabinet by now, but it works out perfectly. I actually have some red oak I considered for this, but I would have had to go buy more anyway. Besides, I liked the idea of everything matching. Around here, the cheapest hardwoods are maple, birch, oak, and ash, so that's mostly what I build with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 I am follow the guild build as well. If i didn't have 2 other projects on my plate i'd be building one. Maybe i'll be able to jump in later this spring and try and play catch up. I have the wood i want to make mine out of picked out, but i need to do some planning, Though Cremona's layout is pretty universal and covers a LOT of tools. I think red oak can look great. My only 2 knocks on it are it can be tricky to dry and gets splintery and has some internal tension at times. The other one is a knock on the main users of the wood. They have the whole world thinking everything wood needs to be stained but this isn't the woods fault for being a good base for stain and dye. I quite enjoy the smell of the kiln dried stuff i have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 Straight-grained red oak is a pleasure to work with, looks nice, and as mentioned can be stained to produce a wide variety of looks. The prominent grain can become overwhelming, especially in figured pieces. And I'm pretty certain that staring at a sheet of rotary-cut oak plywood can trigger a seizure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 8 hours ago, wtnhighlander said: And I'm pretty certain that staring at a sheet of rotary-cut oak plywood can trigger a seizure. This is something in my woodworking youth I didn't really pay attention to. When I built the kitchen cabinets I used oak ply for the boxes. I look at the end cabinets now and it drives me a little koo koo. It is only two ends but in retrospect I wish I had used regular lumber on those ends. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Johnny4 Posted February 26, 2019 Popular Post Report Share Posted February 26, 2019 I built this shelf out of off the rack red oak a few years ago. I saw all this curl in the back of the pile and bought the whole board. Used Marc’s recipe for popping the grain. I think it turned out well. I have no beef with red oak. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SawDustB Posted February 28, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted February 28, 2019 And now, back to the build . I got all my boards to s4s, which involved a couple of trips through the planer, as well as cleaning up the edges on the table saw. I just installed carbide knives in my dw734, and I highly recommend it. The cut quality seems better, and they're a bit thicker so there's less chatter. I've now glued up three book matched panels for the sides and top of the case. I still need to glue up the bottom, but I ran out of clamps. After that I plan to cut the case pieces to final size and start dovetailing. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted February 28, 2019 Report Share Posted February 28, 2019 On 2/26/2019 at 7:58 AM, Johnny4 said: I built this shelf out of off the rack red oak a few years ago. I saw all this curl in the back of the pile and bought the whole board. Used Marc’s recipe for popping the grain. I think it turned out well. I have no beef with red oak. Not fair, that's a one in a thousand look for red oak. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted February 28, 2019 Report Share Posted February 28, 2019 That's one beautiful chunk of Red Oak, no matter who dislikes that wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted February 28, 2019 Report Share Posted February 28, 2019 2 hours ago, RichardA said: That's one beautiful chunk of Red Oak, no matter who dislikes that wood. I certainly agree with that, and I'm sure you know how I generally feel about red oak 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny4 Posted February 28, 2019 Report Share Posted February 28, 2019 Thanks fellas. I keep going back to that same Home Depot hoping to score again. I think the whole board was like 30 bucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted February 28, 2019 Report Share Posted February 28, 2019 I've found some good curly stock in home centers. For some reason seems like DIY carpenters see it as a defect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SawDustB Posted March 5, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted March 5, 2019 I started on my case dovetails last night. The mitered dovetail from the project looks cool, but these are only my second set in a project so I opted for standard through dovetails. I tried gang cutting the tails last night. I think it sped things up a bit, but I'm not sure. I have a little more clean up to do, then hopefully on to pins tonight. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted March 5, 2019 Report Share Posted March 5, 2019 Off and running. Keep it up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronn W Posted March 9, 2019 Report Share Posted March 9, 2019 I'll be wtaching you. have fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted March 9, 2019 Report Share Posted March 9, 2019 I've wanted to try mitered dt's for a while but haven't had the right project. Your tails look clean, looking forward to seeing the thing assembled. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted March 10, 2019 Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 On 2/28/2019 at 9:24 AM, Chestnut said: For some reason seems like DIY carpenters see it as a defect? Even a professional cabinet shop doesn't take sticks with much figure unless they are taking it for a personal project. There was a guy at my yard sorting through a stack and passed a really nice piece of walnut to the side. I asked him and he said its to hard to work in to a regular project, they like the plain looking stuff so there is no thinking involved when it comes to grain in a big kitchen job. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted March 11, 2019 Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 3 hours ago, Chet said: Even a professional cabinet shop doesn't take sticks with much figure unless they are taking it for a personal project. There was a guy at my yard sorting through a stack and passed a really nice piece of walnut to the side. I asked him and he said its to hard to work in to a regular project, they like the plain looking stuff so there is no thinking involved when it comes to grain in a big kitchen job. Makes perfect sense to me. One figured cabinet board among a wall of straight grain would look odd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip Sawdust Posted March 11, 2019 Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 Sappelle with maple gives me ideas for the end tables I’m preparing to build. I look forward to seeing your progress on this, 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted March 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 I was hoping to get further on this over the weekend, but ended up working for a lot of it. I've got the pins sawn out, but need to clean up the baselines. I'm trying a technique that's new to me, where you run a router with a pattern bit around the pins to clean up the baselines. I also got a bit distracted since I bought a super dust deputy over the weekend, and I'm looking at how to compactly install it. It looks like I can have it hitch a ride on the existing dust collector cart, but I need to make some small modifications. It came with a fiber barrel, which I was a little worried about holding up in my garage so I sprayed it with lacquer. Unfortunately, I did that yesterday morning but my shop still stinks of it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted March 11, 2019 Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 On 3/11/2019 at 4:05 AM, SawDustB said: Unfortunately, I did that yesterday morning but my shop still stinks of it... The smell of lacquer really has a tendency to hang around, even with windows and doors open. You don't really need to glue the joints< I just use the aluminum duct tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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