Final Stages on This Tool Cabinet
Today I glued and clamped the poplar breadboard ends to the the top plywood plate as well as the 3/8 inch thick trim around the base plate to cover its plies. Tomorrow I will need to trim the sides of this breadboard top. I will do that at my Saw Stop or I may use my #6 WoodRiver bench plane. We'll see what will work best; maybe both.
After I completed the steps listed above I determined my next step would be to resaw the large Sapele plank. I calculated that about 1/4 inch thick veneer would give me nice drawer fronts for my seven drawers. At MacBeaths Hardwood I selected a very nice plank of 8/4 rough sawn Sapele for this very purpose.
Since the plank was very flat and straight and about 8 1/2 inches wide (my jointer is 8 inches), I decided to scuff plane this plank in my Grizzly 15 inch thickness planer. I got one side nice and flat. I actually scuffed planed lightly both surfaces that were opposite of each other. I eventually concentrated on one surface and got it nicely flat. I took the plank to my jointer to get an edge square to this surface. With an edge square I ripped the other side on my table saw so I would have a four square and flat plank to work with at my bandsaw for resawing veneer.er seemed like a good process to take. Once I flatten one surface flat, I took the plank to my jointer to get an edge flat and 90 degrees to the flat surface. With an edge square to the first flat surface, I got the opposite surface planed parallel to the first. Then I ripped the other edge on my table saw.
I used my yellow shop pencil to etch out several lines on the edges to approximately 3/8 inches apart. These were guide lines for resawing these parts at my bandsaw. I have a 1/2 Wood Slicer resaw blade that I bought from Highland Woodworking. I also have a 3/4 inch Wood Slicer blade in my shop, butBI felt this 1/2 blade would work nicely, and it did!
Oh, I do have a tall resaw fence on the other side of this plank. Really, I do. I bought the Grizzly resaw fence with the bandsaw. It was an option that I added to the price of the Anniversary edition. Hint: don't be a dummy like me if you are going to add the resaw fence option. I could have upgraded the bandsaw with the resaw fence and an additional feature or two for the same total price that I paid. I think the upgrade, if I had done that, would have been better bearings, or something like that. Oh, well. So it goes.
After resawing each 3/8 thick plank, I would take the large plank back to my planer to smooth plane the just cut surface so it would be flat and parallel to the original reference surface. I did this so I could continue resawing drawer front veneers at my bandsaw. I ended up with four planks about 1/4 inch thick. Three of these are needed to cut seven false drawer fronts.
Once I completed the resaw process, I added my "thin stock" table insert in my planer so I could get the resawn surface flat and smooth. I did that for all four resawn 1/4 inch thick planks. That thickness dimension is approximate. I calculated I had up to 3/4 inches that I could add as drawer fronts and still have room to do so in my cabinet. These drawer fronts will give me plenty of space.
I will use a 1 1/2 inch Forstner bit to cut "finger pull holes" in these veneered drawer fronts. Before gluing the drawers together, I will double tape the Sapele false drawer fronts to the poplar drawer fronts and then make a jig that I can clamp to my drill press' table so I can drill each finger pull hole. Only a half circle will be drilled into the drawer fronts for these finger pulls. If I do it right, these fronts should look very nice and simple.
When glued onto my drawers the through dovetails at the drawer front will look as though they are half-blind dovetails. Apparently, Gregory Paolini is given much credit for this techniques at Fine Woodworking Magazine. I doubt he was the first to think of this technique, but they do give him credit for it; so I will too.
Before I cleaned my shop to return it to a garage to park my vehicles in for the night, I decided to route the 1/4 inch grooves in my drawer parts. I made sure I marked on my router table and fence the start and stop location for the grooves I would cut in my drawer fronts and backs. I may cut the backs off at the top of the groove location, but for now I used stopped grooves for the fronts and backs for these drawers.
Yes, the position and locations of these grooves were pre-planned and incorporated into the layout of my symmetrical dovetail design. The pin width at the corners were designed to cover the grooves needed to insert the drawer plywood bottoms. Hopefully, I started and stopped the grooves at the correct positions so I do not need to do any bench chisel work. I messed up grooves like these on a previous project. Hopefully, I learned my lesson then and won't repeat it with this project.
I own a Bosch 1/2 shank set of router bits to cut grooves to fit 1/4", 1/2" and 3/4" plywoods. I like this set because of their 1/2 shanks.
I took a photo of the start and stop locations that I had marked on the table and fence with a pencil. I did not take a photo of the grooves I cut in all seven drawers. Maybe I will get that tomorrow.
So on my schedule tomorrow I will fasten the breadboard top to the cabinet. I may run screws up from inside the cabinet to hold the breadboard top to the cabinet. I think that would be a good idea rather than just trust I could glue and clamp it well enough to hold the top on tight. I will probably screw the casters on the bottom base before fasten the base to the cabinet with glue and screws. I will use screws for sure in the bottom since I do not have to worry about the screw holes showing from the outside of the cabinet. Then I will glue the corbels in place with yellow glue with a "rub" joint.
Once all of the above is completed then I will turn to the remaining tasks needed with the seven drawers.
Of course, after all of this will come the finishing stages of this project. I will sand all surfaces thoroughly before ragging on my dye mix. I am using Charles Neil's color recipe for Red Cherry Mahogany. I am using TransTint water based liquid dyes for my mixtures. I will note that Mr Neil in all of his TransTint dye recipes that he adds 2 ounces of distilled water for every 2 ounces of the TransTint dye. Note: TransTint dyes comes in 2 ounce bottles. From there he specifies "parts" for the color recipes. I like that he does it that way rather than asking me to count drops. I cannot, like he said, see me counting 140 drops of dye. I use graduated containers and syringes to measure my "parts".
I have designed a spreadsheet listing all of the color recipes that Charles has in his book "Custom Colors". What I can do with this spreadsheet is specify the total volume of the color I want to mix. So I can enter say 16 ounces or say 500 milliliters of Red Cherry Mahogany and the spreadsheet will calculate how many ounces of this or that of TransTint dye diluted with distill water 1:1 that I need to add to so many ounces of distilled water to get Charles' color.
I can also use my spreadsheet in a different manner. If I have a certain amount of a TransTint dye left, I can take that amount and apply it in the spreadsheet to tell me how much of the other TransTint colors and distilled water I should use and mix. Does that make sense? An example to illustrate could be this: I can calculate how much Red Cherry Mahogany I can make if I only have say 1 ounce of Bright Red (1
remaining on my shelf. With the calculated amount of Cordovan and distilled water with the remaining one ounce of bright red, my spreadsheet would tell me the total ounces I would make of Red Cherry Mahogany…
I mix all my dyes in an appropriate sized glass jar.
To protect Charles Neil's recipes I won't give his recipe for his Red Cherry Mahogany, but it does require so much distilled water along with his 1:1 dilution of TransTint colors of Cordovan and Bright Red. My spreadsheet takes Charles' "parts" of distilled water, Cordovan and Bright Red and mixes them all together to make his Red Cherry Mahogany dye. His book shows examples of his dyes on several species of hardwood. I liked what I saw for this dye on maple. I am hoping my poplar will look good as his walnut color did on poplar. I am excited to see how my shop tool cabinet will look after I have ragged on the dye, sealed it with a spray can of Shellac and then whatever top finish coat I decide to spray to finish it.
I am getting close to finishing this project. I am actually very excited. I can temper that by acknowledging that I have an article to read so I can fix my butt hanged doors. The magazine article that I found in which I hope will contain the answers I am seeking to fix my butt hinged door issues was written by master woodworker Christian Becksvoort, "Frame-and-Panel Doors made Easier", Fine Woodworking Magazine, March/April 2011, pp. 54-57. I have homework tonight…