| Blog series by RonPeters | updated 996 days ago | 8 parts | 10439 reads | 34 comments total |
Part 1: What I have learned
I’m building cabinets for under my bench. I’m following the ‘plans’ provided and they call for splines and slots. From the plans: So, I spent the better part of a day routing out 1/4” deep 1/8” slots in 3/4” birch ply which mates up with some rock maple edging with corresponding slots. I’m thinking ”Hey, this is going to look really cool, birch and maple.” Got the splines cut and started dry assembly only to discover that t...
Part 2: Progress!
Spent the day filling in the spline slots and trimming. Used the PC 557 to set biscuits and glued up one mitered side. Plan to glue up the other side in a few hours after this one sets up. Then on to the top, back, and bottom before attaching the sides. Drawers after that. I am totally impressed with the biscuit joiner. It will save me hours of time and improve my accuracy 100%. All I can say is WOW! What an invention.
Part 3: Assembly At Last
Being that space is at a premium – I have to move ‘this’ to do ‘that’ – I decided to add shelf/drawers for storage under the bench. I’ve been slowly progressing – until I discovered the biscuit joiner! I now have the carcass assembled and oiled! Here’s the oiled carcass: I checked for square as much as possible. I even clamped the square to the sides. Pretty darn close considering. I may be 1/16th off end to end? I’m certain ...
Part 4: Carcass Installed
Here’s the carcass installed. I oiled it the same as the bench. Sanded it a little to knock off the fuzz. I didn’t finish it all out as this is just a box for storage. Next is to make the door for the left side and drawers for the right The vise is completed. It has about a 3” throat because the dog block thickness is also about 3”. It probably should be closer to the left edge, but I don’t plan to be cutting anything – got a chop saw for that. Mo...
Part 5: Sliding Door Issues!
Ok, I have this sliding door that just wouldn’t slide smoothly through the slot in the wood! Grrr, this was a problem. It can’t work like this. There must be a better way. I was making sawdust pushing it in and out and that can’t be good… the slot – there’s two btw… The plans were none to clear, in fact they call for a wooden dowel. How long would that last before wearing out? So, I opted for the smooth shank on a 1/4” wood bolt. Hacked t...
Part 6: Quick drawer question for the more experienced!
Ok, so I’ve changed the design of the drawers a bit on my bench cabinet. I decided that instead of sliding on wood rails – per the plan – that it would be much better to use side mount ball bearing sliders. The plan calls for 19-3/4” deep (carcass is 20” deep) but they don’t make 19” sliders. I got 18”s. The width of the drawer is 23” (I know, I’ve read that they shouldn’t be wider than the slider, oh well…) Depth o...
Part 7: The box joint drawers
Continuing my progress I decided that the box joint, per the plan, was the way to go. Instead of 5 drawers I did four. I had all 5 cut, but figured one extra big drawer would be more useful than 3 smaller, so I used the biscuit joiner to combine one of the two big ones with one of the small. It saved me from buying more wood and gave me more practice with the joiner. I checked around for plans for a box joint jig and decided that the one from Shopnotes.com (PlansNow) was the better of the ...
Part 8: Finally it is FINISHED!
Ok, I’ve been working on this for about 18 months. A little here and a little there… a piece at a time. It’s finally finished and now I can move on to making instruments. I never built a bench, or anything else – unless you consider that bowl I turned in wood shop 45 years ago? – so there was some learning curve involved. I never: made box joints or drawers, glued up a top, made and installed mortise & tenon’s, installed a vice – let alone two ...
