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85K views 146 replies 23 participants last post by  Smitty_Cabinetshop 
#1 ·
Why and What?

Twenty-five months ago I built my Roubo workbench based on plans in C. Schwarz' first Workbenches book. I read the cautions to keep the underside of the benchtop clear of anything that would impede clamping, protruding holdfasts, etc. and finished the base with a simple shelf. I did add a small, single drawer to the underside about six months later, based on examples in Roubo illustrations, but nothing else.

About a year ago I was fortunate to come across a traditional cabinetmaker's workbench that came out of an organ factory nearby. It has a chest of drawers underneath (four wide drawers and a hinged cubby on its right side) that I use for all the things that don't fit in the Roubo's small drawer (and that's lots of my most commonly used hand tools). When I picked up the Stanley SW 750 set my problem came to a head - where to put my now complete chisel sets (Everlastings, SW 750 Re-Issues, cats and dogs, etc.)? A wall / bench rack or in a drawer? I think sometimes that a couple of low-profile drawers at the bottom of the Roubo would be a very good thing, because what's down there now isn't used at all or simply gets covered in dust and shavings. I do not want to fill the space with a cabinet; I don't work that way and don't want a kitchen cabinet with a thick top. I use my hold fasts and use the bench as a total clamping tool, so the bottom has to stay essentially clear. Isn't there middle ground here? Maybe something like this?

Handwriting Rectangle Parallel Font Pattern


It'll be an all-drawer cabinet, unless the right side is a door, like what's in the traditional bench cabinet. But a door wouldn't work in the Roubo because there is a sliding deadman on the underside of the bench that would hinder the door's ability to be used freely. But the thought is my #45 (and others) need a home / large drawer rather than the far away shelf it's sitting on now.

Sounds like I have a project on my hands.
 

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#2 ·
Why and What?

Twenty-five months ago I built my Roubo workbench based on plans in C. Schwarz' first Workbenches book. I read the cautions to keep the underside of the benchtop clear of anything that would impede clamping, protruding holdfasts, etc. and finished the base with a simple shelf. I did add a small, single drawer to the underside about six months later, based on examples in Roubo illustrations, but nothing else.

About a year ago I was fortunate to come across a traditional cabinetmaker's workbench that came out of an organ factory nearby. It has a chest of drawers underneath (four wide drawers and a hinged cubby on its right side) that I use for all the things that don't fit in the Roubo's small drawer (and that's lots of my most commonly used hand tools). When I picked up the Stanley SW 750 set my problem came to a head - where to put my now complete chisel sets (Everlastings, SW 750 Re-Issues, cats and dogs, etc.)? A wall / bench rack or in a drawer? I think sometimes that a couple of low-profile drawers at the bottom of the Roubo would be a very good thing, because what's down there now isn't used at all or simply gets covered in dust and shavings. I do not want to fill the space with a cabinet; I don't work that way and don't want a kitchen cabinet with a thick top. I use my hold fasts and use the bench as a total clamping tool, so the bottom has to stay essentially clear. Isn't there middle ground here? Maybe something like this?

Handwriting Rectangle Parallel Font Pattern


It'll be an all-drawer cabinet, unless the right side is a door, like what's in the traditional bench cabinet. But a door wouldn't work in the Roubo because there is a sliding deadman on the underside of the bench that would hinder the door's ability to be used freely. But the thought is my #45 (and others) need a home / large drawer rather than the far away shelf it's sitting on now.

Sounds like I have a project on my hands.
I'm currently building a small shaker-type bench with underside drawers and a cabinet. I need the additional storage, more than I need additional clamping options. Plus, since its a small bench, the cabinetry and its contents add much needed mass.
 

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#3 ·
Why and What?

Twenty-five months ago I built my Roubo workbench based on plans in C. Schwarz' first Workbenches book. I read the cautions to keep the underside of the benchtop clear of anything that would impede clamping, protruding holdfasts, etc. and finished the base with a simple shelf. I did add a small, single drawer to the underside about six months later, based on examples in Roubo illustrations, but nothing else.

About a year ago I was fortunate to come across a traditional cabinetmaker's workbench that came out of an organ factory nearby. It has a chest of drawers underneath (four wide drawers and a hinged cubby on its right side) that I use for all the things that don't fit in the Roubo's small drawer (and that's lots of my most commonly used hand tools). When I picked up the Stanley SW 750 set my problem came to a head - where to put my now complete chisel sets (Everlastings, SW 750 Re-Issues, cats and dogs, etc.)? A wall / bench rack or in a drawer? I think sometimes that a couple of low-profile drawers at the bottom of the Roubo would be a very good thing, because what's down there now isn't used at all or simply gets covered in dust and shavings. I do not want to fill the space with a cabinet; I don't work that way and don't want a kitchen cabinet with a thick top. I use my hold fasts and use the bench as a total clamping tool, so the bottom has to stay essentially clear. Isn't there middle ground here? Maybe something like this?

Handwriting Rectangle Parallel Font Pattern


It'll be an all-drawer cabinet, unless the right side is a door, like what's in the traditional bench cabinet. But a door wouldn't work in the Roubo because there is a sliding deadman on the underside of the bench that would hinder the door's ability to be used freely. But the thought is my #45 (and others) need a home / large drawer rather than the far away shelf it's sitting on now.

Sounds like I have a project on my hands.
@Tedstor - I understand completely the benefits of storage and mass - this should deliver both but with the clearance I need between benchtop and cabinet so holdfasts work without issue. This build, fully loaded, will likely add well over a hundred pounds to the bench and I like that. And you're not blogging your bench build yet? I'll follow along if you do… :)

Oh, and I love the vintage Craftsman avitar!
 

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#4 ·
Why and What?

Twenty-five months ago I built my Roubo workbench based on plans in C. Schwarz' first Workbenches book. I read the cautions to keep the underside of the benchtop clear of anything that would impede clamping, protruding holdfasts, etc. and finished the base with a simple shelf. I did add a small, single drawer to the underside about six months later, based on examples in Roubo illustrations, but nothing else.

About a year ago I was fortunate to come across a traditional cabinetmaker's workbench that came out of an organ factory nearby. It has a chest of drawers underneath (four wide drawers and a hinged cubby on its right side) that I use for all the things that don't fit in the Roubo's small drawer (and that's lots of my most commonly used hand tools). When I picked up the Stanley SW 750 set my problem came to a head - where to put my now complete chisel sets (Everlastings, SW 750 Re-Issues, cats and dogs, etc.)? A wall / bench rack or in a drawer? I think sometimes that a couple of low-profile drawers at the bottom of the Roubo would be a very good thing, because what's down there now isn't used at all or simply gets covered in dust and shavings. I do not want to fill the space with a cabinet; I don't work that way and don't want a kitchen cabinet with a thick top. I use my hold fasts and use the bench as a total clamping tool, so the bottom has to stay essentially clear. Isn't there middle ground here? Maybe something like this?

Handwriting Rectangle Parallel Font Pattern


It'll be an all-drawer cabinet, unless the right side is a door, like what's in the traditional bench cabinet. But a door wouldn't work in the Roubo because there is a sliding deadman on the underside of the bench that would hinder the door's ability to be used freely. But the thought is my #45 (and others) need a home / large drawer rather than the far away shelf it's sitting on now.

Sounds like I have a project on my hands.
as I understood then was the benchplanes stored on the shelf under the benches
and didn´t a Rubobench have a big shelf :)

but I wuold make a wallcabinet to store you tools in and hang it very near or above the bench

Dennis
 

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#5 ·
Why and What?

Twenty-five months ago I built my Roubo workbench based on plans in C. Schwarz' first Workbenches book. I read the cautions to keep the underside of the benchtop clear of anything that would impede clamping, protruding holdfasts, etc. and finished the base with a simple shelf. I did add a small, single drawer to the underside about six months later, based on examples in Roubo illustrations, but nothing else.

About a year ago I was fortunate to come across a traditional cabinetmaker's workbench that came out of an organ factory nearby. It has a chest of drawers underneath (four wide drawers and a hinged cubby on its right side) that I use for all the things that don't fit in the Roubo's small drawer (and that's lots of my most commonly used hand tools). When I picked up the Stanley SW 750 set my problem came to a head - where to put my now complete chisel sets (Everlastings, SW 750 Re-Issues, cats and dogs, etc.)? A wall / bench rack or in a drawer? I think sometimes that a couple of low-profile drawers at the bottom of the Roubo would be a very good thing, because what's down there now isn't used at all or simply gets covered in dust and shavings. I do not want to fill the space with a cabinet; I don't work that way and don't want a kitchen cabinet with a thick top. I use my hold fasts and use the bench as a total clamping tool, so the bottom has to stay essentially clear. Isn't there middle ground here? Maybe something like this?

Handwriting Rectangle Parallel Font Pattern


It'll be an all-drawer cabinet, unless the right side is a door, like what's in the traditional bench cabinet. But a door wouldn't work in the Roubo because there is a sliding deadman on the underside of the bench that would hinder the door's ability to be used freely. But the thought is my #45 (and others) need a home / large drawer rather than the far away shelf it's sitting on now.

Sounds like I have a project on my hands.
@Dennis - For awhile I had bench planes under the bench, but there was just too much dust / debris to leave them there. Take a look at my shop pics and you'll see where the planes live now; not enclosed, but in a wall-hung cabinet right next to the bench where I can reach them. The Roubo cabinet is for chisels and small hand tools; it should allow for very usable space for some tools on top, while projects are in-work (they'll be easier to reach than if they were at the bottom of the bench) but I don't plan on using it that way for now.
 

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#6 ·
Why and What?

Twenty-five months ago I built my Roubo workbench based on plans in C. Schwarz' first Workbenches book. I read the cautions to keep the underside of the benchtop clear of anything that would impede clamping, protruding holdfasts, etc. and finished the base with a simple shelf. I did add a small, single drawer to the underside about six months later, based on examples in Roubo illustrations, but nothing else.

About a year ago I was fortunate to come across a traditional cabinetmaker's workbench that came out of an organ factory nearby. It has a chest of drawers underneath (four wide drawers and a hinged cubby on its right side) that I use for all the things that don't fit in the Roubo's small drawer (and that's lots of my most commonly used hand tools). When I picked up the Stanley SW 750 set my problem came to a head - where to put my now complete chisel sets (Everlastings, SW 750 Re-Issues, cats and dogs, etc.)? A wall / bench rack or in a drawer? I think sometimes that a couple of low-profile drawers at the bottom of the Roubo would be a very good thing, because what's down there now isn't used at all or simply gets covered in dust and shavings. I do not want to fill the space with a cabinet; I don't work that way and don't want a kitchen cabinet with a thick top. I use my hold fasts and use the bench as a total clamping tool, so the bottom has to stay essentially clear. Isn't there middle ground here? Maybe something like this?

Handwriting Rectangle Parallel Font Pattern


It'll be an all-drawer cabinet, unless the right side is a door, like what's in the traditional bench cabinet. But a door wouldn't work in the Roubo because there is a sliding deadman on the underside of the bench that would hinder the door's ability to be used freely. But the thought is my #45 (and others) need a home / large drawer rather than the far away shelf it's sitting on now.

Sounds like I have a project on my hands.
do you still have the old bench :)

I like your corner left to the window but that wuold be the place to sneak in the wallhunged toolcabinet
I know I am bad …lol but consider a big turn around redoooo of the shop org.
I like your plane till though :)

take care
Dennis
 

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#7 ·
Why and What?

Twenty-five months ago I built my Roubo workbench based on plans in C. Schwarz' first Workbenches book. I read the cautions to keep the underside of the benchtop clear of anything that would impede clamping, protruding holdfasts, etc. and finished the base with a simple shelf. I did add a small, single drawer to the underside about six months later, based on examples in Roubo illustrations, but nothing else.

About a year ago I was fortunate to come across a traditional cabinetmaker's workbench that came out of an organ factory nearby. It has a chest of drawers underneath (four wide drawers and a hinged cubby on its right side) that I use for all the things that don't fit in the Roubo's small drawer (and that's lots of my most commonly used hand tools). When I picked up the Stanley SW 750 set my problem came to a head - where to put my now complete chisel sets (Everlastings, SW 750 Re-Issues, cats and dogs, etc.)? A wall / bench rack or in a drawer? I think sometimes that a couple of low-profile drawers at the bottom of the Roubo would be a very good thing, because what's down there now isn't used at all or simply gets covered in dust and shavings. I do not want to fill the space with a cabinet; I don't work that way and don't want a kitchen cabinet with a thick top. I use my hold fasts and use the bench as a total clamping tool, so the bottom has to stay essentially clear. Isn't there middle ground here? Maybe something like this?

Handwriting Rectangle Parallel Font Pattern


It'll be an all-drawer cabinet, unless the right side is a door, like what's in the traditional bench cabinet. But a door wouldn't work in the Roubo because there is a sliding deadman on the underside of the bench that would hinder the door's ability to be used freely. But the thought is my #45 (and others) need a home / large drawer rather than the far away shelf it's sitting on now.

Sounds like I have a project on my hands.
I think there is nothing in the shop that is more important to customize to your particular needs than the workbench. Swartz says keep the underside clear. Fine. But THOUSANDS of woodworkers like to have drawers and cabinets under there and it works great for them. How can both be correct?

Simple. Swartz uses lots of long holdfasts and large jawed wooden clamps. So HE needs it open below the top. I use bench dogs and plane stops and don't like a holdfast in my way. But I DO LIKE to have my tools organized close to the bench. So cabinets and drawers make sense for me.

Take some time to examine how YOU work. Do you REALLY need that open space? Or are you just keeping it open because Swartz convinced you to?
 

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#8 ·
Why and What?

Twenty-five months ago I built my Roubo workbench based on plans in C. Schwarz' first Workbenches book. I read the cautions to keep the underside of the benchtop clear of anything that would impede clamping, protruding holdfasts, etc. and finished the base with a simple shelf. I did add a small, single drawer to the underside about six months later, based on examples in Roubo illustrations, but nothing else.

About a year ago I was fortunate to come across a traditional cabinetmaker's workbench that came out of an organ factory nearby. It has a chest of drawers underneath (four wide drawers and a hinged cubby on its right side) that I use for all the things that don't fit in the Roubo's small drawer (and that's lots of my most commonly used hand tools). When I picked up the Stanley SW 750 set my problem came to a head - where to put my now complete chisel sets (Everlastings, SW 750 Re-Issues, cats and dogs, etc.)? A wall / bench rack or in a drawer? I think sometimes that a couple of low-profile drawers at the bottom of the Roubo would be a very good thing, because what's down there now isn't used at all or simply gets covered in dust and shavings. I do not want to fill the space with a cabinet; I don't work that way and don't want a kitchen cabinet with a thick top. I use my hold fasts and use the bench as a total clamping tool, so the bottom has to stay essentially clear. Isn't there middle ground here? Maybe something like this?

Handwriting Rectangle Parallel Font Pattern


It'll be an all-drawer cabinet, unless the right side is a door, like what's in the traditional bench cabinet. But a door wouldn't work in the Roubo because there is a sliding deadman on the underside of the bench that would hinder the door's ability to be used freely. But the thought is my #45 (and others) need a home / large drawer rather than the far away shelf it's sitting on now.

Sounds like I have a project on my hands.
@Stumpy - I am on board! I'll measure the space, but I'm sure there's room for a cabinet that still allows for hold fasts. I just have to come up with the right dimensions. I have Jorgensens and pipe clamps, no big Jaws.

@Dennis - You are tough on me! I'll maybe do a wall mount in the future, but the window you're seeing leaks and needs to be replaced sooner rather than later, so I'm staying away from mounting much alongside it for now. And I need better skills to pull that off well. But keep pushing me, my friend! And yes, I have both benches!
 

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#9 ·
Design Specs

Took measurements; here's what will work best (all outside dimensions of the cabinet):

33 ¼" W x 13 ¼" H x 20 ¼" D

Assuming full ¾" stock for carcase and all dividers, top drawer will be 10" x 2 ¾" (face), and larger drawers will measure 20 ¾" x 3 ¾". The door (or larger, right side drawer) is 10" x 11 ¾".

Other hard requirements:
- Has to fit between the legs of the bench (of course);
- Must be set back enough to not make contact w/ the 203 clamps in the sliding deadman; and
- Drawers must work around the deadman being in place.

Drew the cabinet face on some foam board and here it is underneath the Roubo as a one-stop mock up. It shows that the sliding deadman, pushed right, is totally clear of the other four drawers.

Wood Table Wood stain Desk Hardwood


Then I took a hold down and ran it through the benchtop. I use hold downs a lot and the cabinet can't interfere with those. And if they fit, can't imagine a clamp that would get in the way either. Pic is hard to see, kinda dark, but shows between a one and two inch clearance.

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Window Flooring


The mock-up shows drawer sizes that will handle chisels on top, other hand tools in the two drawers below, so time to press forward. Thought is to do this as a furniture carcase build as much as possible - I want to do hand-tooled dovetails for the carcase and stopped dados for the solid-wood dividers. And this may be a great place to use some of the pine 1x stock (actually 7/8") that came out of the attic of my house. I've always looked for 'the right place' to use that stuff but I've now been storing it 18 years.
 

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#10 ·
Design Specs

Took measurements; here's what will work best (all outside dimensions of the cabinet):

33 ¼" W x 13 ¼" H x 20 ¼" D

Assuming full ¾" stock for carcase and all dividers, top drawer will be 10" x 2 ¾" (face), and larger drawers will measure 20 ¾" x 3 ¾". The door (or larger, right side drawer) is 10" x 11 ¾".

Other hard requirements:
- Has to fit between the legs of the bench (of course);
- Must be set back enough to not make contact w/ the 203 clamps in the sliding deadman; and
- Drawers must work around the deadman being in place.

Drew the cabinet face on some foam board and here it is underneath the Roubo as a one-stop mock up. It shows that the sliding deadman, pushed right, is totally clear of the other four drawers.

Wood Table Wood stain Desk Hardwood


Then I took a hold down and ran it through the benchtop. I use hold downs a lot and the cabinet can't interfere with those. And if they fit, can't imagine a clamp that would get in the way either. Pic is hard to see, kinda dark, but shows between a one and two inch clearance.

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Window Flooring


The mock-up shows drawer sizes that will handle chisels on top, other hand tools in the two drawers below, so time to press forward. Thought is to do this as a furniture carcase build as much as possible - I want to do hand-tooled dovetails for the carcase and stopped dados for the solid-wood dividers. And this may be a great place to use some of the pine 1x stock (actually 7/8") that came out of the attic of my house. I've always looked for 'the right place' to use that stuff but I've now been storing it 18 years.
looking goood sofare , not a bad idea to make it half high as you do
geting most from both world

take care
Dennis
 

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#12 ·
Materials

Depth of cabinet is figured at 20¼", meaning that the full top requires a rough panel measuring 33Wx20D. Sides are only 13 ¼" high, so two of them end to end require a rough panel that is 27Wx20D. SO, I need 40 (plus or minus) inches of good material at least 33" along the grain. Almost four foot. And that doesn't address the bottom of the carcase or the solid wood interior dividers (four of them) I'd like to have in the finished cabinet.

The material I've decided to use should at least handle the sides and top, and it comes from a walnut extension / drop-leaf monstrosity of a table my son bid on and won at a recent consignment auction we went to. Long story short, he had my bid number and bought this thing for a buck. "You always say you can use good wood, and this one has a lot of it!" Ah, so true…

Lest anyone think I'm tossing aside a piece of history in this mad pursuit of shop furniture, a few words on the table. It… is… crap. Aprons mortised into the legs, but with a top fastened to the aprons from the outside, using slotted screws seated in holes made with a spade bit. Every board on the top is cupped, glue joints open or failed, and the extension mechanism has failed completely. Really, the only reason it was sold as a standing piece at all is because someone had run a couple of two inch drywall screws through the top, holding everything together.

What to salvage? All top pieces, aprons and legs.

Composite material Gas Wood Building Funeral


Wood Floor Table Flooring Gas


Also salvaged the wooden drop leaf supports. These appear to be hand cut; here are pictures of the supports and mortised hinges of the drop-leaf. I'll keep the supports for later use (maybe?)

Wood Grey Rectangle Road surface Tints and shades

Wood Floor Wood stain Drawer Hardwood

Wood Road surface Rectangle Flooring Pattern


And here's a pic of the rough pine I'll have to use for the base of the carcase as well as for each of the inside partitions. I plan on edging them in walnut on the show side of the cabinet.

Wood Natural material Composite material Flooring Tints and shades


My concern is that a carcase made from this reworked walnut may end up being less than ¾" thick. How significant is that in a cabinet that won't ever be moved while full? Not very, I guess. Also, the inside faces of the walnut, if irregular, will show through at the dovetail joinery. It is shop furniture, though, so I'm not going to go nuts worrying about interior surfaces.

Knobs / pulls will have to be low-profile, and I don't have stuff for the interior drawer assemblies set aside yet, but those things don't have to be decided right now. I've got panels to make and lots of dovetails between me and that (finishing) stage, so off to stock prep!
 

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#13 ·
Materials

Depth of cabinet is figured at 20¼", meaning that the full top requires a rough panel measuring 33Wx20D. Sides are only 13 ¼" high, so two of them end to end require a rough panel that is 27Wx20D. SO, I need 40 (plus or minus) inches of good material at least 33" along the grain. Almost four foot. And that doesn't address the bottom of the carcase or the solid wood interior dividers (four of them) I'd like to have in the finished cabinet.

The material I've decided to use should at least handle the sides and top, and it comes from a walnut extension / drop-leaf monstrosity of a table my son bid on and won at a recent consignment auction we went to. Long story short, he had my bid number and bought this thing for a buck. "You always say you can use good wood, and this one has a lot of it!" Ah, so true…

Lest anyone think I'm tossing aside a piece of history in this mad pursuit of shop furniture, a few words on the table. It… is… crap. Aprons mortised into the legs, but with a top fastened to the aprons from the outside, using slotted screws seated in holes made with a spade bit. Every board on the top is cupped, glue joints open or failed, and the extension mechanism has failed completely. Really, the only reason it was sold as a standing piece at all is because someone had run a couple of two inch drywall screws through the top, holding everything together.

What to salvage? All top pieces, aprons and legs.

Composite material Gas Wood Building Funeral


Wood Floor Table Flooring Gas


Also salvaged the wooden drop leaf supports. These appear to be hand cut; here are pictures of the supports and mortised hinges of the drop-leaf. I'll keep the supports for later use (maybe?)

Wood Grey Rectangle Road surface Tints and shades

Wood Floor Wood stain Drawer Hardwood

Wood Road surface Rectangle Flooring Pattern


And here's a pic of the rough pine I'll have to use for the base of the carcase as well as for each of the inside partitions. I plan on edging them in walnut on the show side of the cabinet.

Wood Natural material Composite material Flooring Tints and shades


My concern is that a carcase made from this reworked walnut may end up being less than ¾" thick. How significant is that in a cabinet that won't ever be moved while full? Not very, I guess. Also, the inside faces of the walnut, if irregular, will show through at the dovetail joinery. It is shop furniture, though, so I'm not going to go nuts worrying about interior surfaces.

Knobs / pulls will have to be low-profile, and I don't have stuff for the interior drawer assemblies set aside yet, but those things don't have to be decided right now. I've got panels to make and lots of dovetails between me and that (finishing) stage, so off to stock prep!
nice start on the cabinet :)
and I don´t think you have to worry too much about the thickness of the boards
and it will still gain a tremmendus mass to your bench speciel when your tools have landed

looking forward to the next one

take care
Dennis
 

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#15 ·
Resurfacing Material

With plan and materials in hand it's time to build panels that will become the Roubo Cabinet (with pictures!) Not for the faint at heart, this entry contains extensive hand plane use that many would consider exhausting and (essentially) pointless in the modern workshop. I, of course, see things differently.

Up to this point, I'd not had a project that required solid wood panels that had to be joined / assembled to this extent. So 'gluing up panels' had meant rail and style stuff, not what I'd need for the Roubo Cabinet. While I have a 'traditional' bench in the shop with shoulder vise and square dogs that would do the job of holding stuff for work on their faces, I really prefer the Roubo. But with all the directional changes I'd have to do to work up these cupped boards, hold fasts just didn't excite me much. So this Resurfacing section actually will begin with a workbench modification.

Short and sweet, I bought a Veritas bench pup some time ago but hadn't cut a line of holes along the bench that would allow me to use it for face work. Why? Really because I'm essentially a chicken when it comes to modifying my bench in such a permanent fashion. Which is also why I have a vintage Craftsman 10" face vise on hand that I'm 'supposed to' add to the right end of the Roubo for essentially the same purpose. That would take more cutting than I was prepared to do, hence the Veritas mod. Pictures tell the story: cutting the row of holes (the first two spaced apart from the rest to avoid the right leg) went smoothly

Saw Wood Tool Machine tool Gas


except for the last one - I hit a cut nail that had to be extracted - a leftover from the bench's former life as a main entrance threshold (see Roubo Bench in my Projects area).

Table Wood Hardwood Circle Nail


With all holes cut, I took my router out of storage and 'coved' a recess around each hole to minimize splitting as pups / dogs / hold downs are repeatedly pulled out, and the mod was complete!

Wood Table Wood stain Workbench Hardwood


Whew. Glad that's over. Finally a major mod to the bench that just may prevent me from adding any kind of wagon or end vise to the bench. Let's see how it works in use and go from there.

With the bench mod complete, work began on the faces of the walnut being repurposed from the $1.00 table. I got a serious workout! Applied an edge bevel to each to prevent blow out

Gesture Wood Automotive tire Automotive exterior Bumper


then worked one face on each of the three wider table top boards to get a nice surface.

Wood Bumper Hand tool Gas Metal


Wood Gas Art Road surface Metal


Brown Wood Table Wood stain Plank


Brown Wood Flooring Wood stain Hardwood


Used the Stanley #5C for 90% of the straight-across and diagonals work. Pulled the #7 into service 'jointing the faces of the boards, then tried out the #5 ½ a bit for a combination smoothing / jointing exercise.

Wood Metal Idiophone Natural material Hardwood


I think I'll camber that #5 ½ iron and set the frog back to put it in between my heavily cambered T11 #5 and the straight-bladed #5C.

Work holding with the bench pup was outstanding! I did have to adjust my planing movements to avoid the top of the pup but that ain't so bad. Planing at a skew every once in awhile is a good thing, and if push came to shove I could adjust the board(s) to allow a straight run if needed. With the three 'big boards' faced, I moved on to the pine boards that are needed for the bottom of the cabinet. I'll edge them in walnut at glue-up for an optimal front view. Gotta use pine in these places because there's just not enough walnut to go 'round.

Pictures of the pine facing workout are pretty interesting. Really some butt-ugly stuff at the start, but looks pretty good when all is said and done. And surfaces on either side don't have to be perfect with the pine in that they're either inside the cabinet or underneath it.

Wood Auto part Bumper Hardwood Metal


Wood Flooring Hardwood Gas Automotive exterior


Natural material Wood Composite material Rectangle Gas


Wood Composite material Gas Rectangle Metal


Wood Wood stain Natural material Hardwood Plywood


Wood Table Flooring Hardwood Wood stain


All faced board were run through the thickness planer to remove (most of) the bow on the backsides and get a consistent (board-to-board) thickness. Here's a pic of the cleaned up walnut, ready for jointing and glue-up into panels for the top and sides. The other pieces, at the forefront, will be the faces of the four main drawers. Nothing set aside for the 'big drawer' yet…

Table Wood Rectangle Outdoor bench Wood stain


Edging of the pine will require some handwork with a smoother to get a consistent thickness in that these pieces were run through the planer in a separate run. Build is solidly underway!
 

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#16 ·
Resurfacing Material

With plan and materials in hand it's time to build panels that will become the Roubo Cabinet (with pictures!) Not for the faint at heart, this entry contains extensive hand plane use that many would consider exhausting and (essentially) pointless in the modern workshop. I, of course, see things differently.

Up to this point, I'd not had a project that required solid wood panels that had to be joined / assembled to this extent. So 'gluing up panels' had meant rail and style stuff, not what I'd need for the Roubo Cabinet. While I have a 'traditional' bench in the shop with shoulder vise and square dogs that would do the job of holding stuff for work on their faces, I really prefer the Roubo. But with all the directional changes I'd have to do to work up these cupped boards, hold fasts just didn't excite me much. So this Resurfacing section actually will begin with a workbench modification.

Short and sweet, I bought a Veritas bench pup some time ago but hadn't cut a line of holes along the bench that would allow me to use it for face work. Why? Really because I'm essentially a chicken when it comes to modifying my bench in such a permanent fashion. Which is also why I have a vintage Craftsman 10" face vise on hand that I'm 'supposed to' add to the right end of the Roubo for essentially the same purpose. That would take more cutting than I was prepared to do, hence the Veritas mod. Pictures tell the story: cutting the row of holes (the first two spaced apart from the rest to avoid the right leg) went smoothly

Saw Wood Tool Machine tool Gas


except for the last one - I hit a cut nail that had to be extracted - a leftover from the bench's former life as a main entrance threshold (see Roubo Bench in my Projects area).

Table Wood Hardwood Circle Nail


With all holes cut, I took my router out of storage and 'coved' a recess around each hole to minimize splitting as pups / dogs / hold downs are repeatedly pulled out, and the mod was complete!

Wood Table Wood stain Workbench Hardwood


Whew. Glad that's over. Finally a major mod to the bench that just may prevent me from adding any kind of wagon or end vise to the bench. Let's see how it works in use and go from there.

With the bench mod complete, work began on the faces of the walnut being repurposed from the $1.00 table. I got a serious workout! Applied an edge bevel to each to prevent blow out

Gesture Wood Automotive tire Automotive exterior Bumper


then worked one face on each of the three wider table top boards to get a nice surface.

Wood Bumper Hand tool Gas Metal


Wood Gas Art Road surface Metal


Brown Wood Table Wood stain Plank


Brown Wood Flooring Wood stain Hardwood


Used the Stanley #5C for 90% of the straight-across and diagonals work. Pulled the #7 into service 'jointing the faces of the boards, then tried out the #5 ½ a bit for a combination smoothing / jointing exercise.

Wood Metal Idiophone Natural material Hardwood


I think I'll camber that #5 ½ iron and set the frog back to put it in between my heavily cambered T11 #5 and the straight-bladed #5C.

Work holding with the bench pup was outstanding! I did have to adjust my planing movements to avoid the top of the pup but that ain't so bad. Planing at a skew every once in awhile is a good thing, and if push came to shove I could adjust the board(s) to allow a straight run if needed. With the three 'big boards' faced, I moved on to the pine boards that are needed for the bottom of the cabinet. I'll edge them in walnut at glue-up for an optimal front view. Gotta use pine in these places because there's just not enough walnut to go 'round.

Pictures of the pine facing workout are pretty interesting. Really some butt-ugly stuff at the start, but looks pretty good when all is said and done. And surfaces on either side don't have to be perfect with the pine in that they're either inside the cabinet or underneath it.

Wood Auto part Bumper Hardwood Metal


Wood Flooring Hardwood Gas Automotive exterior


Natural material Wood Composite material Rectangle Gas


Wood Composite material Gas Rectangle Metal


Wood Wood stain Natural material Hardwood Plywood


Wood Table Flooring Hardwood Wood stain


All faced board were run through the thickness planer to remove (most of) the bow on the backsides and get a consistent (board-to-board) thickness. Here's a pic of the cleaned up walnut, ready for jointing and glue-up into panels for the top and sides. The other pieces, at the forefront, will be the faces of the four main drawers. Nothing set aside for the 'big drawer' yet…

Table Wood Rectangle Outdoor bench Wood stain


Edging of the pine will require some handwork with a smoother to get a consistent thickness in that these pieces were run through the planer in a separate run. Build is solidly underway!
Good stuff and very well written. Those planes will give you a workout. Who needs a gym?
I had damaged my 3/4 bit the exact same way adding holes to my bench. But that allowed me to upgrade my bit to a better one.
I do love this style bench Smitty;) Keep up the good work.
 

Attachments

#20 ·
Panel Glue-Ups

Laid out the pieces to get panels that will be the top and two sides of the cabinet / carcase, paying some attention to grain pattern as well as grain direction, to get pieces that would be visually appealing and that would (hopefully) smooth well at final finish. Here's the walnut all laid out:

Wood Flooring Wood stain Floor Hardwood


I'm gluing up a total of four total panels - two walnut and two pine. Not rocket science - apply glue to both edges:

Wood Flooring Hardwood Wood stain Gas


Brush out, then squeeze. Walnuts were first, and one of those needed some vertical clamping to keep it from bowing front to back. The other did well without help.

Wood Flooring Gas Hardwood Musical instrument accessory


Wood Gas Flooring Machine tool Hardwood


I did do a fifth assembly the day before the panel work with all the walnut cut-offs; this picture shows those smaller widths that were jointed w/ the #8 and glued to make bulk edging material for the pine partitions; easier to work with cuts to width than narrower pieces that aren't true. I know, I'm still having a hard time throwing anything away from this old table…

Wood Table Machine tool Gas Hardwood


Here's one of the pine panels with walnut edge band, glued up on Panel Day:

Wood Table Hardwood Workbench Machine tool


After sitting overnight, the clamps were removed and excess glue was basically scraped off by holding a 1" chisel nearly flat against the joint and running it front to back. Once all were out of the clamps, I did some additional smoothing across the larger faces to bring some inconsistencies under control. The walnut went fine.

Table Wood Rectangle Floor Flooring


Wood Flooring Road surface Floor Hardwood


The pine smoothing work was more interesting. Like the backs of the walnut, I ran the pine boards through the power planer to get to consistent thickness; clearly the blades need some sharpening. Here are views of the pine being worked, to include a shot of "specks" that were then smoothed out with a 4 ½. All then looked great.

Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain Hardwood

Wood Office ruler Rectangle Table Wood stain

Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain Hardwood


Completed panels appear to be flat and true, so this part of the build is now 'in the can.' Four panels don't a cabinet make, of course… many hours of shop time so far and all I have to show my wife are some big boards.

I've starting 'sticking' my raw materials at this point. It's very, very rainy this spring and I would hate for these panels to start going all weird on me. That, and no matter where I place them they're in the way. So it's over to the assy bench (now cleared of all other interests) for these panels until they get dimensioned prior to joinery work.
 

Attachments

#21 ·
Panel Glue-Ups

Laid out the pieces to get panels that will be the top and two sides of the cabinet / carcase, paying some attention to grain pattern as well as grain direction, to get pieces that would be visually appealing and that would (hopefully) smooth well at final finish. Here's the walnut all laid out:

Wood Flooring Wood stain Floor Hardwood


I'm gluing up a total of four total panels - two walnut and two pine. Not rocket science - apply glue to both edges:

Wood Flooring Hardwood Wood stain Gas


Brush out, then squeeze. Walnuts were first, and one of those needed some vertical clamping to keep it from bowing front to back. The other did well without help.

Wood Flooring Gas Hardwood Musical instrument accessory


Wood Gas Flooring Machine tool Hardwood


I did do a fifth assembly the day before the panel work with all the walnut cut-offs; this picture shows those smaller widths that were jointed w/ the #8 and glued to make bulk edging material for the pine partitions; easier to work with cuts to width than narrower pieces that aren't true. I know, I'm still having a hard time throwing anything away from this old table…

Wood Table Machine tool Gas Hardwood


Here's one of the pine panels with walnut edge band, glued up on Panel Day:

Wood Table Hardwood Workbench Machine tool


After sitting overnight, the clamps were removed and excess glue was basically scraped off by holding a 1" chisel nearly flat against the joint and running it front to back. Once all were out of the clamps, I did some additional smoothing across the larger faces to bring some inconsistencies under control. The walnut went fine.

Table Wood Rectangle Floor Flooring


Wood Flooring Road surface Floor Hardwood


The pine smoothing work was more interesting. Like the backs of the walnut, I ran the pine boards through the power planer to get to consistent thickness; clearly the blades need some sharpening. Here are views of the pine being worked, to include a shot of "specks" that were then smoothed out with a 4 ½. All then looked great.

Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain Hardwood

Wood Office ruler Rectangle Table Wood stain

Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain Hardwood


Completed panels appear to be flat and true, so this part of the build is now 'in the can.' Four panels don't a cabinet make, of course… many hours of shop time so far and all I have to show my wife are some big boards.

I've starting 'sticking' my raw materials at this point. It's very, very rainy this spring and I would hate for these panels to start going all weird on me. That, and no matter where I place them they're in the way. So it's over to the assy bench (now cleared of all other interests) for these panels until they get dimensioned prior to joinery work.
Great glue up Smitty, I was given a large load of hard wood and was faced with storage also. I built a rack overhead and at the height it is the checking will not be a severe.
Wood Beam Floor Hardwood Wood stain


Wood Building material Beam Wood stain Hardwood


Oh some of your picks are missing. Might wana check it out.
 

Attachments

#31 ·
Cutting to Size

I don't always subscribe to 'measure twice, cut once' because the stuff I build isn't set in stone; designing around mistakes, when they happen, isn't too difficult, typically. The foam board mock up I did for this cabinet, for example, represents a high-water mark of up-front design work for shop furniture! With more complex builds, Sketch Up may be something I need to learn. But I digress…

After the many hours of work required simply to get panels made to work with (example of one of the walnut panels here):

Table Wood Rectangle Floor Flooring


I approached cutting with some concern. After all, it's not like I can create more raw material and recover without issue; the table parts are pretty much all used up. The donor table has been disassembled and processed, along with some old pine, into a total of four panels that should just be enough material to build this tool cabinet. Cutting was going to be via handsaw, free-hand on the table saw, or via the DeWalt RAS. I chose the RAS for ripping and cross-cutting. I pulled back the carriage and set the width of cut needed for the top and sides panels, then ran each of them through.

Air gun Trigger Wood Shotgun Automotive tire


The pine (bottom and partition) panels) were then cut using the same blade setting. Cuts completed without issue / couldn't be more pleased. I should be able to get all of the four interior drawer partitions: 1) out of a cut-off from the bottom panel; and 2) from cuts of the second large pine panel. Won't have much extra material when all is said and done.

Wood Table Shelving Wood stain Hardwood


Next step is to start putting these pieces together with dovetails on the corners and stopped dados at the ends of each partition. Knowing there's no room for error adds just a little pucker, not?
 

Attachments

#32 ·
Cutting to Size

I don't always subscribe to 'measure twice, cut once' because the stuff I build isn't set in stone; designing around mistakes, when they happen, isn't too difficult, typically. The foam board mock up I did for this cabinet, for example, represents a high-water mark of up-front design work for shop furniture! With more complex builds, Sketch Up may be something I need to learn. But I digress…

After the many hours of work required simply to get panels made to work with (example of one of the walnut panels here):

Table Wood Rectangle Floor Flooring


I approached cutting with some concern. After all, it's not like I can create more raw material and recover without issue; the table parts are pretty much all used up. The donor table has been disassembled and processed, along with some old pine, into a total of four panels that should just be enough material to build this tool cabinet. Cutting was going to be via handsaw, free-hand on the table saw, or via the DeWalt RAS. I chose the RAS for ripping and cross-cutting. I pulled back the carriage and set the width of cut needed for the top and sides panels, then ran each of them through.

Air gun Trigger Wood Shotgun Automotive tire


The pine (bottom and partition) panels) were then cut using the same blade setting. Cuts completed without issue / couldn't be more pleased. I should be able to get all of the four interior drawer partitions: 1) out of a cut-off from the bottom panel; and 2) from cuts of the second large pine panel. Won't have much extra material when all is said and done.

Wood Table Shelving Wood stain Hardwood


Next step is to start putting these pieces together with dovetails on the corners and stopped dados at the ends of each partition. Knowing there's no room for error adds just a little pucker, not?
Looking very nice Smitty. I noticed your collection of hand saws. Are you a hybrid woodworker? Keep the blog going I am interested in the outcome;)
 

Attachments

#34 ·
Mitered Dovetails

We are to the point, fellow woodworkers, that progress is being made that directly results in something that resembles an actual cabinet. So if you've followed along up to this point waiting for 'real work' to take place, yawning with each installment that detailed build plans (boring!), material prep (double boring!) and panel glue-ups (A blog entry on gluing panels? Are you kidding me??), this just may be the pay-off you've been waiting for. Of course, maybe not. But I digress, as usual…

Let's begin the build of this carcase by laying out the dovetail spacing on the walnut side panels. Both panels will be cut at the same time.

Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood Gas

Wood Automotive exterior Composite material Tints and shades Hardwood


And here's proof of said cutting, because if there aren't pictures, it must not have happened:

Wood Automotive tire Foot Musical instrument Human leg

Wood Gas Hardwood Composite material Wood stain

Countertop Wood Wood stain Flooring Kitchen


I then removed most of the waste with a coping saw before clamping the panels to the bench for some chisel work.

Wood Flooring Table Hardwood Engineering

Wood Machine tool Gas Hardwood Flooring

Wood Gesture Flooring Wood stain Floor

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Flooring Composite material


Each of the panels of the carcase will be joined at the corners using mitered dovetails. I blogged about this previously, and the method used for this build evolved from the three practice rounds (and comments) done with scrap stock as proof of concept. The challenge then was accurately marking mitered half-tails, if you recall…

To work the mitered tails, each panel has to be clamped on it's edge using the flush face of the bench as a clamping surface. For the carcase top, this meant using the leg vise on one end and a leg-based hold down on the other end. The sliding deadman is at the end as well, providing additional backing for the panel. What an elegant solution - I love this bench…

Wood Automotive exterior Bumper Gas Hardwood


And back to the cutting. Begin by marking the miter on the edge of the board with a knife using a small (mine is a 6") combination square as a guide. Then chisel out a small trough for the dovetail saw to fit into, on the waste side of the line, because I want a crisp finish on this show joint.

Wood Finger Natural material Wood stain Hardwood


I don't have a picture of the diagonal cut in action, but it did happen because the vertical cut that removes the miter waste, along with chisel trimming of the miter, are each shown in the following.

Wood Floor Wood stain Hardwood Gas

Wood Floor Flooring Wood stain Guitar


Once the pin waste is chopped out and the first jointed end of this inaugural side panel of the carcase took final form, it was time to mark the pin board to include miters. This is where I came up with a trick to transfer lines that results in good miters.

Position the tail board as normal. See the gaps at each end between the half tails and pin board? Those gaps pose a problem for line transfer in the traditional sense; hard to trace where there is no direct contact.

Wood Hardwood Composite material Tints and shades Beam


So I made a short mark at the base of the tail, then positioned the combination square on top of the tail board for a perpendicular mark where the mitered tail is hovering. You can see the small mark:

Ruler Office ruler Wood Tool Tape measure


When the tail board is pulled, simply connect the lines to get a complete cutline for the pin miter…

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Tints and shades Tool


Cut the pin board in the now-familiar sequence:

Wood Floor Wood stain Font Road surface

Wood Building Hardwood Beam Roof

Musical instrument Wood Musical instrument accessory Gas Keyboard

Wood Finger Rectangle Tints and shades Hardwood

Wood Tool Wood stain Rectangle Hardwood


Now for the moment of truth. The first jointed corner of the cabinet is ready for a test fit. Hours invested up to this point, so it's important that each of these joints goes well. Really no margin for error… I clamped the pin board to the face of the bench and readied the tail board support system (in this case, a #4 ½ wide smooth plane):

Wood Hardwood Gas Flooring Plywood


Then laid it into place
Water Wood Composite material Gas Hardwood


and tapped it down.
Wood Gas Hardwood Composite material Flooring


Does it fit? You be the judge, but here's hint: I'm tickled to death!

Wood Wood stain Natural material Plank Flooring


Wood Wood stain Floor Flooring Hardwood


Wood Wood stain Hardwood Plank Workbench


Wood Hardwood Gas Wood stain Machine


Here's where things move very quickly on the web but in reality involved many, many hours of sawing and chopping. The extra-fine news was that I've become very familiar with the new #750 Stanley SW chisels; they were used throughout this part of the build, worked great and held a single, good edge without rehoning. Glad I finally have a decent (and complete) set of chisels to work with (see my review in LJs if you'd like to read more). Anyway, I completed the pin and tail cuts on the other side panel then completed tail cuts to each side panel to match them up with the walnut-edged pine base panel. Here's that panel clamped up first for pin cuts then for chopping.

Wood Hardwood Wood stain Gas Natural material

Wood Hardwood Gas Lumber Automotive exterior


This panel fit together with the sides wonderfully, and the contrasting woods really looks cool.
Building Wood Hardwood Wood stain Lumber


And so now I have a four sided box! Hooray!

Wood Table Shelving Rectangle Wood stain

Wood Table Wood stain Hardwood Shelving


Didn't count how many times (already) these panels have been put together then taken apart, but with the partitions to cut and join to the carcase via stopped dados, there are many more dry fits in my future. But I have a four-sided box!
 

Attachments

#35 ·
Mitered Dovetails

We are to the point, fellow woodworkers, that progress is being made that directly results in something that resembles an actual cabinet. So if you've followed along up to this point waiting for 'real work' to take place, yawning with each installment that detailed build plans (boring!), material prep (double boring!) and panel glue-ups (A blog entry on gluing panels? Are you kidding me??), this just may be the pay-off you've been waiting for. Of course, maybe not. But I digress, as usual…

Let's begin the build of this carcase by laying out the dovetail spacing on the walnut side panels. Both panels will be cut at the same time.

Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood Gas

Wood Automotive exterior Composite material Tints and shades Hardwood


And here's proof of said cutting, because if there aren't pictures, it must not have happened:

Wood Automotive tire Foot Musical instrument Human leg

Wood Gas Hardwood Composite material Wood stain

Countertop Wood Wood stain Flooring Kitchen


I then removed most of the waste with a coping saw before clamping the panels to the bench for some chisel work.

Wood Flooring Table Hardwood Engineering

Wood Machine tool Gas Hardwood Flooring

Wood Gesture Flooring Wood stain Floor

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Flooring Composite material


Each of the panels of the carcase will be joined at the corners using mitered dovetails. I blogged about this previously, and the method used for this build evolved from the three practice rounds (and comments) done with scrap stock as proof of concept. The challenge then was accurately marking mitered half-tails, if you recall…

To work the mitered tails, each panel has to be clamped on it's edge using the flush face of the bench as a clamping surface. For the carcase top, this meant using the leg vise on one end and a leg-based hold down on the other end. The sliding deadman is at the end as well, providing additional backing for the panel. What an elegant solution - I love this bench…

Wood Automotive exterior Bumper Gas Hardwood


And back to the cutting. Begin by marking the miter on the edge of the board with a knife using a small (mine is a 6") combination square as a guide. Then chisel out a small trough for the dovetail saw to fit into, on the waste side of the line, because I want a crisp finish on this show joint.

Wood Finger Natural material Wood stain Hardwood


I don't have a picture of the diagonal cut in action, but it did happen because the vertical cut that removes the miter waste, along with chisel trimming of the miter, are each shown in the following.

Wood Floor Wood stain Hardwood Gas

Wood Floor Flooring Wood stain Guitar


Once the pin waste is chopped out and the first jointed end of this inaugural side panel of the carcase took final form, it was time to mark the pin board to include miters. This is where I came up with a trick to transfer lines that results in good miters.

Position the tail board as normal. See the gaps at each end between the half tails and pin board? Those gaps pose a problem for line transfer in the traditional sense; hard to trace where there is no direct contact.

Wood Hardwood Composite material Tints and shades Beam


So I made a short mark at the base of the tail, then positioned the combination square on top of the tail board for a perpendicular mark where the mitered tail is hovering. You can see the small mark:

Ruler Office ruler Wood Tool Tape measure


When the tail board is pulled, simply connect the lines to get a complete cutline for the pin miter…

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Tints and shades Tool


Cut the pin board in the now-familiar sequence:

Wood Floor Wood stain Font Road surface

Wood Building Hardwood Beam Roof

Musical instrument Wood Musical instrument accessory Gas Keyboard

Wood Finger Rectangle Tints and shades Hardwood

Wood Tool Wood stain Rectangle Hardwood


Now for the moment of truth. The first jointed corner of the cabinet is ready for a test fit. Hours invested up to this point, so it's important that each of these joints goes well. Really no margin for error… I clamped the pin board to the face of the bench and readied the tail board support system (in this case, a #4 ½ wide smooth plane):

Wood Hardwood Gas Flooring Plywood


Then laid it into place
Water Wood Composite material Gas Hardwood


and tapped it down.
Wood Gas Hardwood Composite material Flooring


Does it fit? You be the judge, but here's hint: I'm tickled to death!

Wood Wood stain Natural material Plank Flooring


Wood Wood stain Floor Flooring Hardwood


Wood Wood stain Hardwood Plank Workbench


Wood Hardwood Gas Wood stain Machine


Here's where things move very quickly on the web but in reality involved many, many hours of sawing and chopping. The extra-fine news was that I've become very familiar with the new #750 Stanley SW chisels; they were used throughout this part of the build, worked great and held a single, good edge without rehoning. Glad I finally have a decent (and complete) set of chisels to work with (see my review in LJs if you'd like to read more). Anyway, I completed the pin and tail cuts on the other side panel then completed tail cuts to each side panel to match them up with the walnut-edged pine base panel. Here's that panel clamped up first for pin cuts then for chopping.

Wood Hardwood Wood stain Gas Natural material

Wood Hardwood Gas Lumber Automotive exterior


This panel fit together with the sides wonderfully, and the contrasting woods really looks cool.
Building Wood Hardwood Wood stain Lumber


And so now I have a four sided box! Hooray!

Wood Table Shelving Rectangle Wood stain

Wood Table Wood stain Hardwood Shelving


Didn't count how many times (already) these panels have been put together then taken apart, but with the partitions to cut and join to the carcase via stopped dados, there are many more dry fits in my future. But I have a four-sided box!
That's a lot of dovetailing…Nice work! I can't wait to get back in my shop and make some sawdust.
 

Attachments

#47 ·
Dados and Partitions

I've got a carcase that needs to be divided into sections to house five drawers for hand tools at the Roubo. As is usually the case with my shop work, there are more efficient ways to put drawers in cabinets than the methods I've chosen. Part of the answer to that is this Cabinet will be matched up to a bench that, as a pair of shop tools, will be productive way beyond my time with both of them. The balance falls into the mantra 'practice with a purpose.' I build things for the shop using tools and joinery I'd like to use in the future on heirloom furniture for my kids. Heady stuff, right? So enough of that - on to the Update!

The first pair of dados will carry the main vertical partition; the one that defines and separates The Large Drawer from the three rows of drawers elsewhere on the cabinet's face. And the first dado was cut by clamping down a stop across the top panel and cutting a pair of boundary lines with my 14" tenon saw for routing. A little cutting w/ a chisel, then the Stanley "Old Woman's Tooth" kicked in.





That experience, ie: clamping and cutting alongside a stop to an imprecise depth, didn't excite me much; that I had to chop alongside the saw lines was too much work and I used that method exactly one time. From that point it was 'strike a deep line w/ an Exacto knife, then chop (deepen) those etched lines with a chisel.' If I had the right sized #39 skew-angle dado plane, with sharp cutter and spurs, that'd be the dandy tool to use here. But, I don't. sigh

Either way, with a depth that defined a nice track for the Stanley #71 router, there was a method for cutting all of the dado cuts needed in the cabinet (eight of them for those keeping score at home). The first picture shows the chopping being done w/ a vintage Everlasting; I did that to see if I missed the feel of hitting steel vs. the wood on wood of the 750 socket chisels. Wood won…








And a couple more routing pictures, with nice clean dados! Process was pretty successful after several rounds of it.



On the router, tried the v-blade first but went with the 3/8" (or 1/2"?) square blade after some fine honing on the 1200 diamond stone. With both dados cut (top and bottom panels), I re-assembled the carcase to mark and then cut a piece of partition panel to length and checked it for square.




Slid panel into carcase, and fit was snug (but not too much so). With partition in place, time to mark it at the top and bottom for a stopped (stepped) cut with an Exacto knife.



To cut each of these "step cuts" at either end of all four partitions, follow the pics below. With the face of the to-length partition etched, I clamped the partition into the bench for easy edge work



and chiseled (flicked, actually) the waste so the gents dovetail saw would have a nice edge to follow.


Depth was marked w/ the 6" combination square,


and cuts were made.



First panel / partition in, with pics of 'step cuts' revealed at the top and bottom.



Left-hand side panel needed a couple of dado cuts to handle the three rows of drawers (same as the new vertical partition). So I marked it,


scored the lines,


set those lines a little deeper with chisel and then did the router thing.



I did have a couple of partitions that were too tight for my liking (very hard to slide in and out - I was afraid they'd split!). I used a block plane and some wax to ease things along. Note that I didn't apply wax to the front ends of any of the panels; the intent is to apply glue at these (dado-housed) leading ends to keep the partitions in place while allowing the rest of the panel to float (expand / contract) over time, uninhibited.



And now, once again, it's time to leverage the power of the web and move this project forward at a rate that simply doesn't convey the amount of effort required to actually get stuff done.
Each partition was cut to length, notched and fitted into a carcase that was 'rough clamped' to ensure sizing would indeed fit within the dimensions of a cabinet that is glued up and clamped tight. Yes, it was a bear doing all the inserts and re-inserts, but the end result is worth all of the effort.




The last pic in this chapter shows the in-work cabinet set on top of the bench that will house it when all is said and done. Note all of the clutter underneath… Ah, I can't wait to get that space moved into the Productive column. Soon, I hope.



Next steps include fabricating a back panel as well as a frame and panel drawer front for The Big Drawer, and these will be unique challenges. Material selection is now a critical issue in that the donor table has little to offer in the way of quality pieces to be re-purposed. Especially for the back panel. I don't want to depart from the walnut theme of this piece, so I'll have to scrounge the woodpile for decent (not prime) material good for nothing but the back of a carcase. Additionally, I'd like the back panel to be floating; no metal fasteners (nails, brads, screws, etc) at all. Not that I intend to drag this thing through airport screening, but I want it so that if I wanted to… The mitered dovetails should enable me to cut a fully hidden dado if I want to go with a tongue and groove fit, but man that certainly complicates glue-up because the panel will have to be in place while the sides are drawn in tight at the dovetails. Yuck. With glue that is drying in place. Double Yuck. And the Big Drawer front will have a pull on its face, so it can't be a thin panel. Triple Yuck! Oh, isn't it fun to design on the fly? Make no mistake, it may seem like this is all thought out, but it's an illusion. If I waited for all planning to be complete before cutting wood, nothing would get done. That would equal No Fun…

Thanks for reading!

EDIT: I have a combination of flickr and photo(scum)bucket images in this post. This will be addressed soon. Smitty
 
#48 ·
All - Had extreme difficulty with Photobucket earlier this evening while trying to post this blog entry - if you received multiple notices of an update but couldn't find the entry, sorry, but I deleted it until there was time to correct it by moving pics to Flickr. Not sure I like the photo sizes that are the defaults above, but I don't know how to change them. Ah, isn't technology grand???

And this Comment gets me to 100 posts in 54 days - Huzzah!
 
#55 ·
Framed Backpanel

I have a fully joined carcase with partitions for five drawers, but it's only got two sides, a top and a bottom. ie: it needs a backside! Options I've thought about include a series of half-lap boards nailed into a rabbet at all four edges, and a floating frame and panel. Because one of these is necessarily more difficult to do than the other, you can likely guess which one I've chosen…

I started work with material selection. For the frame I've used a pretty non-descript (re: crappy) piece of walnut from inventory; it's reasonably flat and true, with the right thickness, but has sapwood and knots and swirls a-plenty. So, a frugal choice that is suitable for the back of a shop cabinet. Dimensioned length and width of frame per the assembled (but not glued) caracase. Individual rail and stile widths dictated by the material: maxed out at 3" by cutting out knots and some of the barker sapwood. Board was ripped twice, edges were jointed:







Dimensioned length and width of frame per the assembled (but not glued) caracase.


Individual rail and stile widths dictated by the material: maxed out at 3" by cutting out knots and some of the barker sapwood. With that much layout completed, to include some slop for future joinery, I moved on to cutting the tongues and grooves with the Stanley #48 T&G plane, including all four ends of the rail pieces. If you haven't had a chance to use a #48, it's a blast. I laughed out loud the first time I cut with this tool; I've never had that kind of reaction to a power tool, and I'd say the #48 was likely the single tool that sealed the hand tool deal with me. Anyway, I marked the faces of all boards to ensure I attacked each with the plane oriented correctly; the #48 is optimized to center on 7/8" and my material is not (exactly) that (and I don't really care that it isn't). So setting faces and working the material consistently, to preserve the show face, is important with the #48.


Here are shots of the groove cuts on the rails.






I applied mineral spirits to the end grain and waxed the plane a few times to help things along / get the best results. Also note the clamped 'sacrificial' cut-off that prevents severe end grain blow out when pulling this maneuver.






For the inset panel 'filler' material, I opted for what was available over making something custom. Plucked some salvaged, beaded poplar type stuff from inventory and cut several pieces to length on the RAS.




Then took passes at the table saw to get ends "thicknessed" to match the frame grooves.




Centered the whole pieces to get consistent 'partials' measurement at each end with a pair of dividers. Marked the cut and used a gents dovetail saw to rip it and get each of the two partial end from one board. Nice it worked out that way / saves some material. Used the gents because it's the thinnest kerf I have. Some thinning on the ends of the bead stock was needed get all things to fit not-too-snug, and that was done w/ a #93 shoulder plane. Applied glue to all frame joints then clamped it up.










Removed clamps and did some smoothing plane work on the face; also cut the excess stile run-off. Final sizing of this roughed panel, as well as joinery to get it matched up to the carcase, is next on the To Do list in my march towards Glue-Up.
 
#56 ·
Very good progress. And your neatness with you hand tools is to be commended. And I want you to know I am drooling over that wonderful plane. OK now to something I don't know, the wax I get but what pray tell do the spirits do for you?
Great job. My hat is off Smitty;)
 
#59 ·
Placing the Backpanel

With the back panel released from pipe-clamp jail and kinda-sorta smoothed with a #4, time to get it ready for fitting to the back of the carcase. What I want to do is get this panel inset into a groove planed (yes, with the #48!) inside said carcase so it floats in place / can expand and contract its little heart out. The panel will be 'tongued' on all four sides, so in order to get the 'un-tongued' dimensions right I first had to clamp the carcase tight to get a 'finished' inside dimension for the back panel.



Along with that, I jointed a long edge on the panel itself. Knocked a bevel on the end to avoid end-grain blow out then planed it smooth







With the backpanel placed underneath the clamped-up carcase, I was able to measure the absolute max dimensions; from there I set the radial arm saw and worked on cutting the panel to width (actually, height of the in-place cabinet) with a number of passes.


Have you ever tried to 'sneak up' on a cut like that? Be honest…

Well, this time it didn't work for me and I'll tell you what happened. I have a 2-foot rule that I'm trying very hard to make my go-to measuring tool while doing these kinds of "furniture" builds. And up until this point I was doing pretty good. But this time, the measure fell inside the brass-joined hinge sections of the rule; when I translated said measure to the blade of the RAS, I was off by one half inch, so now the panel fit totally inside the opening rather being T&G ready as planned. Did the cutting correctly on the ends of the panel (whew!) so I moved on to the #48 cuts to get the panel as well as the endcaps of the carcase cut. Grooves worked right into the mitered tails, looks great! Whew. This part of the plan worked…




So how does the carcase look with a backside? Not too bad.






In that last pic you can see that visible 'ends' to the dados I cut for the partitions. If I had done the rabbeted backpanel solution discussed earlier, those would now be out of sight. Do they bother me now, being visible on the back of the cabinet? A bit, to be disgustingly honest about it. And the major impetus for doing mitered dovetails in the first place was for the backside rabbets. But it's either remake the backpanel or live with these construction 'clues' on the backside of a cabinet that sits under my workbench. Uhmmm… let's see… Well… I think I'll chalk it up to lesson learned and move on!

Oh, yes, did I mention the partitions? There's one more value-add task needed to make those ready for glue-up, and that is to cut them to their now-final 'depth.' I marked each with the measurement taken with the backpanel in place, then cut them with a hand saw… Decided to go that way over free-handing at the table saw or using the band saw. Really, it's just as easier to rip them by hand using a sharp saw and a sawbench.





So, finally, the carcase is in final form, ready for glue-up. How 'bout a glamour shot? Queue the pretty girls! Wait, don't have any of those standing by. So, all you get is the cabinet…


Now to figure out, in the absence of T&Gs, how to stabilize the horizontal runs of the panel. The plan is to friction fit a couple of dowels, dead-center, to each of the top and bottom rails to hold the panel in place from whatever front-to-back stress it may receive (like slamming drawers). Could use four slotted screws from the outside, but just can't bring myself to do it.
 
#60 ·
Looking very nice Smitty. I am sure you are proud of your project. As you should be. It is shaping up nicely. Could you pin it with some square walnut dowels on your panels and where you said you needed some screws.imho. Now to tell the truth I see your carcase sitting in my living room with a big screen on top and all my on the components stuffed in the shelves.
 
#66 ·
@Super - OMG, I've built a TV cart??? :) Of course, things like this, if built well enough, are around long enough to get 'repurposed' many times. So, maybe it's not as far fetched as it first seems. You're a prophet, my friend! Thanks for commenting!
 
#68 ·
Carcase Glue-Up

You've heard of spot welding, as applies to metal? Well, the partitions in this cabinet are spot-glued, specifically with a brushed-out dab of glue at the leading edges of each. That should allow for movement with the seasons without cracking.

The partitions ride in matched dadoes that must be lined up right and drawn tight between four large panels that are glued at the dovetailed corners. Oh, and the back panel floats completely in grooves in the side panels with a 'button dowel' at top and bottom. (Sorry, no pictures of the hidden dowel trick, but I did it in the centers of the top and bottom rails to add lateral (?) strength. It took about 15 minutes to add them.
Spreading glue, holding pieces and placing clamps was all I had to do. Geez, the most stress I've felt in the shop in some time. And, wouldn't you know it, there aren't many pictures of actual glue! But what I have, I'll share. Besides that, glue you've seen! How about something you maybe haven't tried? To pull the dovetail joints together, I used what Robert Wearing would refer to as 'cramps;' I made them to match up with the dovetails using a 1" (I think) Forstner bit at the drill press.

Marking the cramps:




Drilled and ready to apply:


One trick that I did before glue up also came from Wearing, more specifically an illustration in The Essential Woodworker. It showed slight bevels being planed against proud dovetails and pins to prevent blowout when smoothing the assembled carcase. I've (unfortunately) hit that end-grain blow out many times, so hopefully this does the trick. So I struck a line alongside the proud tails and marked the tops as being candidates for said beveling.




When the carcase was apart, the lines were clear!


So I knocked off edges to a half dozen or so marks, then was ready for glue up!


All there is of glue actually being applied is a single shot of the first partition getting hit.


Then adrenaline kicked in, the camera went bye-bye and the scramble to clamp within glue working time took place. I had my #3 son help me with the clamps. So, here it is after the whirlwind, moving from bottom to top then with all clamps!






How'd the mitered corners look? Not bad. Here's one of them:


Once all was dry and all ten clamps were removed, I was anxious to dress the top of the carcase, where the beveling had been done. Here's the cabinet braced up against the bench, ready for work.


Applied mineral spirits and went to work. The contrasts are magnified by the mineral spirits, but the results were great!






And, getting ahead of myself just slightly, here's a shot of the carcase on top of the bench, all glued up, with drawer fronts sticking in their respective openings.


Cabinet is in final form, but looks kinda boring, don't you think? Now I'm thinking of hardware and final finish. Oh, and those pesky drawers aren't actually built…
 
#77 ·
Drawer Faces

The material for four of the drawer fronts had been identified and set aside when the dimensions of each drawer were pretty much set. Each of those came from the aprons of the donor table, looked quite scruffy, but cleaned up well on the face side. I did have to do some filler work on the insides of these pieces because of how they were 'purposed' on the Donor Table, specifically I cut blocks out of scrap walnut to fill cavities towards the bottom of each of two drawers so my drawer bottoms would have solid material to run through around the entire drawer. Didn't have to do a necessarily pretty job, so I didn't… I save extra effort for show sides / don't mind building in 'character' for others to find and ponder over in the way off future… And while patching up boards for use seems already like a pain in the arse, it's what must be done sometimes when used stuff is re-used.

Two pics of Operation #1 - rough fitting then trimmed up:




And two of Operation #2, same thing only repeated:




Of course, it's obvious that there's nothing set aside for The Big Drawer, the right-most opening, and there are a couple of reasons for that. First and foremost, the Donor Table is gone / used up / totally consumed and there's no solid material left for a larger drawer front. I have scavenged enough for a frame, though. Second, a solid wood front of that size probably wouldn't be a good idea anyway; too much stress / likely to crack over time or, even worse, warp and not fit square or flush. So it has to be a frame and panel job, and material is needed for the panel / insert.

Tried my hand at re-sawing some walnut scrap not big enough for frame material; etched a starter line at the table saw and then went at it with the bandsaw. That didn't work. Then free-hand, and that didn't work either. Face it, I suck at re-sawing; it's something that I need to improve on / buy the proper blade for, definitely, but not in the face of necessity. I need to keep viewing the posts of LJers that do this well, and learn more.

If push comes to shove, I can thickness easily with handplanes on a job this small, and pretty quickly too, so that's an option. Wouldn't run shorts like this through planer; that'd be silly. Looking at the inside of the door on the Traditional Bench in the shop, the floating panel is flush with the frame (it's recessed on the public side). I've seen that before, but in context of my Big Drawer problem it's something I'd like on the show side of the drawer, I think. Beefier material to mount a pull to and it means no more thicknessing of material down to less than 1/2". Ahh, working around our limitations is a very good thing sometimes! Grin! Thicker material means I can use the #48 to create the tongue that allows the face to ride flush with the front, if you know what I mean… Coming together!

I mentally put these issues aside and worked other things with the cabinet, specifically blog entries #s 4 through #11. I did plane up the faces of the drawer fronts I had and cut them to rough size at one point, likely to get them out of the way. Here's a pick of the first four drawer fronts just sticking into the cabinet (as seen in the Most Previous Episode of this Blog Series):



UPDATE: The Big Drawer is to the right in the above pic.

Once all other progress had come to a stand-still, pending drawer fronts, it was time to address The Big Drawer problem. The good news is, things fell in place. How? Long story short, I collect my cut-offs and send them over to a buddy who uses his back-yard fire pit a lot. He gets good, dry wood and I like that someone gets one last benefit out of the stuff I'm (finally) able to part with as unusable. Well, in doing cleanup for a fire pit re-stock I ran across a couple of long, narrow pieces of walnut left over from the panel cutting exercise that could be cross cut and glued up to panel size. Huzzah! Game on!

I laid out the frame pieces I'd already set aside, jointed them and did the now-familiar T&G work. The first picture below shows a nice groove worked into one of the rails. The second was taken while cutting a short tongue, and clearly shows how you know your #48 needs re-honing.





So after some sharpening action on both #48 cutters, I was able to complete the frame without much effort at all; you've seen frame work on the backpanel anyway. So, it was on to the actual inset panel. And Oh, such a Wee Little Panel it seemed to be, having worked on the cabinet panels earlier in the project. Jointed the edges, glued them up,


and clamped everything .


With the glue dry and clamps removed, I smoothed the face 'real nice.'








Once it was sized up (and yes, this went without problem on all four sides this time, unlike the debacle w/ the floating backpanel) I used the still-freshly-sharpened tongue and groove plane (sharp = good) to ready it for fitting.




The frame was dbl-checked for square, floating panel put in place, then glued up and clamped.


After the glue up and cure times had passed, I dressed the frame a bit. Looking good!


How 'bout a picture of the backside? Sure can tell how this thing came to be!


And the cabinet, under the bench, with drawer fronts set in place, ready for half-blind dovetails for the sides!




As always, thanks for looking!
 
#78 ·
Smitty, it is coming along nicely. I have to admit that I was confused throughout, simply because I thought the 'Big Drawer' was actually the bottom drawer and there is clearly wood alotted. I see now that I assumed wrong. Yet, that begs the question -Are you really making a drawer or a cabinet door?

How are your drawer fronts staying put? Do you have a rabbet around the back so they fit in?

How did you deal with that tear out?

What is your plan for a finish? Just curious.

Still enjoying following along.
 
#95 ·
Drawers Sides, The Big Drawer

An update only because getting the drawers built is taking so long and is fixin' to take awhile longer because shop time is giving way to quality family time.

For The Big Drawer, I've worked side dovetails by marking for thickness and depth…

Wood Finger Gas Wood stain Hardwood


Wood Office ruler Wood stain Hardwood Flooring


Wood Table Flooring Floor Wood stain


Wood Rectangle Table Flooring Floor


Then worked the half-blind pins …

Table Furniture Wood Rectangle Drawer


Wood Wood stain Flooring Floor Hardwood


Wood Composite material Flooring Urban design Roof


Wood Wood stain Hardwood Plank Flooring


And stuck it in place, without a bottom, just because I was ready to see progress!

Wood Rectangle Gas Hardwood Composite material


Five drawers to document in a future post, and I'm trying some different assembly methods based on an episode of The Woodwright's Shop I saw recently. Until I can get all the details completed, captured and blogged, keep the sawdust flying!
 

Attachments

#96 ·
Drawers Sides, The Big Drawer

An update only because getting the drawers built is taking so long and is fixin' to take awhile longer because shop time is giving way to quality family time.

For The Big Drawer, I've worked side dovetails by marking for thickness and depth…

Wood Finger Gas Wood stain Hardwood


Wood Office ruler Wood stain Hardwood Flooring


Wood Table Flooring Floor Wood stain


Wood Rectangle Table Flooring Floor


Then worked the half-blind pins …

Table Furniture Wood Rectangle Drawer


Wood Wood stain Flooring Floor Hardwood


Wood Composite material Flooring Urban design Roof


Wood Wood stain Hardwood Plank Flooring


And stuck it in place, without a bottom, just because I was ready to see progress!

Wood Rectangle Gas Hardwood Composite material


Five drawers to document in a future post, and I'm trying some different assembly methods based on an episode of The Woodwright's Shop I saw recently. Until I can get all the details completed, captured and blogged, keep the sawdust flying!
Nice work.
 

Attachments

#105 ·
Gang of Four Drawers - Sides

The Roubo Cabinet has been in work now since March. Weather is incredibly oppressive this month, with temps in Southern Illinois routinely in the mid-90s. And the humidity? As I'm fond of saying, "At least it's a wet heat…" My shop is not climate controlled so going inside to work lately means sweat to the point of dripping within the first 5 minutes. I wipe down tools a lot, and myself too. Yuck. But this project is still in OPEN status, so turn on the squirrel fan, turn up the radio and let's get cranking.

This Cabinet consists of five drawers: a Small Pair of drawers at the top; two Wide drawers under the Small Pair; and a single Big Drawer at the right side of the other four. Here's the original sketch as a reminder:



Lucky Part 13 of this series left off with the completion of sides to the Big Drawer, no back or bottom or glue up. The process I'm using to complete drawer backs and bottoms has been consistent across three of the drawers so far; I'm using half blind dovetails to join all sides to drawer fronts and simple dados in the sides hold the drawer backs in place. The drawer bottoms slide into 1/8" dados and surrounded on all four sides because the bottoms (so far) have been salvaged Masonite / hardboard.

The drawer sides are all made from reclaimed pine built-ins along an entire wall in a house getting renovated in a town nearby. I was fortunate to be able to pull these cabinets out before the owner took a crowbar to the works and make it all dumpster material. Here's a pic of the built-ins (the Roubo Cabinet drawer sides all come from the sides of the three very-high-up drawers in the center of the picture):

Fixture Wood Floor Flooring Door


The simple way to set the height of the drawer sides was to set the rip fence of the table saw per the drawer fronts. I cut four sides and two backs for the Wide Drawers, then reset the fence and cut the same numbers for the Small Pair of drawers. The saw is turned off - just setting the fence!



All drawer side and drawer front pieces were marked for work.









Each piece got bottom markings as well as location marks to tell me which pieces went to which opening in the cabinet, then I clamped up matching pairs of sides and marked / cut the dovetails. Because the pine was quite splintery when I worked up the Big Drawer, I went to my modern Stanley Gent's Dovetail Saw to make the cuts for the Gang of Four.







Once the tails were transferred to the drawer fronts, I made those cuts then chopped out the waste.











With a little bit of paring on the pin boards (my baselines typically need a little bit of work from front to back to get them nice and flat, but the tails are 'straight off the saw'), I was able to get everything looking pretty good. And note in these pictures that the Wide Pair feature half-tails while the Small Pair get half-pins. Why? Just because I saw an episode of the Woodwright's Shop where Roy recreated a toolbox with half-tails; he had a great time trying to figure out why the original builder would do it that way and I wanted to put some variation in my build so that someday, someone might try to 'figure out' why I did it that way, too… Silly, right?







With the sides-to-fronts joinery complete, time to get groovy (for the bottoms). For the sides I was able to use the #45 with 1/8" cutter:





For the fronts, I used my shaper because of the need for stopped cuts (plow planes don't do that very well…)





All of the drawer side pieces ran long, meaning a 'final' cut to length was needed. A necessary first step was to plane each of them to fit height-wise with a #4 Smoother (recall that the carcase is solid wood, front to back, and the inside surfaces aren't finished surfaces). I then marked each and used a combination square to transfer the cutline to the back of each board. Did the cuts on the bench hook with a 14" sash saw.











I say 'final' in quotes because I expect to do one more cut to set each drawer just so when I get to final finish work.

So at this point I'd typically end the post with a nice pic of the work as it it sits… Well, this ain't gonna be a typical post. Right now, as I'm typing this, the Cabinet is at a mixed level of completion and I want to clean up my write-up to match up with all the process pics. So there are more updates coming as I wrap this up. Next updates will include 'how I do it' details on placing backs to these drawers, as well as a presentation of drawer bottom materials used. Then there's handle selection and placement, final drawer fitting, smoothing the entire carcase, and applying finish. Whew! Why does it seem that I have so much further to go when we've gotten so much done already??? As always, Thanks for Reading!
 

Attachments

#106 ·
Gang of Four Drawers - Sides

The Roubo Cabinet has been in work now since March. Weather is incredibly oppressive this month, with temps in Southern Illinois routinely in the mid-90s. And the humidity? As I'm fond of saying, "At least it's a wet heat…" My shop is not climate controlled so going inside to work lately means sweat to the point of dripping within the first 5 minutes. I wipe down tools a lot, and myself too. Yuck. But this project is still in OPEN status, so turn on the squirrel fan, turn up the radio and let's get cranking.

This Cabinet consists of five drawers: a Small Pair of drawers at the top; two Wide drawers under the Small Pair; and a single Big Drawer at the right side of the other four. Here's the original sketch as a reminder:



Lucky Part 13 of this series left off with the completion of sides to the Big Drawer, no back or bottom or glue up. The process I'm using to complete drawer backs and bottoms has been consistent across three of the drawers so far; I'm using half blind dovetails to join all sides to drawer fronts and simple dados in the sides hold the drawer backs in place. The drawer bottoms slide into 1/8" dados and surrounded on all four sides because the bottoms (so far) have been salvaged Masonite / hardboard.

The drawer sides are all made from reclaimed pine built-ins along an entire wall in a house getting renovated in a town nearby. I was fortunate to be able to pull these cabinets out before the owner took a crowbar to the works and make it all dumpster material. Here's a pic of the built-ins (the Roubo Cabinet drawer sides all come from the sides of the three very-high-up drawers in the center of the picture):

Fixture Wood Floor Flooring Door


The simple way to set the height of the drawer sides was to set the rip fence of the table saw per the drawer fronts. I cut four sides and two backs for the Wide Drawers, then reset the fence and cut the same numbers for the Small Pair of drawers. The saw is turned off - just setting the fence!



All drawer side and drawer front pieces were marked for work.









Each piece got bottom markings as well as location marks to tell me which pieces went to which opening in the cabinet, then I clamped up matching pairs of sides and marked / cut the dovetails. Because the pine was quite splintery when I worked up the Big Drawer, I went to my modern Stanley Gent's Dovetail Saw to make the cuts for the Gang of Four.







Once the tails were transferred to the drawer fronts, I made those cuts then chopped out the waste.











With a little bit of paring on the pin boards (my baselines typically need a little bit of work from front to back to get them nice and flat, but the tails are 'straight off the saw'), I was able to get everything looking pretty good. And note in these pictures that the Wide Pair feature half-tails while the Small Pair get half-pins. Why? Just because I saw an episode of the Woodwright's Shop where Roy recreated a toolbox with half-tails; he had a great time trying to figure out why the original builder would do it that way and I wanted to put some variation in my build so that someday, someone might try to 'figure out' why I did it that way, too… Silly, right?







With the sides-to-fronts joinery complete, time to get groovy (for the bottoms). For the sides I was able to use the #45 with 1/8" cutter:





For the fronts, I used my shaper because of the need for stopped cuts (plow planes don't do that very well…)





All of the drawer side pieces ran long, meaning a 'final' cut to length was needed. A necessary first step was to plane each of them to fit height-wise with a #4 Smoother (recall that the carcase is solid wood, front to back, and the inside surfaces aren't finished surfaces). I then marked each and used a combination square to transfer the cutline to the back of each board. Did the cuts on the bench hook with a 14" sash saw.











I say 'final' in quotes because I expect to do one more cut to set each drawer just so when I get to final finish work.

So at this point I'd typically end the post with a nice pic of the work as it it sits… Well, this ain't gonna be a typical post. Right now, as I'm typing this, the Cabinet is at a mixed level of completion and I want to clean up my write-up to match up with all the process pics. So there are more updates coming as I wrap this up. Next updates will include 'how I do it' details on placing backs to these drawers, as well as a presentation of drawer bottom materials used. Then there's handle selection and placement, final drawer fitting, smoothing the entire carcase, and applying finish. Whew! Why does it seem that I have so much further to go when we've gotten so much done already??? As always, Thanks for Reading!
It is HOT and HUMID on this side of St. Claire river as well. I thought there was something wrong with me, pick up my hammer and I am sweating all day ?, My wife just kept saying its the humidity. I grew up in WEST, we had DRY heat.
Well at least you take photo's as you are building. I get wrapped up in the building and always FORGET the pictures till it is completed.
 

Attachments

#114 ·
Hardware

Q: What do you call a drawer that doesn't open?
A: Rework.

Okay, lame joke but it's a decent intro to the challenge of finding drawer pulls for this Roubo Cabinet of mine. Design constraints? Not many, but they're important ones.

1. Stout enough to work on drawers full of tools (potentially heavy)
2. Aesthetically in sync with the cabinet (I'll know it when I see it)
3. Hardware can't stick out / interfere with the sliding deadman

First thing I thought of were those wildly understated (but cool looking) round pulls; you know, the kind that seem to be inside tool chests these days. A close second was round porcelain knobs. Other choices included recessed bail pulls, regular handle pulls and plain old wooden knobs. I'm sure I have the names for all of these things wrong, but that's part of the dilemma. I can't get what I can't describe.

I do have wooden pulls scavenged over the past several years, but they're oak and I'd rather not introduce a new type of wood (FAIL, Point 2). I found brass pulls at a flea market and bought the pair, but then figured consistency was important (FAIL, Point 2). Then I bought (for $2) a pair of small porcelain pulls and matched them up with recessed pulls my dad had on hand. Ah, a possibility here!


A big dislike was the uber-shininess of the recessed pulls (FAIL, Point 2). Who wants chrome on their bench? Not me. So I tried to 'stress' them. First I heated them up with a torch. No go. Then soaked the lot of them in white vinegar for a week. Still shiny. Then I tried sandblasting them, just so they wouldn't shine so darned much. Well, when I did that, the pull portion of the hardware came free from the backs way too easily. Damaged goods, not durable… (FAIL, Points 1 and 2). Urg.

On to the catalogs. Most diverse collection of pulls was in the Van ********************'s on line store, and here's what I settled on:




Seeing the range of prices for pulls and other assorted hardware was a real eye opener. What I got was modest compared to what was out there, let me tell you. Of course, for those who may read this that are 'in the business' of building custom cabinetry, I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know.

To mount the pulls on the Gang of Four only meant to keep them vertically aligned. Found the center of the Small Pair to set the positions there for each pull, then lined up the ones for the Big Pair and all was good.

Measurements were set and repeated with combination square and large-ish divider…




and squares only on the Big Drawer:




From that point, used a center punch tool to mark screw locations on each drawer face. Wood screws (Slotted! Yay!) sent with the pulls were stressed to match, but were too long. The bench grinder fixed that, though. Punch, Drill and Drive, I say!!






So where are we now with the cabinet?
I owe you an entry on drawer assembly that will recap what's been done AND include what will be done to finish the Small Pair, but with hardware installed on 60% of the project, this is the cabinet today:





Three more posts and this epic project will be complete and I'll (finally!) be able to load it up with tools. Oh, how nice that will be! As always, thanks for reading.
 
#115 ·
Regrets for the strange camera angles that are in the pics above; Photobucket misbehaving again OR it's another user training issue. Hope to correct the final couple of pictures, anyway; they're most important.
 
#124 ·
Final Assembly - Drawer Backs, Bottoms and Fitting

This is the last post required to complete the build and make ready for applying the finish of my choice to get this one in the books. Once all the drawer fronts have been joined to the sides, and those cut to rough length, I had to work on adding backs to the drawers as well as bottoms. All drawer backs were set into simple dados that were cut on the table saw.





For the Big Drawer as well as the Big Pair of drawers, the drawer bottom consists of a single piece of repurposed hardboard, or what I grew up calling Masonite. I had to cut it square, and used a simple rip fence / jig with the trim saw to get edges that were straight and square. The material fit in the tracks just fine.




The bottoms on the Small Pair had to be wood panels (because RG talked me into it) so the backs, while still in a simple dado, weren't channeled for a fully enclosed bottom like the other drawers were. I wanted the grain to run across the panel for stability, so a quick glue up of my pine 'drawer sides' donor material was required. That was simple enough, you've seen panel glue ups - so no need to go into detail here. With my drawer bottom panel in one piece, three more actions were required:
1. Flatten the material on both sides
2. Cut to rough size
3. Apply bevels with the #78 to run in the side grooves

Did it happen? Yes.












The raised, underside portion of the bottoms were proud of the side rails, so I had to do some additional thicknessing.


And, just for fun, here's what my bench in work looked like at the time


I had stopped dados on the Small Pair so some final chiseling was required.




They're IN, just need backs and final fitting. Bookcase drawer bottoms - COOL!


Backs in. This is coming together!


A few pictures to tell the glue-up story:












Check for square…

And we're Golden.


Lots of trim work-


Mounted the last pair of handles, and finally the cabinet is built!






I'll do some final smoothing at the carcase dovetails, apply a simple finish and be ready post this bad boy as a Completed Project. Oh, the lifecycle of a shop build here on LJs!
 
#135 ·
Finish Applied, Final Entry

Two snapshots is all there is for this entry. Pulled the cabinet out of its cubby below the workbench and set it on top for an applied finish.

Wood Shelving Floor Wood stain Hardwood


I've thought for awhile there were some proud dovetail joints needing some final attention, but decided all was good. Finish consisted of a single coat of boiled linseed oil, which I will reapply this fall when my entire bench is due for a refresher coat of Watco's. Started wiping the first drawer, big smile on my face. I was amazed / truly didn't realize the impact it would have on the now-very-familiar look of this old walnut…

Cabinetry Furniture Drawer Table Wood


Is it too good for shop furniture? Nah!! Under the bench it goes!

Regarding this blog series, which officially ends today, here's a recap: 344 pictures and the document containing all the blog entries is over 5,800 words. It's been a lot of work, but it's been fun. Thanks very, very much to everyone who took the time to comment, because your input / observations are appreciated. Feedback is what makes LJs a real community. See ya later!
 

Attachments

#136 ·
Finish Applied, Final Entry

Two snapshots is all there is for this entry. Pulled the cabinet out of its cubby below the workbench and set it on top for an applied finish.

Wood Shelving Floor Wood stain Hardwood


I've thought for awhile there were some proud dovetail joints needing some final attention, but decided all was good. Finish consisted of a single coat of boiled linseed oil, which I will reapply this fall when my entire bench is due for a refresher coat of Watco's. Started wiping the first drawer, big smile on my face. I was amazed / truly didn't realize the impact it would have on the now-very-familiar look of this old walnut…

Cabinetry Furniture Drawer Table Wood


Is it too good for shop furniture? Nah!! Under the bench it goes!

Regarding this blog series, which officially ends today, here's a recap: 344 pictures and the document containing all the blog entries is over 5,800 words. It's been a lot of work, but it's been fun. Thanks very, very much to everyone who took the time to comment, because your input / observations are appreciated. Feedback is what makes LJs a real community. See ya later!
Thanks so much for blogging this! I have enjoyed the series.
 

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