Project Information
I inherited a butcher's block from the sous chef at Commander's Palace in New Orleans to thank me for bailing him out of jail. It was on wooden legs and a few years after I received it, it split, falling to the ground with a teeth rattling sound. I wanted to strengthen it, build an undercarriage with storage, and put it on wheels. I used solid cherry but took a radical departure using drawer assist glides and European self closing hinges.
I found some kind of lousy boards from my 4/4 cherry stash and milled them up. I want the upper block to overhang the cabinet, so if anything oozes down the side of it, it won't end up in my drawer.
I milled the stuff down to 3/4" and started choosing the grain.
I hate hardware. I mean, I hate it to point where I had to read the directions and make notes. I guess I can see how people like it if they're building veneered plywood cabinets. It goes in easily and is very adjustable for reveal. I almost abandoned it in anger and tacked in some drawer guides.
I handplaned all the surfaces after glue-up.
I dovetailed the carcass using a Western saw. I originally planned to hide the dovetails with a simple cove molding but I changed my mind at some point.
I routed the horizontal divider with a router and guide. I don't know why that Colt is lying there; I used a real router DT at 13.
Didn't cut the sliding DTs by hand. Felt weird. No mystery with the fit, however.
Now here it gets a little weird. I need to make an offset for this god awful slide.
I don't particularly like applied drawer fronts, so I want an inset door. I debated about this but decided to challenge myself with cutting the DTs into a 1/2 inch rebate.
OK, so it wasn't easy for me; and they're not pretty.
I wanted some more practice with my Western saw, so I 1/2-blinded the rears, too.
I made rail/stile doors using a Shaker set. I put the chamfer on the show side but left mill marks where I could.
I installed the hinges with one of those template thingies on the drill press. I also used bullet catches and I have to tell you, those self close hinges give a delightful click when the bullet engages. I put a door stop at the top anyway so it looks like I dialed it in perfectly when I show off the closing magic.
Put on some 3" casters with the rollerblade-type wheels. I got the locking kind so I had to watch where I mounted them so I could reach the pedal. If I had used molding, this would have been more difficult.
I turned my attention to stabilizing the block. I cut mortises spanning the boards that looked like they had failing joints and cut a strip of metal to stabilize them. I had to keep the bottom unobstructed so I could mount it on the chest. I think I ended up doing 10 of them.
I didn't want the thing to split like a blooming onion, so I decided to inlay bowties. And I just think they're cool. I'm not terribly good at them but I learned that if you have 3 routers set up, it makes it a lot easier. I used the Bosch template guide and upcut bit. I used a few different woods, including wormy chestnut. Glued them in, then planed them flush.
Crap, I forgot about the knobs. I turned some knobs out of black mesquite. Good god is that stuff hard. I sharpened more than I turned.
OK, so the finish was pretty simple. I got some button shellac from www.shellac.net and made up a 1.5 lb. cut. I padded it on followed by a few knockdown passes with 400 grit. I then wipecoated x 3 with polyurethane. I don't like polyurethane but it'll be in the kitchen, so.
I did a weird thing with the back. I made a panel to imitate the front and screwed it in with 4 screws. No rebate. My thinking was that I'll probably end up adding another drawer/shelf of some sort and it would be easy to pop the back off. Maybe I'll spill something in it, etc. The block overhang hides any end-grain.
Big ass cabinet.
Fingal's Cave. Thanks for looking!
I found some kind of lousy boards from my 4/4 cherry stash and milled them up. I want the upper block to overhang the cabinet, so if anything oozes down the side of it, it won't end up in my drawer.
I milled the stuff down to 3/4" and started choosing the grain.
I hate hardware. I mean, I hate it to point where I had to read the directions and make notes. I guess I can see how people like it if they're building veneered plywood cabinets. It goes in easily and is very adjustable for reveal. I almost abandoned it in anger and tacked in some drawer guides.
I handplaned all the surfaces after glue-up.
I dovetailed the carcass using a Western saw. I originally planned to hide the dovetails with a simple cove molding but I changed my mind at some point.
I routed the horizontal divider with a router and guide. I don't know why that Colt is lying there; I used a real router DT at 13.
Didn't cut the sliding DTs by hand. Felt weird. No mystery with the fit, however.
Now here it gets a little weird. I need to make an offset for this god awful slide.
I don't particularly like applied drawer fronts, so I want an inset door. I debated about this but decided to challenge myself with cutting the DTs into a 1/2 inch rebate.
OK, so it wasn't easy for me; and they're not pretty.
I wanted some more practice with my Western saw, so I 1/2-blinded the rears, too.
I made rail/stile doors using a Shaker set. I put the chamfer on the show side but left mill marks where I could.
I installed the hinges with one of those template thingies on the drill press. I also used bullet catches and I have to tell you, those self close hinges give a delightful click when the bullet engages. I put a door stop at the top anyway so it looks like I dialed it in perfectly when I show off the closing magic.
Put on some 3" casters with the rollerblade-type wheels. I got the locking kind so I had to watch where I mounted them so I could reach the pedal. If I had used molding, this would have been more difficult.
I turned my attention to stabilizing the block. I cut mortises spanning the boards that looked like they had failing joints and cut a strip of metal to stabilize them. I had to keep the bottom unobstructed so I could mount it on the chest. I think I ended up doing 10 of them.
I didn't want the thing to split like a blooming onion, so I decided to inlay bowties. And I just think they're cool. I'm not terribly good at them but I learned that if you have 3 routers set up, it makes it a lot easier. I used the Bosch template guide and upcut bit. I used a few different woods, including wormy chestnut. Glued them in, then planed them flush.
Crap, I forgot about the knobs. I turned some knobs out of black mesquite. Good god is that stuff hard. I sharpened more than I turned.
OK, so the finish was pretty simple. I got some button shellac from www.shellac.net and made up a 1.5 lb. cut. I padded it on followed by a few knockdown passes with 400 grit. I then wipecoated x 3 with polyurethane. I don't like polyurethane but it'll be in the kitchen, so.
I did a weird thing with the back. I made a panel to imitate the front and screwed it in with 4 screws. No rebate. My thinking was that I'll probably end up adding another drawer/shelf of some sort and it would be easy to pop the back off. Maybe I'll spill something in it, etc. The block overhang hides any end-grain.
Big ass cabinet.
Fingal's Cave. Thanks for looking!