# Bathroom Vanity Mirror



## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

*Roughing out*

I had some time today where I couldn't work on the baby craddle so I decided to get started roughing out the bathroom vanity. I've had a chunk of oak in the garage for years that fit the bill perfectly. It was all hand cut with my two old jackson backsaws and a cheap harbor frieght panel say that I recut the teeth on for ripping. (if anyone wants to send me a nice panel saw it would not go amiss ).

Here is the design I came up with


Here are the pieces cut


and here is my poor man's leg vice. I just move up and down the drawers as needed so I can reach my work. Soon I will make a saw bench to help me out instead of this, and then on to a bench. I just like working with these saws so much better than my table saw.



I have one piece left over to make the pins and another that is just the right size for a cigar box guitar neck!


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## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

*Frustration*

I finished planing all the pieces for my bathroom vanity tonight. I am anxious to get started on the mortise and tennon work. I ordered a set of mortise chisels last week and expected them by now. I checked the tracking number and the post office claims they delivered them on Monday. I double checked my mailbox and no luck. I'm kind of hung up on the project until they show so I hope they come in soon. I guess I'll have to call the post office tomorrow and see what is going on.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

mpmitche said:


> *Frustration*
> 
> I finished planing all the pieces for my bathroom vanity tonight. I am anxious to get started on the mortise and tennon work. I ordered a set of mortise chisels last week and expected them by now. I checked the tracking number and the post office claims they delivered them on Monday. I double checked my mailbox and no luck. I'm kind of hung up on the project until they show so I hope they come in soon. I guess I'll have to call the post office tomorrow and see what is going on.


I've been there.


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## RBWoodworker (Mar 22, 2009)

mpmitche said:


> *Frustration*
> 
> I finished planing all the pieces for my bathroom vanity tonight. I am anxious to get started on the mortise and tennon work. I ordered a set of mortise chisels last week and expected them by now. I checked the tracking number and the post office claims they delivered them on Monday. I double checked my mailbox and no luck. I'm kind of hung up on the project until they show so I hope they come in soon. I guess I'll have to call the post office tomorrow and see what is going on.


Bummer.. which set of chisels did you order and who makes them?


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## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

mpmitche said:


> *Frustration*
> 
> I finished planing all the pieces for my bathroom vanity tonight. I am anxious to get started on the mortise and tennon work. I ordered a set of mortise chisels last week and expected them by now. I checked the tracking number and the post office claims they delivered them on Monday. I double checked my mailbox and no luck. I'm kind of hung up on the project until they show so I hope they come in soon. I guess I'll have to call the post office tomorrow and see what is going on.


I ordered Narex chisels because I cannot afford the ones I want and I have heard these are actually pretty good. We'll see, maybe, eventually .


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## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

mpmitche said:


> *Frustration*
> 
> I finished planing all the pieces for my bathroom vanity tonight. I am anxious to get started on the mortise and tennon work. I ordered a set of mortise chisels last week and expected them by now. I checked the tracking number and the post office claims they delivered them on Monday. I double checked my mailbox and no luck. I'm kind of hung up on the project until they show so I hope they come in soon. I guess I'll have to call the post office tomorrow and see what is going on.


Even more frustration. I called the post office today and they said they would look into in a couple of days. I couldn't help but notice that like most branches of the government they just don't give a s**t! I shot an email to the site I ordered them from and they said they would look into it as well.


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## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

*Cutting the Mortise*

Two of my three new chisels showed up yesterday and after about an hour on the water stones I had the 6mm chisel honed. I flattened the back and sharpened the face. My honing guide would not hold these chisels because they are too deep. Because of this I just sharpened it at the factory angle and did not put a micro bevel on as I had intended. Here is a shot of the chisels.



Tonight I got started cutting the first mortise. This is my first attempt at cutting a mortise by hand but it is going well so far. I didn't get it done tonight but got a good start.



I am not sure how this should be done exactly, I just marked it out and started wasting away. I know not to get to close to my ends until the end but not really sure if there is a correct way to chop it out. If anyone has tips please let me know.

Thanks for looking.


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## dlmckirdy (Oct 27, 2009)

mpmitche said:


> *Cutting the Mortise*
> 
> Two of my three new chisels showed up yesterday and after about an hour on the water stones I had the 6mm chisel honed. I flattened the back and sharpened the face. My honing guide would not hold these chisels because they are too deep. Because of this I just sharpened it at the factory angle and did not put a micro bevel on as I had intended. Here is a shot of the chisels.
> 
> ...


Check out LJ Mike Stefang's tutorial Here: http://lumberjocks.com/stefang/blog/11534


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## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

mpmitche said:


> *Cutting the Mortise*
> 
> Two of my three new chisels showed up yesterday and after about an hour on the water stones I had the 6mm chisel honed. I flattened the back and sharpened the face. My honing guide would not hold these chisels because they are too deep. Because of this I just sharpened it at the factory angle and did not put a micro bevel on as I had intended. Here is a shot of the chisels.
> 
> ...


Mike's tutorial was very good and helped a lot. I had watched a Frank Klausz vidio on youtube but it was difficult to hear and you coundn't see much. That under glass video is brilliant. Thanks for the help guys.


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## dlmckirdy (Oct 27, 2009)

mpmitche said:


> *Cutting the Mortise*
> 
> Two of my three new chisels showed up yesterday and after about an hour on the water stones I had the 6mm chisel honed. I flattened the back and sharpened the face. My honing guide would not hold these chisels because they are too deep. Because of this I just sharpened it at the factory angle and did not put a micro bevel on as I had intended. Here is a shot of the chisels.
> 
> ...


3fingerpat, I was looking for the Frank Klausz video when I found Mike's. I actually think that Mike's is easeier to understand for a beginner (it was for me, anyway). Frank's (filmed by Ron Underhill) is an awesome graphic demonstration. Cheers to both for putting these on the web!


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## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

*On to the Tenon*

Today I finished choping the first mortise. Thanks to all those who pitched in with advise. 









I also cut the tenon


After trimming the tenon with a rabbet plane and undercutting the shoulder I got a pretty good fit









This is officially my first mortise and tennon. It was done completely with hand tools. (chisel, saw, plane) I know it's not as good as it should be but I hope to get better at them as I go, and faster as well. Probably took an hour or better all told.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

mpmitche said:


> *On to the Tenon*
> 
> Today I finished choping the first mortise. Thanks to all those who pitched in with advise.
> 
> ...


Yea Mike super first M & T

7


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## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

*Chopping Mortises*

Tonight I finished off my mortises. I have been away from the project for quite a while and watched one of David Charlesworths' DVD's from Lie-Nielsen in the downtime. The DVD was about working with chisels and he chops a mortise in there somewhere. After watching the video I tweaked my approach a little and it helped immensley. The first mortise I did took about 40 min. Some in the middle were a little quicker. Tonight I got a more accurate job and it took about fifteen minutes to chop a 1/4" by 3" mortise 1 1/4" deep. The biggest tips I gained from were standing in line with the mortise instead of accross from it. This makes it much easier to keep straight while chopping. I think with some more practise and a sharpened chisel (I need to hone a steeper angle on the chisel) I could get this done quicker and more accurateley yet. For anyone out there wanting to learn to use chisels better the video is really good.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

mpmitche said:


> *Chopping Mortises*
> 
> Tonight I finished off my mortises. I have been away from the project for quite a while and watched one of David Charlesworths' DVD's from Lie-Nielsen in the downtime. The DVD was about working with chisels and he chops a mortise in there somewhere. After watching the video I tweaked my approach a little and it helped immensley. The first mortise I did took about 40 min. Some in the middle were a little quicker. Tonight I got a more accurate job and it took about fifteen minutes to chop a 1/4" by 3" mortise 1 1/4" deep. The biggest tips I gained from were standing in line with the mortise instead of accross from it. This makes it much easier to keep straight while chopping. I think with some more practise and a sharpened chisel (I need to hone a steeper angle on the chisel) I could get this done quicker and more accurateley yet. For anyone out there wanting to learn to use chisels better the video is really good.


Thanks for the info.


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## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

*Joints Finished (almost)*

I finished trimming and fitting the mortise and tenons tonight. A few were out of square slightly but I was able to adjust them. Now those are a touch loose. I hope the drawboring will snug them back up but we'll see when I get there. Now on to cutting the rabbit's for the mirror to fit into. I'll try to get some pictures of it soon.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

mpmitche said:


> *Joints Finished (almost)*
> 
> I finished trimming and fitting the mortise and tenons tonight. A few were out of square slightly but I was able to adjust them. Now those are a touch loose. I hope the drawboring will snug them back up but we'll see when I get there. Now on to cutting the rabbit's for the mirror to fit into. I'll try to get some pictures of it soon.


Got Photos?


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## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

mpmitche said:


> *Joints Finished (almost)*
> 
> I finished trimming and fitting the mortise and tenons tonight. A few were out of square slightly but I was able to adjust them. Now those are a touch loose. I hope the drawboring will snug them back up but we'll see when I get there. Now on to cutting the rabbit's for the mirror to fit into. I'll try to get some pictures of it soon.


Not yet, but I will add some on my next post. Thanks for reading Jim.


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## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

*Cutting rabbet's for the mirror*

Now that the frame is has the morise and tenon's complete I want to cut the rabbet's before I permanently assemble it. I am just using my rabbet plane with a batten to keep me straight and at 90 degree. I noticed that as I worked down the rabbet slowly worked away from the batten. The next one I do i'm going to set the nicher down and see if it helps keep things on track better. Any tips on this would help. here is a photo of cutting the rabbet.


and here is a shot of the assempled frame



Thanks for looking.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

mpmitche said:


> *Cutting rabbet's for the mirror*
> 
> Now that the frame is has the morise and tenon's complete I want to cut the rabbet's before I permanently assemble it. I am just using my rabbet plane with a batten to keep me straight and at 90 degree. I noticed that as I worked down the rabbet slowly worked away from the batten. The next one I do i'm going to set the nicher down and see if it helps keep things on track better. Any tips on this would help. here is a photo of cutting the rabbet.
> 
> ...


good progress Mike


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## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

*Glass cutting is a pain*

So apparently I'm not very good at cutting a mirror. I had an old bathroom mirror that I wanted to cut down and use for this project. I tried cutting it today and both cuts I made did not stay straight on the ends. The first error was cut out by the second one but the second error is going to hang into the part of the mirror that shows. I don't want to order new glass or rebuild my frame. I'm trying to come up with a way to cover the error. If anyone has some idea's let me know.

Here is a picture of the frame set over the glass. I need to add the drawbore pins and secure the glass yet.


Here is a close up of the broken part sticking into the opening.


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## JJohnston (May 22, 2009)

mpmitche said:


> *Glass cutting is a pain*
> 
> So apparently I'm not very good at cutting a mirror. I had an old bathroom mirror that I wanted to cut down and use for this project. I tried cutting it today and both cuts I made did not stay straight on the ends. The first error was cut out by the second one but the second error is going to hang into the part of the mirror that shows. I don't want to order new glass or rebuild my frame. I'm trying to come up with a way to cover the error. If anyone has some idea's let me know.
> 
> ...


Put small, false corbels in the corners?


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## UncleHank (Jan 13, 2010)

mpmitche said:


> *Glass cutting is a pain*
> 
> So apparently I'm not very good at cutting a mirror. I had an old bathroom mirror that I wanted to cut down and use for this project. I tried cutting it today and both cuts I made did not stay straight on the ends. The first error was cut out by the second one but the second error is going to hang into the part of the mirror that shows. I don't want to order new glass or rebuild my frame. I'm trying to come up with a way to cover the error. If anyone has some idea's let me know.
> 
> ...


Corbels, I was thinking the same thing… didn't know what they were called, but now I do!


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## sras (Oct 31, 2009)

mpmitche said:


> *Glass cutting is a pain*
> 
> So apparently I'm not very good at cutting a mirror. I had an old bathroom mirror that I wanted to cut down and use for this project. I tried cutting it today and both cuts I made did not stay straight on the ends. The first error was cut out by the second one but the second error is going to hang into the part of the mirror that shows. I don't want to order new glass or rebuild my frame. I'm trying to come up with a way to cover the error. If anyone has some idea's let me know.
> 
> ...


The corner inserts could end up being the most interesting feature! I have found that to be the case several times…


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## GaryC (Dec 31, 2008)

mpmitche said:


> *Glass cutting is a pain*
> 
> So apparently I'm not very good at cutting a mirror. I had an old bathroom mirror that I wanted to cut down and use for this project. I tried cutting it today and both cuts I made did not stay straight on the ends. The first error was cut out by the second one but the second error is going to hang into the part of the mirror that shows. I don't want to order new glass or rebuild my frame. I'm trying to come up with a way to cover the error. If anyone has some idea's let me know.
> 
> ...


Corbels would work perfectly and quite likely enhance the total appearance


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## Pete_Jud (Feb 15, 2008)

mpmitche said:


> *Glass cutting is a pain*
> 
> So apparently I'm not very good at cutting a mirror. I had an old bathroom mirror that I wanted to cut down and use for this project. I tried cutting it today and both cuts I made did not stay straight on the ends. The first error was cut out by the second one but the second error is going to hang into the part of the mirror that shows. I don't want to order new glass or rebuild my frame. I'm trying to come up with a way to cover the error. If anyone has some idea's let me know.
> 
> ...


Real men use Duct tape.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

mpmitche said:


> *Glass cutting is a pain*
> 
> So apparently I'm not very good at cutting a mirror. I had an old bathroom mirror that I wanted to cut down and use for this project. I tried cutting it today and both cuts I made did not stay straight on the ends. The first error was cut out by the second one but the second error is going to hang into the part of the mirror that shows. I don't want to order new glass or rebuild my frame. I'm trying to come up with a way to cover the error. If anyone has some idea's let me know.
> 
> ...


If it's broken the only safe way is to replace it.


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## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

mpmitche said:


> *Glass cutting is a pain*
> 
> So apparently I'm not very good at cutting a mirror. I had an old bathroom mirror that I wanted to cut down and use for this project. I tried cutting it today and both cuts I made did not stay straight on the ends. The first error was cut out by the second one but the second error is going to hang into the part of the mirror that shows. I don't want to order new glass or rebuild my frame. I'm trying to come up with a way to cover the error. If anyone has some idea's let me know.
> 
> ...


Jim you make a good point. It is broken and sharp, I should probably champer the corner off to eliminate the sharp edges at least.

Everyone else thanks for the ideas, I am trying to have a simple arts and crafts look to the final project, I'm not sure if Corbels can match that style but I will look around. As for the panel molding that was my first thought as well; something contrasting with a simple shape. I have also been thinking about something directly on the glass almost like etching something and covering the corner, not sure exactly what but if there are any idea's let me know.


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## woodmight (Jan 12, 2010)

mpmitche said:


> *Glass cutting is a pain*
> 
> So apparently I'm not very good at cutting a mirror. I had an old bathroom mirror that I wanted to cut down and use for this project. I tried cutting it today and both cuts I made did not stay straight on the ends. The first error was cut out by the second one but the second error is going to hang into the part of the mirror that shows. I don't want to order new glass or rebuild my frame. I'm trying to come up with a way to cover the error. If anyone has some idea's let me know.
> 
> ...


You might try adding Intarsia pieces to the corners. leaves, acorns, or flowers… make up your pieces and silicone them into the corners. I have used this trick many times and it looks like they belong there.
Good luck and God Bless ~ John


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## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

*Drawboring*

I am so glad I read Chris Schwarz's article Drawboring Resurected. I used that technique to assemble my mortise and tennon mirror frame today. I started out by making a doweling plate from scrap I had laying around. It has a large hole in the center that was already there and four new holes 1/2", 3/8", 1/4", and 3/16". After this I think I will add a 7/16" hole. I widdled some rough pegs and then drove them through the 1/2" followed by the 3/8" hole to make my pins for this project. Using a 7/16" as well would have improved the final pegs finish. The way I did it worked fine but it took some serious blows to drive them through the dowing plate. Here is my plate and some test pins.


I realized after the first few pins that I really did not need them this long, I made six new pins about an inch and a half long. Here is what they look like after driving them through and flush cutting them off.


I couldn't believe how well this drew my joints together; everything is tight now and there is no give in the overall frame. I hope this will hold as well as I think it is going to and last after the glue has failed. Oh wait, I was so excited about doing this that I forgot the glue. There is no going back now so I guess I will call this a drawbore test to see how they do sans glue.


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## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

*Done*










It's been quite some time since I worked on the vanity mirror but with my wife's insistnace I finished it up this week and it is hung on the bathroom wall finally. I finished it with an oil based poly that I hand rubbed on finished with past wax. The finish came out very nice and the true test of success is that my wife has been bragging to her friends that I made it.


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## HerbC (Jul 28, 2010)

mpmitche said:


> *Done*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Mike,

Nice job. I like the drawbored M/Ts… And making your own dowels with the plate was a nice touch.

I can't tell from the photo, what did you do about the corner of the mirror that didn't cut straight? Did you break down and get another piece of mirror?

Be Careful!

Herb


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## mpmitche (Apr 2, 2010)

mpmitche said:


> *Done*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you for your comments. The broken corner is up there in the top and you can see it a little in the photo. I'm still not settled on what I am going to do but it is not very noticable so it stays for now.


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## rivergirl (Aug 18, 2010)

mpmitche said:


> *Done*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Mpm- If it stays for now- it stays forever. LOL But if your wife doesn't mind the ginder, than it should suffice as is. Next project…....


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