# How to attach a solid wooden back to a wall-mounted tool cabinet?



## tonyennis (Oct 24, 2009)

Just what the title says. My issues are:

1) I don't know how to handle the expansion of the back, and
2) I want to hang the cabinet, so the back has to handle the weight of a bunch of iron planes.

Plywood glued and screwed into a rabbit of course handles this with aplomb. But if I used solid wood, how would I build it?


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## CWWoodworking (Nov 28, 2017)

How big?


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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

Have you seen the Fine Woodworking plans? That one kind uses a kind of ingenious method of attaching the back that has a bevel cut on the bottom that french cleats onto the other part of the back that attaches to the wall. So you really only have to worry about the expansion of the top section, easy enough to handle with a set of oversized holes.


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## tonyennis (Oct 24, 2009)

> How big?
> 
> - CWWoodworking


14" wide by 32" tall?


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## CWWoodworking (Nov 28, 2017)

Build the sides with grain running same direction as back. No need to worry about it then.

I woukd take the easy way out and use plywood.


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## Delete (May 19, 2017)

Try this, all the info you need is there minus your measurements. When in place cabinet fits flush to the wall.


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## Delete (May 19, 2017)

Wood moves in all three directions but it moves the most across the grain, which means if the grain is vertical along the length of the cabinet the most movement will be in the width of the back panel which will effect the ends and corners but a little extra room in your dadoes will cancel all that out.


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## tonyennis (Oct 24, 2009)

In the wonderful image above, the entire weight of the cabinet will be born by the top dado. Any concerns with it breaking out? Maybe a dovetail there to help support it? (Pins on the top piece)


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## CWWoodworking (Nov 28, 2017)

Your cabinet is tiny, you could screw plywood together and it would hold. You might be over thinking it a bit.


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## Delete (May 19, 2017)

The cabinet is not that large so not that heavy. it will be used for planes only and you are using a solid back so it sounds like you intend to place plane supports on the back rather than shelving. if that is not the case, you can add a support strip under the cabinet, that the cabinet rests on when in place, in which case all expansion is upwards. It is just not as clean as a floating cabinet.


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## tonyennis (Oct 24, 2009)

I am an overthinker, CWW. However, I am also exploring the craft of woodworking, hence my interest in a solid wood back.

Plywood is awesome for this purpose, and drawer bottoms :-D


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## CWWoodworking (Nov 28, 2017)

At 14" wide, just make the top, bottom, and shelves of 4/4 solid running in the same direction. Dovetail it together and you could park a truck on it.

I probably wouldn't do this with a 3' cabinet, but at 14", there is zero to worry about.


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## Delete (May 19, 2017)

Shelves are not good for planes or plane blades which is why I thought you were using a solid wood back. A nice board with a pair of wood dowels installed for each plane is a better way to store and display planes. When you open the doors they are all displayed in front of you floating in air, which is good for the plane and the blades. But to each his own.

Cheers Tony


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## tonyennis (Oct 24, 2009)

Carlos, I won't be putting the planes on shelves. Someone else mentioned it as a possibility.


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