Liquor Cabinet for a Friend

[Jim DeLaney]

Glenn said: "My eyesight challenges continue so more light is good. These little gooseneck LED lights are about $30 a pair and I have been using them as machine lights for some time."

I have about half a dozen of those around the shop, and currently use one as a bedside reading lamp.

They've almost doubled in price over time, though. They're $28.99 EACH now, or two for $55.00. Still very worthwhile, even at those prices.

 

[glenn bradley]

This post is going to wander a bit. Probably because I started before daylight and then had to go take a mid-morning nap. You've all seen this little rig before. It quickly mounts to the disc sander and allows for repeatable angle grinds.

I drew lines in for common angles and these are generally good enough for most woodworking.

If in doubt it is easy enough to check.

Bevel the ends of the legs to avoid spelching if the cabinet is moved during house cleaning.

I resaw some material to make the front frame. Despite having been in the environment for years the material can still exhibit stress release when resawn; very disappointing. This is why we cut our blanks oversize and plan for a certain percentage of spoil in any project.

It is apparently time to have a box-making marathon right after this project.

I am gathering way too much "too good to burn but not big enough to use" stock.

I had clamped the legs together to keep them safe. I am usually pretty diligent about using cauls but apparently got lazy. The amount of time to remove the stain is way more than the amount of time required to grab a piece of scrap for a caul. Why do I do this??? It is one of the mysteries of life.

I started about 5am today and while I was selecting material for the front frame I heard a weird sound. It was coming from my tablesaw . . .

I then realized it was coyote calls and was being carried in from the DC ducting.





The little buggers were out here. Probably hunting the rabbits that live and breed under some of the out buildings. These pictures were taken later after the sun came up. I didn't go out right away since I don't want to scare them off . . . they keep the critter population down.

Anyway, finally got the front frame (basically a face frame but captured between the legs instead of applied to the case) joinery done.

I will glue that up and let it set while I do the back frame for the lower carcass.

 

[glenn bradley]

The back frame and panel will be poplar. I know, boring, but, never seen. I cut some blanks from a board that has been in the racks for years. This will get resawn to yield the stock required.



I do my usual witness marks to track milling progress.

I am after some 3/4" material for this frame and just barely make it.

I think this is a good time to break for coffee.

I will start to make the back slats after I recharge.

 

[glenn bradley]

I had a brain-fade . . . I should have made stopped grooves on the upper and lower of this rear frame that will capture the back slats. I grab a piece of scrap out of the burn barrel and fill the end of the grooves.

This is to provide better support for the floating tenon joinery.

That done, I glue up and square up the frame. As is my habit I use clamping squares and a reference surface to assure things are well aligned.

You old timers have seen me do this many times. Just in case some visitor wanders in and this is the only post of mine they see . . .
I use stacked feather boards (most of the time) when resawing at the bandsaw.

I use a piece of the stock (or a scrap from it if the actual blank is unwieldy) to set the feather board depth.

If there will be a lot of surface area under pressure at the fence I will add a clamp. This is not terribly tight as the fence rail is an aluminum extrusion. It just adds a bit of friction to assure that the fence does not try to creep on me. This has only happened a couple of times but, I don't have much room for error on this material.

I resaw off a part. This leaves me a part and the blank with one milled face and one resawn face. I plane the blank to provide me with two milled faces once again.

I adjust the feather boards and make the next cut.

The yield is 6 parts with one true face and one bandsawn face.

These are about 1/2" in thickness. I will mill them some more to get the 3/8" back slats I am after.

 

[glenn bradley]

With the back slats cut to width and length I mill the rabbets. The top has a longer tongue.

The bottom has a shorter.

This allows me to slip the top tongue into the deep groove in the top rail.

This allows clearance for the bottom tongue.

And they slide into position. With the planned gaps between slats there is enough room to insert them all in this way. I use some 1/8" strips to set the spacing.

And I end up with this look.

The white and green poplar will get dyed. This will be the back panel in the lower part of the cabinet behind the doors.

 

[glenn bradley]

So here is that olive green poplar after a couple of hits with Watco Dark Walnut and 20 drops of Transtint black per ounce.