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Near death cabinet

Rennie Heuer

Rennie Heuer

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Constantine, MI
You may have seen the beginnings of this in a “Friday” thread a couple of weeks ago. The first 6” of the sides was completely rotted and the bottom shelf had some rot at the ends and was very badly cupped. The T&G back was also rotted at the bottom. In essence, the whole bottom had to be replaced.
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I removed the back and cut off about 8” of the sides. This allowed me to get above the rot and some splitting that was taking place. Turns out the entire cabinet is made from poplar a full 1” thick.

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I fabricated a quick guide that allowed me to use a flush trim bit in my router to square up the ends and insure that my dimensions on each end were the same.

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I milled the material for the side extensions and duplicated the scallop cut out at the base. Then I used a whole lot of biscuits to strengthen the joint (Thanks Ted). Later that portion of the end would also be attached to the lower shelf so I thought the biscuit joint would be strong enough.

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Next installment - bottom shelf and drawers.
 
Man that was in worse shape than it looked :eek: Good call on the router jig, I like how you carried it down to make it easier to square up, smart thinking!

Are the pocket screws on the original wood original or additional re-enforcement? It's kind of interesting to see what techniques were used when (most seem to have been around longer than I'd naively given them credit for).

Also :lurk: :lurk: :D
 
Ryan Mooney said:
Man that was in worse shape than it looked :eek: Good call on the router jig, I like how you carried it down to make it easier to square up, smart thinking!

Are the pocket screws on the original wood original or additional re-enforcement? It's kind of interesting to see what techniques were used when (most seem to have been around longer than I'd naively given them credit for).


Also :lurk: :lurk: :D
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The entire piece was constructed using wrought iron nails, mortise and tenon joints and some dados. The center stile between the doors was M&T as are the doors, shelves were dados and everything held together with the nails. All pocket hole screws are mine placed for additional strength. The nails might give a clue to the cabinets age.

larry merlau said:
cant imagine someone wanting that fixed, looking forward to seeing the rest of it..
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Emotion is a strong dictator.
 
Rennie Heuer said:
The entire piece was constructed using wrought iron nails, mortise and tenon joints and some dados. The center stile between the doors was M&T as are the doors, shelves were dados and everything held together with the nails. All pocket hole screws are mine placed for additional strength. The nails might give a clue to the cabinets age.
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The nails are probably worth more than the cabinet :rolleyes:

I've seen a few pocket screw like deals where the screw was made before machine cut screws, but usually the "pocket" was chisel cut. So I know the idea has been around since at least sometime in the late 1800's, and probably earlier. I hadn't seen any with the more modern type of holes on a piece that looked as old as yours, but it was certainly possible.. hence my curiosity.

Quite the project anyway (back to :lurk: )
 
The next step was to make the bottom shelf. 1” thick poplar and a whole lot of pocket screws. The shelf needs to do more than just be a shelf. I am depending on it to help hold those patched in sides rigid.

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When I got the cabinet there were no drawers. They had long ago been discarded and some thin plywood was nailed over the openings. Although most of the support structure was intact I decided to start over deeming it to be easier than adapting the old. I started with the wooden runners. No slides for these drawers, strictly old school. The openings in the front in this picture are hidden behind that piece of pine I was using as a spacer.

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Drawer boxes and tongue and groove back are next.
 
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Lookin' good Rennie and good-on-ya for putting out the effort. I restored something not quite that far gone once . . . cured me for all time :rofl:
 
You are the Master!! Going to be better than when it was new.

I just started watching the series "Repair Shop" on NetFlix. They repair all sorts of antiques. Pretty interesting but really very little detail on how they do the actual repairs. At least not enough that I can learn anything from it.
 
After doing over a cabinet in not near as bad of condition as this one many years ago, I came to the conclusion that it was easier to copy the design and just make a new cabinet with new materials. It's faster and easier.

Charley
 
Nearing the end of my part of this project as Jan will be doing all of the painting and distressing.

Straightforward construction on the drawers with a simple lock rabbet joint. They are 5/8” hard maple with a 1/4” birch ply bottom. Finished with two coats of seal coat and lightly sanded with 1000 grit they are smooth as silk.

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Last of the major tasks was the back. 3/4 inch poplar tongue and groove. The two end pieces are screwed to the case and case top to help add some rigidity. wash coat of linen milk paint on the interior, seal coat of shellac on the exterior.

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Coming up, fitting the doors and attaching the drawer fronts.
 
Looking good, Rennie!

One critique, though: I'd have put the back's pocket screws on the inside.

Once turned over to Jan, what color will it be? Is this going to be for personal use? Sale? For a client?

With all the time and effort you're putting into it, I'm kinda inclined to agree with Charlie - making a completely new one would've been easier and quicker - but where's the challenge in that, eh?
 
Jim DeLaney said:
Looking good, Rennie!

One critique, though: I'd have put the back's pocket screws on the inside.

Once turned over to Jan, what color will it be? Is this going to be for personal use? Sale? For a client?

With all the time and effort you're putting into it, I'm kinda inclined to agree with Charlie - making a completely new one would've been easier and quicker - but where's the challenge in that, eh?
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I considered putting the screws on the inside but this piece will spend the rest of its foreseeable future against a wall and the back, once placed, will never be seen. However, I expect the owner will want to show off the interior.

The color will be pretty close to where it is now, perhaps a shade or two darker, but we are planning to beat it up - at least the new parts - to replicate the wear and tear on the rest of the cabinet.

This is going to a friend of the family. It was her grandmothers and she has memories (rather old memories) of this cabinet sitting in grandma's kitchen. That was long before it took on a new life as a shop cabinet and then years of being stored on a dirt floor. Yes, a new one might have been easier, but it would not have been grandma's.
 
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