white oak buffet/server

allen levine

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new york city burbs
I managed to get the sides assembled by this early afternoon.
The heat and holiday have kept me away from the garage.
Its expected to be 102 tomorrow, with higher humidity, so it looks like I wont be doing much more this week on the unit.
I scratched the original plans, and redrew it all on my work bench tops yesterday, and some of the measurements on scrap pieces of maple ply.
I tossed the original plans and put the mortiser away again.
I made all the panels, will make the face frame and doors with pocket screws.
Its quick, easy and strong.
Used an upcut spiral bit on the router table to cut the dados for the panels, and learned quickly the slightest let go of the boards the bit cut through the faces. I had cut extra lengths of oak and left the original mitre sets on the mitre saw so I could recut rails or stiles if needed.
My only slight error, was that when I glued up the legs, laminated from several boards each, I made sure the front of each leg had the same face grain so they would all match. I have alot of different grades and grains of white oak. I wanted to use all my short pieces for this build.
When I cut the tapers, (2 sided) I forgot to orient the boards for the opposite side of the unit, and ofcourse now the face grains dont match exactly on each side of the unit's legs. The mistake is clear in the second picture, but with oil it might match up enough so it isnt an issue.(clearly an idiotic mistake, something at this point in the game I should not have made, but I wouldnt taper all four sides of the legs)
my plans are to have a 60x20 inch 6/4 white oak top. It will overhand each side by 6.5 inches, and the cabinet will be 16.5 inches off the floor. The top will be 36 inches high, legs are 34.5 inches high.Cabinet will be 18 inches high, with plywood bottom.(Im more secure with plywood bottom so less concern about wood movement) Two doors on cabinet are intended, using 35 mm cup hidden hinges, face frame mounted inset doors. At least thats my plans, where Ill end up I never know.The panels on each side are from the same piece of 5/4 oak, I resawed it in half, and planed down to correct size. Ill do the same for door panels, but not sure which color wood Im using for doors yets.
 

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He's a machine I tell you. A machine!:rofl: Thats the beauty of wood Allen. All the variations of color and grain. If it all looked the same might as well just paint it. Keep up the great work cause your doing something right.:type::wave:
 
Machine is right. He gets more done in a day that I do in a week, and he's battling heat, humidity, and health.

It's looking good so far, Allen. :thumb: Do take things easy in the heat you all are having out there. ;)
 
its 3 am, and because I didnt do anything today except lounge around and nap, Im up and bored.I really have to say I dont think I build at any exceptional speed, I just have alot of free time I devote to woodworking.
It was brutal here today, 102 with high humidity, yet my wife went working around 8 pm on the boardwalk at the beach and after warnings blarring all over the TVS warning people about stayiny indoors and staying cool, she said the boardwalk was wall to wall people. I say I bet the emergency rooms are packed tonight with all the heat frustration and heat related problems.
 
with these hot ridiculous temps, I cant get anyone to dig the trench I need to lay the new electric line.
I certainly cant do it, and noone else wants to work in this heat.
I dont have enough power right now to run the compressor and dust collector plus operate a planer/jointer/ and or TS. Im stuck.
I have to run the ACs in my home, and that is sucking all the juice I need for the garage. If I plug anything in, I blow a circuit.
Ive been running my planer without any dustcollection. Im shooting it down my driveway. Im sure my neighbor is thrilled.
 
Allen, I needed several holes dug for a dry well i wanted. Couldn't do it myself due to health issues. I put and ad on craigslist offering $50.00 for someone to dig the holes 36" wide and 48" deep. Within 2 hours I had someone here. 2 dozen people responded.
 
I have a landscaper these days to maintain my small lawn and bushes.
He has a large crew and will do it for me, but this was a short week and in this heat I dont think hell send anyone. I spoke to the electrician, and he told me even if he has to work late in the evening, hed do it for me.
I noticed my lawn was browning out and didnt realize my auto sprinkler system was tied into the same electric line, so no watering. That isnt a problem, neither is the no dishwasher, but lack of power in the garage is a huge problem for me.
 
Its hot out there baby!!!!!!

what is going on? global warming?
Its ridiculous. Its 100 today with humidity and dew points all the way up.
I feel like I live in the tropics.
I managed only 2 hours out there this afternoon, before I started having back spasms. Its so hot its hard to stay hydrated. Especially fat old men.
If anyone looks at these pics today, offer an opinion on the doors.
My original plan was 3 doors, something different, but then I decided 2 doors.
But these are large openings, 13x16 and 3/4. I have to use at least I believe 2 and 1/4 inch wide door frames to drill cups holes for hinges.
Should I just put the 2 doors like I originally planned, or just make 4 small doors, 2 on each side, with small narrow frames(panelled fronts), and just get new hinges,? againI voiced my opinion to my wife, she thinks different. Im curious as to what anyone who views this thread thinks.
Heres some pics, where Im at.
I usually start from the inside out, but Im just sliding in the cabinet box eventually, maple/birch plywood box, with 3 inch wide hardwood top strips to hold tabletop clips, for solid top.There will be a rear top rail to hold the case together, pocket screwed in.I just glued and screwed the box support to the legs and sides, so the box will have alot of support if anything heavy is put in it.

btw, if you look at the side panel I show, the upper right joint is not perfect.
Its wet wiping, I keep doing it when I have excess glue, and Im almost sure the wood absorbs some water, especially in this heat, then swells eventually, and the joints dont look perfect as they did when I left them. I could be wrong, but this is what it seems like to me.

I did make changes on the fly. I had planed slightly arc'ed lower rails on front and sides, but since the table had all square and straight lines, I decided to leave it all straight.
 

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Wow what progress Allen. Here is my view on the doors. I am a practicle sort of person.

I presume this hutch is going to go in a dinning room or an area dedicated as a dinning area for the table. Well way i see it if there are only 2 doors when one is in front of the unit and needs to get into it and the dinning table is standing with its chairs along side it then the door width of the 2 door only option would mean substantial space from hutch to the table and chair combo.

Now 2 smaller doors on either opening means the doors need less room to open in. and hence would suite a dinning room tight on space. Of course packing the bottom i think the two door option like you say would mean there is no small doors hanging in the middle when you trying to slide say a big serving tray into the hutch from one side.

I think for aesthetics sake either will be fine, just more hinges to get lined up if you split the two sides into 4 doors and the dealing with the gap alignement etc cause you aint got a middle rail in the front of each opening. If you went for 4 doors i would make them flush into the face frame.
 
what rob and alan and bob and glenn said:) also use a inner over lap on your doors to keep the light out and to hid your door joint in the middle use a bead perhaps. also for a thinner look next time allen use the legs as your stiles on the sides rather than a double stile look.. makes it look like its thinner piece with stought legs:thumb:
 
also use a inner over lap on your doors to keep the light out and to hid your door joint in the middle use a bead perhaps. :

youre going to have to explain this a bit for me. An inner over lap? Attached to the inside of the face frame? The door? And Im a bit lost on using a bead to hide the door joint in the middle. Im sorry, I might be in brain lock mode, expand on this answer to help me out.

and the legs, that was in my original thoughts when I drew it up, but I had a nice piece of 10 inch white oak that I was able to resaw and get exact matching sides, and I didnt want to glue up, so I figured keeping the stiles and rails even with the legs and using oil might make it all look a bit more solid.

Im itching to use the vertical panel raising bit I purchased to make 2 nice huge doors for the front, but youre going to have to just explain the inner over lap for me.
 
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this will give you the idea allen jut do one side likt the left side of the blue pic and the other side of the other door like the right side and have your panels be what ever..

link
 
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