New Project Forthcoming :) Starting the Finish

[Lord Nibbo]

I've designed a cupboard unit to match the existing drawer unit made in American Black Walnut.

This is a pic of the drawer unit.


This project will also be made from ABW.

Here are some pics of the design.

Slightly bigger than the drawer unit, this is 52" long and 24" high


Made to match an existing draw unit this cupboard will have two hinged doors to the left and right and the centre door will be hinged from the bottom.









Not very good rendering I know but this pic gives a taste of what it will look like, even without the doors fitted.

[Lord Nibbo]

Wooops! didn't realize how big the pics were. Any problems and I'll delete them and add a url link instead. Just let me know quickly....

Been back and attacked the pics with a chopper

[andy]

Full sized drawings then

or is that your rod ;D


looking good your lordship

[Lord Nibbo]

andy said:

Full sized drawings then

or is that your rod ;D


looking good your lordship

Sort of, just had a thought maybe I could use the pics and trace out the plans,

[dom]

I liked the first one LN so this will match up nicely.

Question: what type of hinges will you use and how will the flap hold open ?

[Lord Nibbo]

dom said:

I liked the first one LN so this will match up nicely.

Question: what type of hinges will you use and how will the flap hold open ?

I've got a pair of stays the same as what I used on my HiFi unit
as seen in this pic


I shall use little ball catches for the fastners on the doors.

For hinges using euro type kitchen hinges did cross my mind but they are so big and ugly, and as the doors are all flush fitted I suppose small brass butt hinges would suffice. Has anyone got a better suggestion?

Talking of the doors, I intend them to be flat panels with all the grain running vertical (The draw unit was horizontal) They are all 16" wide x 18" High and 3/4" thick and I do see problems with warping. I don't want any visual rails on the front but I could rebate rails in the back of the doors to help stop any warping, do you think 16" is asking too much regarding a cross grain situation? or should I just leave them flat panels with all the grain running the same way?

[nickw]

If you don't want to see the hinges at all then the Soss or Barrell/Cylinder type are probably your best bet. Isaac Lord stock both types.

[Lord Nibbo]

nickw said:

If you don't want to see the hinges at all then the Soss or Barrell/Cylinder type are probably your best bet. Isaac Lord stock both types.

Never thought of using them, and I do have some might need some more though.

[dom]

I think you should run a couple of rails in the back of the doors LN, but even then there are no guarantees.

[engineerone]

ln looks good, but why not make the doors out of veneered
mdf, even if you have to veneer yourself, it would certainly be more stable.

paul

[Lord Nibbo]

Both Doms and engineerones are good alternatives. I've never done any veneering perhaps I ought try it out on a test piece

[Lord Nibbo]

So it begins

With the 1" boards acclimatised and cut over length by approximately 4” to allow me to cut off any snipe every piece was edged on one edge and faced on the jointer/planer then passed through the thicknesser down to 7/8th. I'll leave it now for a day or two before finally thicknessing down to 3/4".





I would estimate 25% contains sapwood so a lot of sawing gluing and a lot of selecting the best faces are going to be the order of the day to cut down on a lot of waste.

More to follow

[dom]

Mmmmm, you can almost smell the walnut, no, I actually can. That's spooky.

[Lord Nibbo]

After four days led on my back from lifting something I shouldn't of I managed to do some more on the cupboard this morning


First I laid out all the boards ready for ripping to maximise yeald and cutting all the sapwood out.




Here is a pic of the shorter lengths ripped down and all the waste




All edges jointed, next step glue up into wider boards and thickness to 3/4"




Rather a lot of waste though

[Telos]

Oooh! I like the way you've snuck in a gratuitous picture of a JessEm MiteRexcel I was thinking about collecting, err, I mean buying one of those. Is it all shiny and aluminium like and like... or is it a waste of money?

[Lord Nibbo]

telos said:

Oooh! I like the way you've snuck in a gratuitous picture of a JessEm MiteRexcel I was thinking about collecting, err, I mean buying one of those. Is it all shiny and aluminium like and like... or is it a waste of money?

;D Is it a waste of Money? No way, pure perfection.

[Lord Nibbo]

This afternoon I biscuited all the top


Then glued up the top in two halfs


Tomorrow I'll glue the two together then do the same to make up the two end panels.

[jaco]

LN, looking good!

Waste? What waste?
I am sure you need new specs!

Any piece of so-called "waste" is just another idea/inspiration waiting to be born!

[Lord Nibbo]

The top is fully glued up. The two ends still in two halves so one more glue up finishes the main panels. This pic shows the underside of the main top, so don't worry about the odd sap wood showing. You can't have enough clamps can you.

[Lord Nibbo]

So the real woodwork really begins here in my view. Starting with a good scrape, it gets a much better finish than sanding.




A bit of TLC for the end panels too.




90deg cut, I had to break out my big sled for this, my normal panel sledge wasn't big enough.




Both end panels got mitred down one side only but both were mitered to length to ensure they were exactly the same length




The top piece and both the end panels get their final edges mitred all together to ensure they are exactly the same width




The top mitred on all four edges and both ends mitred on three edges




Both end panels have 3/8" deep 1/2" wide stopped dado's for the bottom board




The top upside down is placed on the cramps, they are pulled up so the are just snug to the end of the mitres




The vertical clamps do all the work, the horizontal clamps stop the side panel from spreading




The two stays make sure it's at 90deg and fillets for added strength

[Lord Nibbo]

Both end are on, the bottom has been cut to size and routed out for the divider panels which have also been cut ready to fit. I still need to rout out the the underside of the top for the dividers but I have already marked out where to cut.

[mailee]

Looking really good so far. I like Dom swear I can smell the Walnut too, hmmm. Oh and by the way in the first picture is that your van in the background as it looks like the reg is 'Vietnam'

[Lord Nibbo]

mailee said:

Oh and by the way in the first picture is that your van in the background as it looks like the reg is 'Vietnam'

No such luck, it's just a plain ordinary number. I don't go in for wasting money on flashy number plates, I rather buy a nice new shiny tool

[Lord Nibbo]

The unit is still upside down. The bottom and dividing panels get fitted. The bottom is glued into the dado for only about five inches at the front, to add strength a fillet has been added near the front edge on both ends.



The left hand (remember it's upside down) face piece gets glued on, no pins (my names not Norm)



At the rear a slotted block has been glued to the end panel but screwed to the bottom, the slot will allow any movement of the end panel.



Same procedure for the right hand face piece.



Here is a better pic of the left hand piece after the glue had gone off.

[Lord Nibbo]

The unit the correct way up but I had to screw some planks on the bottom temporarily as it’s longer than my assembly table. All the face pieces fitted, just the doors to do on the front now. I might start the back and leave the doors to the very last thing. Whatever I cant do anymore until at least Sunday