First Aid Cabinet (Part 4)

This was a busy week and I'm behind my pace.
But anyway, a door and a drawer is needed.
And after the carcass assembly (I've reported about in my last post) went well together, this time we will have a look at the door.

Glue up

Although I have written that we will have a look at the glue up this time, we won't.
To be honest I'm not ready for gluing up the whole thing.
I can't tell you why, but my gut is telling me not to do it yet. Had you ever such a feeling?
One reason is that I haven't decided if the back panel will be painted.

A Cabinet Door

The door will be a frame and panel construction. To join the frame parts bridle joints will be used.
That said here is how I have done it.

Because the stiles and rails will be pretty narrow, I was thinking that it would be a good idea to cut the grooves into the edges before I'll cut the board into pieces.

To make it more clear.

I took the rest of the board where I had cut the case pieces from. Brought it to dimension.

Then I smoothed one side of the board as a reference face.

Now a groove was cut into the squared edge. This has got the advantage that I've got the full board as reference for the fence of the plough plane.

Therefore I had marked out the grooves with a double gauge.

Marking the grooves

Here you can see the lines darkened by my magic pencil.

Lines for the grooves

The fence of the plough plane was adjusted based on these lines.

That guarantees that the groove is positioned at the right place of every piece

And then the groove was plowed.

Groovin' :-)

When the groove is established I marked out two lines each from my reference edge.

Mark out the cutting lines

The first distance is the final width of the door parts. The second one is a few millimeters more so that I've got some room for sawing and a new knife line I can shoot to.

After establishing these lines I had ripped this piece.
Unfortunately I haven't got a small panel saw hence I've used my Veritas tenon saw.

Rip sawing the parts

The sawed piece will be shot on the shooting board. This was done until the final widths was reached and the edge is dead square.

Shooting to width

Because it is not so easy to handle narrow stock on the shooting board I had used a backing block. This way the fingers are safe (yeah, I've learned to watch them...).
This done I took the board again. Shot again a new reference edge, cut the next groove and so forth. I guess you got the idea.
I've done this until I had four similar pieces.

Four pieces for the door frame

Now I started to lay out the bridle joint on one of the stile pieces.
The dual marking gauge had still the setting from the grooves which is exactly the setting for the tenons.

Tenon layout

I squared one end. Then I marked the width of the tenon, which I took from the rails part. The tenon layout was done with the marking gauge.

And then sawed down the tenon cheeks.

Sawing the tenon cheeks

That done I marked out the mortises. It's pretty much the same process. Transfer the width from the stiles part. Mark the mortise with the marking gauge. And then saw down on the inside of the mortise.

After sawing down to the line a bit of chisel work has to be done. But because of the narrow and thin stock it is really easy.

And here it is.

Bridle Joint

The first bridle joint. The picture shows how it came out after sawing and a bit of chiseling.

Not bad at all I think.

The same procedure has to be used to the other three corners.

One last thing I want to mention is how to get the measurements.

I'm always taking my measurements from the corresponding parts. In this case the carcass.

Transfer measurements

Again, hopefully the picture makes it clear. Position the part on the corresponding one and then transfer the measurement with a sharp knife. Just make a nick.
Cutting and fitting the joints is pretty forward.
After all the pieces are done I've got the final dimensions for the door panel.
And as the back panel I will make it from plywood.

Dry Fit

Now all the parts have to be stuck together. Before the last part will be used, the panel has to be inserted.

Everything fits fine? The frame is nice and square? Great.
Again, ready for glue up.

Next Time

Hopefully the next time I can report about how all the things will come together.

And drawer has to be build yet.  

What Do You Think?

Question of the week. Have you ever had the feeling not to glue up?

I'd love to read your thoughts. What were your reason?

Do You Like This Post?

If you found this post useful check out the next post on next Wednesday.