All parts of the First Aid Cabinet are ready now.
A few last hands on and then it is ready to use.
Drawer
The Drawer wasn't complete last time. The pins had to be cut on the drawer front.
That was just making a few saw cuts, then chiseling out the waste. Then the side pieces could be fitted.
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| Sawing the pins |
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| Paring out the waste |
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| Test fit pins and tails |
The drawer front has got a little dent at the corner (left side in the picture) because it was falling to the floor. And the one in the middle has got a tiny gap which will be filled with a small wedge.
With the sides installed to the drawer front, they will be cut to length. Therefore I inserted the drawer flipped over into the opening and made a mark on every side piece.
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| Drawer flipped over |
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| Marking the side length |
Now the pieces were cut to length.
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| Front with final side pieces |
That done I cut a rabbet at the end of every piece. That was really fragile work and I had to pay attention.
Penultimate step is to install the back panel into the rabbets.
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| Drawer pieces before assembly |
After everything fits well I made a groove near the bottom of every piece. In this groove the bottom panel will be inserted.
Done!
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| Cabinet with drawer |
I have got one little mistake, which I recognized after I was ready with rabbeting and grooving.
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| Grooves are to deep |
Drawer Glue Up
After touching all parts for a final smoothing the parts were glued together.
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| You can't have enough clamps |
Door Glue Up
All parts smoothed they could be glued together. Light pressure with two clamps for the sides and a clamp at every corner so that the bridle joints will set nicely.
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| More clamps... |
Case Glue Up
The glue up is not rocket science. But you need some time and calm.
Here is the order of fitting the case parts together:
- Installing the shelf into the case side panels.
- Fitting the bottom between the sides.
- Inserting the back panel
- Fitting the top between the sides.
- Checking for squareness.
- Inserting the dowels
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| Glue up preparation |
The glue up procedure was prepared. Glue, glue stick, hammer, an old chisel and a square were waiting to be used.
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| Even more clamps.... |
Door installation
The door will be installed with two brass hinges.
This is done by cutting and chiseling out the openings for the hinges and mounting them.
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| Chopping the hinge recess |
A French Cleat
To hang the cabinet to a wall a french cleat was planned.
It is pretty easy to make some. Here is how I do them.
Cut two pieces of wood to length so that it will fit between the sides on the back side of the cabinet.
Now superimpose them and cut or plane a 45 degree angle on both pieces at the same time.
If you are done you have got two corresponding pieces, if you will flip over one of them.
The one for the wall you can shorten a bit, so you will have room for adjustment at the wall.
Last step is to bore two holes in the wall piece and to glue the other onto the back of your cabinet.
Smoothing The Case
Once everything was glued and trimmed I finished the case, the door frame and the drawer with a smoother.
Just a few swipes with a shallow set #4. Of course a freshly sharpened blade.
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| Completed cabinet |
I like the look of the dowels and I will leave the case as it is.
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| Detail drawer and dowels |
Finishing
Ready for finishing. Most of my builds I'm finishing with an aqua wax varnish. That is really easy to use, very forgiving and looks pretty good.
After two coats of it I finish my piece with steel wool and hard wax.
Stencil
I wanted to paint the front door with a nice first aid kit sign. But I'm not ready with the design.
But I'm sure that I will stencil it. As soon I've got the final draft I'll post it here.
Content
In my First Aid Kit are some plaster, a scissor, a tweezer, some tissues and a good drop of medicine if times are too hard.
Conclusion
I call it done for now although I have to finish some details.
When I have installed the hinges yesterday evening I recognized that the screws I had, are too long for the door. So I have to buy some these days.
And it was too late to finish the piece. I'll do that the next days, too.
I'm lucky how it came out, even if it is not 100% perfect.
It was a training project for me to discover some topics.
- If you want to make a quick box, then a rabbet joint is a good alternative.
- Doweling pulls pieces tightly together.
- One of the sources for my dovetail errors is positioning the tails for marking the pins.
- Avoiding mistakes is for sure the best approach, but if they happen don't sweat it.
Smart repairs will fix some major issues.
What's Next?
In my post Furniture of Desire I mentioned already that I'll start a new project.
Maybe it will be a more serious piece of furniture.
And honestly not every aspect of the planned piece is clear to me already.
So I'll write while designing, planning, building and learning about it.
If you are interested in I would be glad if you will follow my posts and we can discuss about the one or the other aspect.
Nevertheless I have to do some last touches to the First Aid Cabinet. I'll let you know as soon as the door is painted.
Do You Like This Post?
If you found this post useful check out the upcoming post on next Wednesday.
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