Small cabinet build-along

[AlistairD]

The build is coming along great! Love how the pulls have turned out.

[hbmcc]

I glued the pulls on, and spent a bunch of time cleaning up and smoothing the cabinet. Also started on the frame and panel back. And I learned something.

Small drawers obviously need small pulls. But more than that, I chose the specific shape so you can just barely get the tip of your thumb and forefinger on it. I hoped this would encourage people to open the drawers gently, and not dump the drawers and their contents on the ground. That seems to work well and was a good choice. But it was also a bad choice, of maybe I should say an unfortunate one. The natural way to grasp the pulls is thumb on top, forefinger underneath. This action naturally lifts the front just a little, and the drawer binds on the runners. If you grasp the pull by the sides, opening is a lot smoother. So I learned that the pulls should have been vertical.

Aram, gems come in small packages, and this observation is one. Thanks for illuminating the potential problem. Now, for a solution, perhaps one of those boring "flat" projections so many others use? I see vertical pulls dividing the drawer banks further creating a balance issue with the door on the right. And, you have horizontal tenons to contend with.

My own conundrum is a "simple" solution to fingernail damage on wood surrounding the pull. Pacific N. West native woods are softer than eastern furniture species.

Always enjoy watching and virtually sharing your progress. Thanks,
Bruce

[Aram]

Aram, gems come in small packages, and this observation is one. Thanks for illuminating the potential problem. Now, for a solution, perhaps one of those boring "flat" projections so many others use?
Thanks. I would not like that look, I think, though mechanically it would work. Anyway, the mortises are done, and so is the gluing. So I am going to have to live with it.

I see vertical pulls dividing the drawer banks further creating a balance issue with the door on the right. Yes, one more reason I should have put the door compartment in the middle. Turned pulls might have worked, but I don't have a lathe. Live and learn And, you have horizontal tenons to contend with. This is true. For the small amount of strength needed, I think that could be solved easily enough though. For instance, a small but wedged through tenon.

[Aram]

Rob Lee said, listen to The Handsome Family. So I got a CD and did. Definitely country, definitely unique sounding. Also Valentina Lisista -- whose name I usually mispronounce (probably on purpose, at this point) but I like my Woodnet membership and I'm not saying how -- playing Rachmaninoff. A bunch of good pop and country today while doing the tedious stuff.

I made the back, and fitted it with hand planes. I don't have the screws I need yet, so here it is, placed, but not secured (and anyway, not sanded and finished).



Another one of the joints pulled apart. I think my original bottle of glue was not good. I yanked on the other joints that I re-glued a while back, and they seem ok, but this makes me nervous. I put fresh glue in as well as I could and left it clamped. 

I spent most of today applying shellac to the drawers, door, rear panel, and shelf, sanding lightly, and repeating.

[TomFromStLouis]

I too am finding a couple of light coats of shellac, sanded, is a great finish for parts that do not need much. Do you sand as the final step or shellac? I am leaning towards 0000 steel wool as a final step for that matte finish look.

My current build is also a small cabinet and I hope the back fits as well as yours.

[Aram]

I too am finding a couple of light coats of shellac, sanded, is a great finish for parts that do not need much. Do you sand as the final step or shellac? I am leaning towards 0000 steel wool as a final step for that matte finish look.

My current build is also a small cabinet and I hope the back fits as well as yours.

I sand very, very lightly between coats with 400 grit sandpaper. But like you, I use 0000 steel wool for the final clean up. I am also going to wax every surface that shows on the outside.

Can we coerce you into showing build pics along the way?

[TomFromStLouis]

I am one of those Neanderthals that never recovered from Photobucket restricting access to my pictures. Never figured out the best free way to post pictures.

If you are on Instagram I post mostly final project photos there; process does not interest the general public as much as woodworkers. 

@tomsontagwood

I appreciate the photography, playlists, and commentary you put into these threads. This one feels close to the finish line....

[Aram]

Sanding, applying finish, and cleaning up minor defects here and there. The Blasters, a New Zealand jangle pop group called The Bats, early Beatles, Flogging Molly.


And I made dividers for the wide drawers. I will glue the divider pieces to each other, but lightly press fit into drawer. That way, I can reconfigure it in the future if i ever want to.

[Aram]

I applied shellac to everything, and Renaissance wax to the outside surface. Listened to Charley Pride, who passed away from Covid the other day. And as it my tradition, on the final stages, I listened to my favorite rock band since I was a teenager, Little Feat.

I made my usual number of technical mistakes. I don't mind, much, and I managed to recover from many of them. For that, I would like to thank everyone who has taught me over the years, which means a lot of Woodnetters -- even if they don't know it. I made some design mistakes too, but that's learning. I like the way the pulls came out, but as I said, I discovered that they are not the most practical here. The door facing the wrong way will always bug me a little. Interestingly, to me anyway, I was looking at Krenov pieces online yesterday, and I noticed one of them similar in construction to my cabinet, and he had the knife hinge mounted where I decided it couldn't be. So, maybe I had that option after all. If I had it to do over again, I would put the door in the middle anyway. And it is clear that I should have used veneered plywood with sapele edging for the compartment dividers. In the end, my solution works fine and doesn't detract from the piece, but it was a goofy choice.

In a lot of ways, this feels like a prototype. I learned a lot doing it, and it was a fun build. I won't do another just like it, but it might be fun to do a much larger version, with a similar construction, for some other use.

In the final stages, I wasn't sure how much I liked it. But now it's in my home, and I do like it. And I have a solution for my knife problem.

[cputnam]

That is one beautiful, gorgeous piece of work.





Interestingly, to me, the straight-on, eye-level shot calls to mind one of the "walkers" from Star Wars. Now I have to ask you - what knife problem?