hi, on the woodpecker today, i'm starting to built a water cabinet, so the mutt will have her own grooming station. for a while now, renã©e has been requesting that her rat should have her own grooming station. now she's sharing it with me for washing my hand when i come back from the shop; when it's not cleaning other stuff... but i can't help it; i have no water inside the shop... but i'm sure you remember that when i got the yard dug up, i've passed a water pipe along the electric wires, and since then i've never done anything with it.
the pipe ends up inside the shop directly on this wall; so i want to build a cabinet wich will look very much like my mitre station. so i started my plans with the actual mitre station and will modify it for my new cabinet. the first thing i did, was to buy all the elm my lumber yard had on its rack. but now, i have to cut it in smaller pieces before surfacing it all. when i'm done, i check my plan and notice that i'm missing one rail. so i'll take this piece, which comes from a coffee table that i picked up in the garbage and add a piece of wood between the feet. when the glue is dry, i surface and make one rail with that piece. then i rip all the rails and stiles.
when i'm done, with my plan’s help, i cut all those pieces to length. i had a lot of pieces to cut, but now that i'm done i can assemble the sides and mark the all the mortises’ placement, and cut them. when i'm done, i dry assemble everything, just to check if it fits. i also take the time to identify each joint, so i won't have any surprises later. after a little while, i have three side assemblies, but i still have to make grooves for their plywood panel. so after setting the height of the bit, i cut them all. for the stiles i cut a stop groove in between the mortises. but not on the rails. then i need to square out the ends of each stop groove.
then i can reassemble it all and measure the panel size. when i have the measurements, i can get a full sheet of plywood from the shed and put it onto the workbench. after marking it, i can cut a strip. next i cut this into panels. after it's time to make a rabbet around those panels, so they will fit inside the groove. after a last check, i disassemble it all and sand the spots that will be hard to reach after the final glue up. speaking of glue up, it's time to glue all three side frames. when i'm done with one, i just put it aside and glue the next one.
i also take care to check for squareness. when i'm done, i leave all three frames to dry for a week or so. why a week? i took a small vacation and went grouse hunting with my friend franã§ois. but my hunting trip was more of a walking trip. it's what happens when a forest looks like that now, you can imagine that it's not just the trees that vanished... yep this was a dense forest before with a lot of wildlife.not anymore... but when i return to my shop, the glue is truly dry and i can sand the glue that squeezed out and the places that i didn't sand before. then, with wooden blocks, i hold the rest of the rails in place so i can mark the placement of the mortises before cutting them. just like before, i make a dry fit.
then i can mark the drawer's dividers’ placement, dismantle it all and cut mortises again. and just like before, i need to cut a groove for the back panel. after squaring up the ends, i make another dry fit, so i can measure the back panel and cut it. then comes the panel rabbet. believe it or not, but i make another dry fit, just to check that the panel will actually fit. since everything is perfect, i disassemble it all, again, and sand where it's needed. then i can glue everything together. since this glue up will take a lot of time, i'm doing like i usually do in those conditions, and using slow set epoxy to glue it all. when all the joints are glued up, i put clamps.
the next morning, the glue is dry and i need a little help from renã©e, so i can put that onto the floor. after a little dance, we finally put it down. now i need to mark the mortises' placement on the rest of the cabinet and cut more mortises. i assemble what i have done so far and put it onto the already glued up section. i think that i'm not tall enough, but i manage to put it in place anyway. it's then that i realized that if i use the same dominos as the rest of the cabinet, it won't work. i'll just cut the ones that i've already made, so instead i'll use smaller dominos. so after marking their positions, i can cut the last mortises. now i can glue the rest of the cabinet.
you'll notice that i'm using regular wood glue here.the glue up is way easier without a back. easier, but also higher to lay the last piece in place. i have no choice.i have to use a step ladder to put it in place. after clamping it all, i check for squareness. when i look at the clamps, i'm glad that i have a tall ceiling, otherwise i would have to glue that differently. the next morning, the glue is dry and i can sand away the glue drips that i left all over the place. the sanding is far from over, after putting this on its feet, i can now easily take care of all the markings all over the place. after putting it back on its feet again, i can take care of the drawers’ slides. to be able to screw them in place later, i need to glue filler strips inside the cabinet.
i'll use an old dresser that i've picked up from the garbage for that. i begin by ripping strips from its side. after cutting them to the right length, i spread glue and nail them in place. you can see that i'm using two wooden blocks to keep all of them at the same height. when all the strips are glued in place, i can glue and screw the strips which will hold the bottom of the cabinet. when i'm done with that, i measure and cut the central drawer's slide support. then i cut the mortises and make a u shape assembly with two small blocks. i want to glue that right now.so to hold it together, i nail the dominoes in place. now i can glue and screw the central drawer's support.
next i cut the bottoms of the cabinet. and try them in place. i also glue and screw strips at the top of the cabinet so i'll be able to screw the top in place. now i'm almost ready to apply finish on that part of the project. i just need to sand the bottoms and all the sharp corners. this is far from being done, so if you want to see the rest of the construction, you'll have to come back to the woodpecker.