FLW Cabinet - #14 Faux Tenons, Side Spacers & the Back

With the top blanks set aside to see if they are stable, I decided to work on the faux through tenons.   These pieces will fit in the open side of the through mortise in the legs.  The cutaway below shows how the top and bottom rail’s tenons will fit in the leg mortise along with the faux tenon.  I could have tried to make a single piece long tenon on the rails but the odds of getting a gap free fit where the tenon exits the leg are slim and none.  This way I can fit them separately so I end up with a nice tight joint where the tenon exits the leg.

Going through the leftover cutoffs I came across these two that could be cut down and made into the parts.  Process for making the blanks is to rip these two cutoffs into 4 pieces about 2” wide or just slightly wider than the widest tenon.  Next is to rip the thickness to 7/16” on the bandsaw then run them through the thickness sander until they were just a few thousands of an inch too thick to go in the mortise.  Near the bottom of the photo you can see the pine test piece made into faux tenon.  It’s left over from the spacers I used when cutting the square peg hole. 

Using a rasp, file and chisels I smoothed the inner faces of the mortise until the tenon blank fit snugly.  Then after it was cut to length on the chop saw I labeled the hidden end to match the leg. 

I could stop here but thought that the sharp corner of the tenon is right at toe level and it would only be a matter of time before somebody whacked their big toe on it, probably me.  The corner also presents a place that could be easily chipped.  To get around both problems I decided to add a small ¼” radius to the corners.  Below is the template I made for layout and the two different size faux tenons that need to be made.  I took the time to make the template as there are 16 tenons to make.  One interesting thing about the template is the radiuses on it are 1/32” larger than the finished radius.  That’s to take care of the offset introduced due to the thickness of the .5mm mechanical pencil I use.

Here is what the assembled leg, bottom rail and faux tenon look like. 

The next set of parts I am going to start on are the side spacers.  They are the pieces that when applied to the plywood sides will give the impression of a frame and panel assembly. 

Back in post 5 Bandsawing, a Revision & Work on Doors I made the blanks and left them to set to see if they were stable.  Because the pieces were all flatsawn I thought that they would probably cup at least a little as they adjust to their new thickness.  Well, they did not disappoint me as nearly all of them had developed a little bit of cup.  They were flattened by running them through the thickness sander then set aside once more while I worked on the templates. 

There are 16 total spacers in three different layouts so I needed to make some templates.  As half of the two patterns needed would fit on a regular sheet of paper, I did not have to redraw them on the template but simply printed them out full scale and using spray adhesive glued them to the base.  Once cut out with the bandsaw and cleaned up using the drum sander I had my templates.

Cutting the oak plywood back is next but first I needed to print out the cut list.  Here it is showing both the ¼” and ¾” thick pieces.  The large piece on the left is the ¼” back.  The rest are ¾” thick; the long ones in the center are the sides, the group of three on the right are the shelves and the single one in the lower right is the bottom.

I start by rough cutting the back about 1” wide.  This is the setup, note that I added the 8’ level to give me a longer edge to register the sheet of plywood against.  To hold up the sheet and help steady it I put a couple of roller stands underneath.

Here it is after making the cut.  You can see the stands that provided the support.  They are set wide enough apart that I could walk through them while making the cut.  With one edge cut I rotated the piece end for end and made a second cut to the final width which removed that edges dings and dents.

Cutting to length is more involved that ripping to width.  The maximum width I can set my table saw fence for is 50”.  Seeing as I need a piece just over 72” long that’s a problem.  What I can do move the fence to the left of the blade and cut off the waste.  That works except that I can’t cut more than about 12” off with the straight edge attached.  As one of the plywood sheets had a split in the veneer on the “B” side near each end it was not such a big deal since I needed to trim some off each end anyway.  My setup included moving the roller stands to the side positioning them so at least one was supporting the end at all times.  I also changed my straight edge from the 8’ level to a 4’ level since the shorter level is narrower and I could pick up another inch or so in cut width. 

The last consideration in setting the fence is to measure to the outside of the blade rather than measuring to the inside.  That’s because what we want is the piece being cutoff and the thickness of the blade has to be taken into account.  With these two cuts and I had the back to size.

The last work on the plywood back piece is to bevel the edges to help me ease the panel into the grooves in the legs and rails.   That’s easily done with a small block plane.   The top photo is before and bottom one shows the beveled edge.

Once that was done, I did a test assembly to see if all the measuring and careful work paid off.  Well everything just fit together fine and the assemblies look great.  After just clamping things together I checked the diagonals to see if the panels were square and they were less than 1/16” off.  That’s good news as they should be right on when I do the final assembly and glue-up.

Next up – Stain Samples, Cutting ¾” - 4’x8’ Plywood Sheets & Testing

FLW Cabinet - #13 Finishing the Top Glue-up & Sharpening a Scraper

The next day I glued the third board to the stack then set it aside so the glue could cure.  The second top is next and the process is the same as with the first.  Below you can see the three-board glue up in the background and the current two-board glue up in the front.

After letting the glue cure overnight, I added the third board to the second top and was ready to flatten the first top.  To hold it in place it is edge clamped in my workbench.  As a result of the careful glue-up there was not much to do.  The actual glue removal and nearly all the work is done with a card scraper.  That’s the rectangular tool in the center left of the photo.  I know it looks just like a flat piece of steel and that’s because it is.  What makes it work is a tiny little razor-sharp burr on the edge.  With that burr I can take off paper thin shavings cleaning up the surface in just a few minutes. 

When I am done with the scraper some sanding is done so the surface matches the rest of the pieces.  Last is to trim the long edges so they are parallel then crosscut the ends to even them and make them square with the long edges.  The next day the clamps come off the second top then I go through the same flattening, sanding and squaring process as with the first top.

In other projects I have talked about using a scraper and how useful it is.  What I don’t ever remember is showing how to put a burr on a scraper.  That’s the catch as without that sharp burr it does not make the thin shavings, it just makes sawdust.   With that in mind here is the process I use to get the burr.

The initial step is to create a square corner between the face and the edge of the scraper like in the top example.  Depending on if it is a new scraper or one that just needs a lot of help to get a new burr you could have something that looks like the bottom image.  Neither of its right edges are square.

In either case you need to flatten the faces.  To do this I put the scraper face down on a flat granite slab then grab some 220-grit wet/dry sandpaper and a spray bottle with water in it.  Using a flat block, I apply firm pressure then sand back and forth until a band at the edge of the face is flat. 

You can tell when your done as you will get an even scratch pattern where you have been sanding.  When you get there move to a finer grit paper like 400 and repeat the process.  Going finer to 600 or 800 grit will just improve the quality of the burr.  If you are recreating a burr you only have to use the fine paper as a touchup.  In this case I was starting with a new scraper.  Here is what that looks like when it’s done.

Next is to work on the edge.  I clamp a fine file to the workbench then use a block of wood and spacer to hold the card square to the file. 

With that setup run the scraper back and forth along the file until when you look at the edge it is flat with a smooth surface.  In truth if you get out a magnifying glass the edge will look anything but smooth.  Here is what I mean.   Now it may look a really rough in the photo but remember the scraper is just over 2 hundredths of an inch thick so it’s relatively thin in real life.

To get a smoother edge replace the file with 220 grip paper, sand then replace with 400-grit paper and sand.  After that lightly hone the faces with the 400-grit paper to get rid of any little bits of steel that may have been created while you were working on the edge.  If it’s done right when you run your finger nail 90 degrees to the face/edge corner you won’t feel any raised lip.  Remember to check by using your finger nail at 90 degrees to the edge because if you run the fleshy part of your finger parallel to the edge you could very well need a bandage.

With a good 90-degree edge between the face and the edge it’s time to create the burr.  The burr is made by using a hardened steel rod or burnisher.  Here is what mine looks like.

Now it’s time to form the burr by rolling a little bit of the steel out so it points toward the face.  First step is to hold the burnisher square to the scraper and sweep it across the edge pushing a burr towards the face.  Second step is to hold the scraper at a just a little bit of an angle like this and sweep it across the edge pushing the burr down and towards the face.

I like to put the scraper in a vise and hold the burnisher in both hands so I have better control over both the burnisher angle and sweep.  Once again it does not take a lot of pressure maybe 10 pounds to roll the burr.  You are not trying to crush it but roll it over.  To little is better than too much. 

When done you probably can’t see the burr but you should be able to feel it.  To give you an idea of the size the photo below shows the burr as a very thin bright line right at the edge.  The penny provides some scale.  If when you test the scraper it’s not working try holding it at a different angle.  If that does not work make a couple more light passes with the burnisher on the edge.

Eventually the scraper will get dull and just make sawdust, not like these thin wispy shavings.  When that happens it’s time to go back and use the 400-grit sandpaper on the face and edge to get rid of the burr and create the 90-degree corner.  Pull the burr as before and you are ready to go.  After doing this a number of times the steel right at the edge will get work hardened and you will need to use the file to get rid of the brittle hardened steel there.  You don’t have to take off a lot of material, just filing it down until you can see the file marks on the entire edge is enough.  Don’t be discouraged if you can’t get it right away.  Between squaring the edge and pulling then rolling the burr there are a lot of places where it can go wrong.  Take your time, use a light touch with the burnisher and it will come.  It’s all worth the effort to get it right.

Since the title of this blog is Dave’s Projects & Things the following certainly falls into the “Things” category.  Here in New Mexico in mid-August the chile peppers ripen and become available for roasting.  It’s a regional thing where every grocery store sells them in bulk and includes the roasting.  Late last week I bought a 25-pound box of hot long green chiles and had them roasted.  The commercial roasters have an open grate rotating drum with a series of huge burners at the back that in just a few minutes blisters the chiles skin and cooks them.  Here is what a typical unit looks like with a 25-pound load.

When the roasting is completed the chiles are dumped into a big plastic bag put back in the box and they are ready to take home.  An interesting byproduct of them setting in the trunk on the way home is for a couple of weeks the car smells like roasted chiles.  After roasting they need to steam for at least 15 minutes before bagging and freezing.  What you ask do I put them on?  Well, I have been accused of putting them on everything which is almost true but they are great on about anything off the grill plus in stews, pasta and rice dishes.  Really, just about anything that where some spicy smoky heat is needed including pizza.  Here are the 25 pounds bagged, frozen and ready to use which will last me right at a year.

Next up – Faux Tenons, Side Spacers & the Back

FLW Cabinet - #12 Details on Legs, Profiling Rails & Starting the Top

The peg holes in the legs are really for screws that will get run into the plywood sides.  To that end I need to drill countersunk pilot holes centered in them.  The drill press with a fence is used for centering the bit in the existing peg hole.  A depth stop controls the countersinks depth so all the holes are a consistent depth.

Here is what they look like finished.

The bottom rails need the bottom profile cut.  To make sure the rail’s left and right sides are a mirror image I started with taking the dimensioned plan then transferred it to a ½” thick piece of MDF.  However, once drawn the arcs beginning and ending transitions looked a little stiff to me.  A few minor adjustments made the full size MDF layout look better. 

My next step is to cut out the MDF pattern.  Not surprising once cut out the transitions still did not look right.  Making little tweaks using a disk and drum sander I beat it into submission and finally got a nice flowing profile.  With the pattern complete I traced its outline onto the rail then flipped it and did the other end. 

A trip to the bandsaw cutting about 1/16” outside the line and most of the excess material gets removed.  The curves are pretty rough since the bandsaw has a ½” blade on it and does not make very tight curves.

Using the disk sander to clean up the angled edge between the end and the arcs is pretty easy as is using the oscillating drum sander to clean up the arcs and their transitions.  What is not so easy is to get a flat and square surface between the arcs that are parallel to the top edge of the rail.  Most of the power tools are not to good working in a recess or will not give me the straight edge I want.  Neither will any of the hand tools I have access to.  What I ended up using is the oscillating drum sander with a very coarse sanding sleeve and my 4’ level as a straight edge clamped to the sander’s table.  Process is to set level so drum takes just a little off then run the rail back and forth against the drum until the bottom of the rail rides against the level.  Making slight additional adjustments to the level allows me to sneak up to the line to get a good smooth straight edge.  When it looks good a little hand sanding gets rid of the rough drum sanded surface.  This piece will act as my pattern for the other three rails that need to match.

To use the pattern the first step is to clamp it to the rail blank so the ends and edges are flush then mark the profile with a pencil.

From there it’s back to the bandsaw to cut away most of the waste. 

When that’s done the pattern is placed face down on the work bench with the bandsawn blank face down on top of it.  The ends are aligned flush and a router with a ball bearing trim bit is used to make an exact match of the pattern profile.  The top photo shows the setup where I have started routing from the left and made it about 1/3 of the way across the recessed flat.  Bottom photo shows a closer look.  You can see better here how when the ball bearing on the bottom of the router bit runs along the pattern the carbide cutting edge of the bit follows cleaning up the bandsawn edge and matches the pattern’s profile.  Once the routing is done a little light sanding cleans up any roughness and the piece is done.

Repeat the process three more times and all four of the bottom rails are done.

One last detail on the back legs needs to be taken care of.  When I cut the groove for the back panel it ran the full length of the leg.  The short section of the groove running from the leg end to the start of the tenon will be open so I need to cut a small plug about ¼”x ½” then glue it in the groove.  Here are the top and bottom ends of the leg showing what I mean.

After a blank is made to fit the thickness and just a little taller than the groove, I just need to cut it to length.  Rather than use a pencil I like a marking knife for its precision.

Once marked the plug is cut to length on the chop saw.  Below you can see how the marked line is set right at the saw cut edge in the fence. 

Next the plugs are glued and clamped in place.   I let them cure overnight and the next day all that’s required is a little work with a small hand plane and some light sanding to bring the plugs flush with the face of the leg.  Here you can see how they look when done.

With the legs and rails completed (I think) working on the top is next.  Taking out the pieces that have been setting for quite some time I checked them for any movement and surprisingly given the way this group of Oak has moved around they were all flat, square and true.  As the top is going to be roughly 17” wide I will have to glue it up out of three pieces.  Here is what the test clamping looked like once I got the boards selected and matched for grain and color flow.  I also checked the joints to make sure they matched up with no gaps.

Next is to glue up the first joint and clamp it.  The clamps along the joint are to minimize any mis-alignment that could sneak in during the clamping.  I could have glued up all three pieces at once but wanted to take my time in making sure the faces of the joint are as closely matched as possible.  The better they match the less work and time I will have to spend flattening the blank.

Next up – Finishing the Top Glue-up & Sharpening a Scraper

FLW Cabinet - #11 Finishing the Leg/Rail Tenons

With the tenons fitting snugly into the mortises I can turn my attention to the final trimming of the tenon shoulder.  Right now, the shoulder is uneven and the tenon is too short.   First thing to do is change the blade from a rip to fine tooth cutoff.  Saw setup then starts by setting the rip fence to the outside tip of the blade at 1 ½”.  Next is to set the depth of cut so the points of the teeth just score the bottom of the tenon.  Last is to add a sacrificial piece between the rail and the crosscut fence.  That’s to minimize any chipout caused by the blade when it exits the cut.  Below you can see the setup and the result.

Here is after the wide faces have been cut.  All that remains is to make the end cuts.  Of course, all four cuts are a different depth so the blade height has to be adjusted for each one.

In the last post I discovered that one of the rails was a little short.  Now is when the problem is corrected.  Since the important distance is between the tenon shoulders and not the overall length I took one good rail clamped it to the short one and transferred that length to the short one.  Here you can see the steel square ready to go.  A marking knife is used so the line is exactly in line with the edge. 

A pass with the knife along the square’s edge cuts a very fine line that for me can be a little hard to see.  My solution is to rub a little chalk into the cut making it pop out as shown below.  Note that I to re-set the rip fence so the blade cuts to the line.  The red marks reminded me when I was cutting the shoulder of all the other pieces not to cut this one.

Since the cutoff blade does not make a flat bottom cut, I am left with a little ridge right where the tenon meets the shoulder.  I could have cut it deeper but did not want to weaken the point where the tenon ends.

To allow the tenon shoulder to butt tight to the mortise that ridge needs to go.  A little work with a sharp chisel makes quick work and leaves a nice clean joint.

A test fit assembling the frame rails and legs is next to see if the pieces go together square.  Once clamped in place comparing diagonal measurements for a squareness check showed the diagonals were almost identical.  Any difference was less than I could see.   While the legs and rails were clamped, I dropped the finished door frame in to check the clearances between them.  The side to side spacing looked great however, the gap between the door and the rails at the top and bottom while being what was planned looked too small.  After some thought I decided to increase it slightly.  At this stage it’s easy to make that change.  Using the table saw and a rip blade I cut 3/64” off both the top and bottom rails.  After reassembling and setting the door in place the gap looked right.  Here is how a typical corner looks.

Unfortunately, when I turned the frame over to check the backside a couple of the joints were not as tight.  Here you can see the small gap in one.   Both instances are between the leg and the bottom rail on the inside of the case.  In post #3 Making & Using the Taper Jig two of the legs had a twist that over time had relaxed to a point where it was almost undetectable.  As it turns out the key point here is almost.  In reality the twist is very slight maybe 1/16” over 78’ but enough to cause the gap.  Now this is going to be under the bottom of the cabinet completely out of sight.  I could have left them as-is but decided to see if I could fix it. 

What worked was to chalk up the joint area and about a foot up the leg like this.  Now when I start to remove the twist, I can easily see my progress.

The actual process is to use a card scraper and start removing material from the high side bringing it down so the edge with the mortise is square with the adjacent face.  Frequent checking with a square helps me track my progress.  Here you can see how the chalked area has been mostly removed.

Reassembling the leg joint I now have a much better fit even if I am the only one who will ever see it.

Next is to do the milling to house the back.  I could have cut an open rabbit then screwed the plywood in place but that would have left me with a bunch of exposed screws and an unfinished back.  When I make furniture, I like to have it look good from all sides.  For this piece I will cut grooves in the back legs and rails to house the plywood back.  That way the back will look like a framed panel.  Here are drawings that show what the groove will look like when the legs and rails are assembled (minus the back panel) plus some detail of each piece.

One of the things I had to decide was how wide to make the groove.  My set of dado blades can cut from ¼” up to 13/16” wide in 1/8” increments.  In addition it has multiple shims from .004” to .02” that can be added between the regular blades.  Using these in various combinations gives me a lot of flexibility in the final cut width.  That said when I measured the plywood it averaged about .23” thick which means using the ¼” blade set gives me two-hundredths of an inch play, just what I need.  Below is the setup for cutting the groove.  For the top rail the blade depth is 3/8” as I don’t want to cut into the bottom of the tenon.  The grooves in the legs and bottom will all be ½” deep.

After running the pieces through the saw I used this little gauge which is a scrap with a pencil line marking the depth to make sure that all the grooves were an even depth.  Occasionally, when making a cut the piece will rise up a little resulting in a shallow cut.  In doing the checking there were a couple of instances where that happened.  While everything is setup the fix is as easy as running the piece through the saw again.  Later on, it’s a lot harder to fix.

Here is what an almost completed leg/rail set looks like.  It’s pretty much done but there are a few more bits of work to do.

Next up – Details on Legs, Profiling Rails & Starting Top