Projects & Related Things: FLW Cabinet - #19 Moving Shelf Holes & Assembling the Case

Having to move a row of 14 holes down by 1/8” is not exactly something I was looking forward to however it has to be done. Unfortunately, so far in woodworking there is not a “hole relocator” tool. The fix is to fill the holes and re-drill them in the proper spot, easier said than done.

First, is to sort through my pile of cutoffs and scraps looking for a piece whose color and grain closely matched the plywood. Once found I used a plug cutting bit to make the plugs as shown here. The plugs are cut about an 1/8” shy of going all the way through the blank.

Second, is to set up the bandsaw to make a cut that will free the plugs from the blank and properly size their length.

Here they are all cut loose. In case some of the plugs had a flaw, I had drilled a few extra.

Fourth, is to glue the plugs into the incorrectly located holes. That’s done by selecting a plug whose grain is close to the grain of the plywood then using a small nail spread some glue into the hole followed by inserting the plug and tapping it down solid with a rubber mallet. Here’s the setup for that. The glue is put in the hole because if you put it on the plug as it’s driven in the top edge of the hole scrapes most of the glue off and you end up with a ring of glue that has to be removed from around the plug. Note that the plugs stand about 1/8” proud of the surface of the plywood.

Fifth, is to get the plugs flush with the surface of the plywood. That’s accomplished in two steps starting by cutting the plug close to the plywood. For that I use a very thin Japanese pull saw whose teeth have no “set” and a piece of paper acting like a spacer. A saw blade’s “set” is the distance the saw tooth is bent away from the saw blade. It is this set that will scratch the surface of the plywood when trying to cut the plug flush. That’s where the piece of paper comes in as it provides a very thin layer of protection to the plywood veneer. The last little bit needed to bring the plug flush is done with a card scraper. Below shows the uncut plug with the paper spacer and right at the tip of the saw a completed plug flush with the plywood.

After all the plugs are flush with the plywood, I can set up the jig then use the plunge router to re-cut the holes in the proper place. Here are a couple of completed ones.

Next is to start assembling the case itself which includes putting the sides, back, front, bottom and sub-top together. That said there is a little final detail work to be done on the front and back. First, is to do a bit of drilling. On the legs the intermediate pairs of square holes already have a counter sunk hole drilled at the bottom of the peg hole for the screw that will get run into the side. However, the top and bottom where the leg/rail mortise and tenon join does not have it. Here is a section showing what I mean. The gray is the leg while the tan is the rail tenon. The area in white is the counter sunk and pilot hole for the screw.

I need to mark the center of the square peg hole accurately as I want the screw centered in the plywood side to minimize the chance of it splitting when screwed together. The easy way is to take the mortising chisel set it in the peg hole and whack the drill with a wooden mallet which marks the center.

Using the marked center point I start by drilling a small guide hole. To keep the drill plumb a square is used. After that the counter sink is drilled and then the appropriately sized pilot hole.

Attaching the side comes next. Using clamps to hold the side roughly in place a small jig is used to locate the side so it is centered on the peg hole. Here one side is done with the other clamped in place ready for the screws to be installed.

After attaching both sides the next item is to attach a ledger strip that will support and provide attachment points for the bottom. Here it’s shown installed but with the clamps still in place. The four spaced plywood blocks on the top are scraps temporarily screwed up through the ledger that match the bottom in thickness. They are used to set the ledger so the bottom will be flush with the back rail. Because plywood has some variance in thickness the ledger is just screwed on and not glued in place. Also, the mounting holes are a little oversize so when the actual bottom is installed, I will have some room for adjustment. One thing I did not anticipate was how close the bottom of ledger is to the floor. With so little room I had to use a 90-degree attachment on the drill to remove the screws holding the temporary spacers in place.

Once the sides and back are together the front gets installed next. This time I put the ledger on before screwing the front in place which made it a lot easier. Installing the front follows the same process as the back.

For the basic case that leaves only two pieces, the sub-top and the bottom. As both have been cut to width I just need to measure and cut them to length using the crosscut sled. For now, the bottom is just dropped into place to help square up the cabinet.

After cutting the sub-top to length and before it is installed, I have to drill the pocket holes on the top face for anchoring it in place. Here it is in the jig set up for drilling the last hole. If you are wondering the chalk mark is where there is a flaw in the plywood.