649 6th

some assembly required

in the past couple of days I got a little concerned about our ability to glue up the kitchen cabinets, thought we were a few clamps short. little did I know that the gift that keeps on giving had four more treats for me.

there was one more unexplored drawer in one of the tool chests my dad gave me. the only thing I thought it had in it was an elaborate jig for peg joining. little did i know it also had four right angle clamps. they're not exactly what I would call "intuitive" to use but, it was like a magic xmas gift-- rumaging aound on xmas to day finding the perfect gift at the perfect time (two years after it arrived) thanks dad!

'twas the night before christmas

And all through the house not a creature was stirring expect for our brand new router table. Amen for ear plugs. Especially when combined with shop vac plugged into the back and sucking away most of the debris. As maiden voyages go, this one was a dream. My only complaint is with the fence assembly; it's basically an entry model so it's a bit chunky and doesn't respond very well to small adjustments.

But I can't blame the fence for this mess. Plan was to take the scrap from yesterday's milling and make a maquette of the cabinets in order to get a feel for the router table and the joinery. All our cuts were good except for bottom edge blind rabbet that didn't come out so blind because in our zeal we just pushed the front and back panels straight through the router. Covered for our mistake by putting a matching cut on  side panels. Voila: negative leg (or something like that).

Other lessons learned:

• Use assembly squares to ensure right angles. In other words, furniture clamps aren't enough to true a parallelogram.
• Take multiple short passes instead of one honking big pass. Knew this from cabinetry book but had to give it a try for that experiential validation. Sure enough, trying to do a 3/4" wide x 3/8" deep rabbet in one cut resulted in a whiff of smoke, more sawdust than wood chip, and uneven resistance through length of cut.
• Press a piece of scrap on back edge to prevent rip out.

As for finished product? Can't go empty-handed to that last-minute, holiday party can we?

'tis the season

to be building cabinets: yes, a strange way to celebrate whatever it is that floats you into the new year; nonetheless, a not quite fond farewell to old kitchen and hello to a brand new one. the critical element: 5 identical base cabinets that when flanking the range and paired up with undercounter fridge will comprise the base for three countertop stations.

here's our milling order. went to Dyke's Lumber this morning assuming we wouldn't see the finished cuts until at least Tuesday. here's a tip: friday before christmas not a big day among the contractor set.

jimmy (the post-holiday, office-party, hung-over miller) was immediately called up, and we spent about 30 minutes providing him with orientation and length for every cut. all stacked up they're not what i'd call perfect, but at least they're square & parallel; therefore, something we can further mill if need be with the new router table -- awesome bonus ability for something i thought we'd be using exclusively to rabbet and dado the assembly.

lessons learned:
1) work with the milled edge aka trimming less than inch off a full sheet of plywood is idiotic
2) remind your miller to double check position of all cuts -- you'll sound like a noodge but there's no such thing as a saw eraser
3) make arrangements for transporting your order (thanks for the last minute pick-up, Leroy!)

return of cubby

kitchen cabinets

Here are the final sketches for the kitchen cabinets. As always, click to enlarge (there are 9 in all).

cubby

on second thought

After looking at the photos from the post over the weekend I realized something; what I said about the end cuts and the center cuts with the joiner is absolutely the opposite. Not that I was lying, I truely thought it was the center cuts that were off. But, looking at the end cut you can clearly see that it is off by 1/8" (the ply stripes make it easy to notice) and the center cut is dead on.

The funny part is I thought the center cuts were off because they felt so much more awkard to make than the end cuts. Mental note to self-- remember to check to see how things actually are rather than rely on how it felt before assembling (when it gets much harder to tell what was really off). 

trussed up

As promised we built the prototype for the shelving today. A special nod to House in Progress for the words of encouragement. By the looks of it, the tub got a thorough working this weekend.

The project:
Biscuit joiner worked amazingly. I was very surprised how effortless it was to slot the holes. We had better luck cutting the ends of the 3/4" ply than perpendicular center slots. The factory preset for end cutting is perfect for the 3/4 thickness. After finishing (and after doing a bit more reading) we found out how, by using the fence they include, to better make the butt joint slot  in the center of the board a much more effective method than what we ended up doing to them. We used #10 biscuits and slotted it together before gluing. The end caps, again owing to the perpendicular cuts, are at least a 1/16" off. But for a first go I was quite pleased with the results.

Having no long clamps to put it together was the other problem. As we needed presher inward from the ends, we needed clamps at least as long as the almost 7' height. We used nylon twine instead. Trussing it up like a pheasant the cord provided an excellent means of tension. I have to admit that when we were out shopping for parts for project two I did purchase two nylon band ratchets that extend to 14'. We tested one out on the piece that is curing in the kitchen and it's perfect for the cabinet assembly line to come.

After assembling and gluing it in the back yard it gave us a bit of food for thought for how we might use it. We hung out in the kitchen and sketched some slightly revised ideas for the library on the white board. Having the object around really helped to better understand how it could be used.

Project two for the day is somewhat of a temporary thing that could hang around quite while. The inside of the foyer of the house is very dark. The light switches are a ways up the hall when you enter in the dark. Hence, we installed a motion detector sensor. Gadgety as hell but it is both nice to have a light  that 1) comes on when you go to look for a coat and 2) comes on immediately when you open the door coming in.

The last notion for the day is this. We started talking about plywood floors. Sort of like giant parquet. Right now we have them being 4'x4' square in a checker board pattern of cherry and perhaps birch (or perhaps a slightly harder wood ply). Just a notion. The info I need to look for is this-- has anyone successfully done this [read: doesn't look like an awry architecture student project] in the past? I guess I have something to surf for should I get trapped on a conference call this week.