Sorry guys. It's been a crazy Looooong week at work. I haven't had energy much to get into the shop. (Overtime = tools and wood ) I plan on getting my doors assembled today and start the fitting process.

LOL Sorry, Im a sucker for these real cool play by play threads, especially Krenov style work. I think the Krenov style looks to be very difficult, proportion, wood selection, grain and craftsmanship all have to be just right or it misses the mark by a long shot. (just my un-educated opinion) Paul is working on a real winner here in my minds eye and its a treat to watch it come together.

I'll work on the patience
Matt

Thanks Matt! My very first fan!

Well here is the update. I didn't get a ton of time in the shop today. The nap & football ate a good chunk of it.

So this morning I finished cutting the joinery for the doors. Couple notes on design that changed during the building of these doors. The outer stiles stayed the same. The inner stiles were ripped much narrower for visual balance. You will notice the left door inner stile looks wider, that is because it will have a 1/8" rabbit for the overlap. Also the rails changed a bit. I made the lower rail widest and the middle rail the smallest. No exact science for me, roughly 1/4" increments.

I mainly used bridle joints in the construction with one regular mortise connecting the outer stiles to the middle rails. Because there were so many different sizes between the rails and stiles it made it a little trickier to cut everything. There were quite a few setups. Overall, I am very happy with the look of the joinery.

The Panels.
I used my plunge router to make the groves for the panels. (I need to build a router table, which wil probably be very soon) Which worked well, nothing fancy. I jointed and planed the panels to thickness, My planer was yelling at me! . Overall I am happy with the look of the hickory. I had the panels originally book matched but didn't like the look, so I flipped the right panel around.

Currently nothing is glued and I still need to do some fitting and planing before glue up, but it gives you an idea!

Hi Bruce.

One word: groan!

Paul
the little guy

Start thinking hardware before glue up! If your planning butt hinges no problem, but knife hinges need to be routed out before the case glue up.

I gotta say, I'm not a fan of the joint above your panel. I don't know if Krenov did a bridle joint like that. I think it takes away from the flowing lines. If the bridle joint was on both ends it wouldn't be to much of a distraction. That's just me.

I do however, like your center rail grain matching.

This is my kind of woodwork You seem to have developed an eye for design and details very well for someone who claims to be a novice I like the door joints as this is what makes it stand out from a bog standard door. Joints which show always need to be spot on unlike the M&T which can be loose and never seen. But get a move on I want to see it finished

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Barry, I know what your saying. Typically Krenov did use bridal joints. Not sure what he would have done with the center rail. I just went with my gut.

I didn't want to extend the rails to the outside because I feel that it would have made the case look to wide and wouldn't have the vertical flow that I was looking for. It was kind of a complex door design. I do plan on using knife hinges (as Krenov would) So I will be finalizing my door and getting the hinges set before case glue up like you mentioned.

Still lots to do!

Thanks Bloonose. Luckily, I have always been "artistic" and went to art school for my BA in Visual Communications. The woodworking thing, I just woke up one day ( about a year ago ) and had an urge to build something It has turned into a really rewarding hobby, for me atleast!

Well the doors are glued up! That was a big relief. I was really stressing out on it. Overall I am happy with the way everything came out. I spent today sharpening the card scrapers and going to town leveling the joints and making everything nice.

Also I planed and rabbeted the center stiles. Next step will be to mortise the knife hinges and and prepare for glue up. Haven't decided if I will be trying to pre-finish or not. I'm hoping for some suggestions.

Anyways, here are some photos.

Hi Paul.

I like your shop assistant. Looks like the type that would be a sympathetic listener.

Paul
the other one

I wear baseball style work gloves when scraping - keeps your fingers from getting burnt by the scraper as it heats up. I like Tommy's trick of using a fridge magnet to insulate, I'm just always too lazy to go find one

Thanks for the tip. Tonight I mortised for the hinges on the top and bottom of the cabinet. (First set of hinge mortises ever Pretty happy on the way they came out. Couple photos included.

Also I bought a Hock knife to do some slight carving on some of the details I.E. handle etc. I used it to mark out all the mortises. Much better than my "marking knife" from crown. Diggin it!

On another note. I'm getting close to preparing all the surfaces on the cabinet before glue up. I used my card scraper and I notice it seams to dull the planed surface a bit, It doesn't have that same look. I don't think I'm good enough to hand plane all the surfaces yet.

Any recommendations or do I need to figure out how to hand plane this stuff! My main problem is leaving "tracks". Do i just need to put a larger camber on my plane iron?

you might find these two post and videos from Christopher Schwarz useful in sorting out your tracks issue

Why I File the Corners of my Irons

File Under: Handplane Maintenance

Paul,

Keep up the good work and associated posts. Did you run into any problems installing the knife hinges?

Bruce

Thanks for the links! I will check that out tonight. See If I cant mess with my old Miller falls #3 before I go messing with my nicer planes.

I didn't run into any problems yet! It was a lot easier than I thought. Everything I keep approaching is new to me so I'm taking it slow and methodical (or trying to) So far it seems to be working out.

If anyone is interested in knowing how I approached it:

1.) I used a 1/8" shim to mark with a pencil the location away from the sides. Being sure to center the pin with the outside of the case.
2.) Then I took the case apart and placed the hinge in my rough layout marks that were pencil.
3.) I set my 4" adjustable square to the edge of the hinge to square it up with the face of the piece.
4.) I then knifed around the hinge, Made a few passes with light pressure. (that hock carving knife worked awesome)
5.) Next I used a 3/16 up spiral bit & router to get the bulk of the material out.
6.) Carefully cleaned up the edges with a couple sharp chisels.
7.) Pressed the hinge into location!

Sorry I didn't take any photos to help the explanation.

Well tonight I revived the plane my dad gave me and it felt great. As most of you know I got into woodworking (as a hobby) about a year ago. As soon as I told my dad he dug through his tools in the basement and sent me out a care package. (I'm from Massachusetts, moved to Arizona) In this care package was a few old, fairly rusty Miller Falls planes.

I wanted to try and put a slight camber on my iron to see if I could tackle hand planing all this quilted maple. This was my first attempt and I didn't want to mess any of my good planes up. So I gave it a try on the Miller Falls No.8. (Stanley #3 equivalent I believe)

It worked beautifully and I really enjoyed the nostalgia of it. Here is a photo.

Paul........Your documentation of this build is really well done. It's not easy remembering when to take the photo.

Didn't realize you hail from MA. Any chance of you heading east for a family visit in late February. If so WoodExpo has a Call for Entires out there.

Can't really answer your camber question, to be honest, I'm a real stickler for proper cutting angles and sharp cutting edges, but those edges and angles end up attached to a machine. Always been sort of a quandary for me as to why the presentation of sharpness seems to be focused on just hand tools. Interesting but that's not for your thread.

Like the "pet tool roll".

Keep the photo journal coming!!!!

Neil

Yessir, 18 years of my life I lived in the Berkshires. Moved out to AZ to go to college and have been here for 6 years now.

I actually will be out in February. I typically come home for 10 days or so. Whats this wood expo entail. Shipping the piece to enter I assume?

Either way I think I will arrange my visit to be on the dates So I can at least head over there!

Sorry for the delay on the updates. Nothing too major. I spent some time hand planing all the pieces, doing a final dry asembely to mark out the krenov style stops, Drill shelf pin holes and finalize the vertical drawer divider.

Also I had to cut in the rabbets for the back panel and for the door glass.

today I finally put on the first coat of BLO on the outer faces of the main cabinet. Here are some photos. I didn't take to many with my camera so sorry for the iphone pics.

Paul,

It's about time you got your butt back into the shop and making progress. We've been waiting on you . Anyway, things are looking good. Keep us posted.

Bruce

Wheeeew, thanks for the pics fix I was going through withdrawl.

Its really looking good! I've never tried prefinishing a project prior to glue up, but it certainly makes good sence. Especially on what you are doing, with the figure thats in some of that wood sqeeze out could be a bear.

Thanks for the update man!

Matt

Thanks for the replies guys. It has been a little hectic here this past week. I'm flying to Massachusetts this Monday the 22nd for the week to be with family for the holiday. So a lot has had to be completed on my end for work.

As for the case, I am all complete with the shellac for the inside of the cabinet. I'm currently on my 4th coat of BLO for the outer faces. Depending on the time I have today and tomorrow will determine how far along I get with the next steps.

Next steps will include building the mullions and trim pieces for the door glass, Carving my glass shelf supports, and hopefully getting my prototype leg template finalized. (Still haven't found any great 8/4 cherry for the legs :/)

I will keep you posted as soon as I can make some progress.

I'm back! I had a great visit last week back to Massachusetts for my birthday and Thanksgiving. Hope everyone had a great holiday!

I spent the other night getting my doors wrapped up. I gave my first attempt at cutting glass. Overall, successful. Only thing I was not particularly impressed with is the primitive glass cutting tool. What can you ask expect for $4 at home depot. O well!

Anyways, the only thing I wanted to note was how I cut the very narrow pieces. It might be helpful to some people. I did a little research and didn't find any helpful tips or tricks. The guy at the hardware store told me I couldn't cut it that narrow. Well, I did, first try . Scored the glass and backed it up with a scrap of wood. Worked like a charm. See the image below.

The rest was just trimming it out. Check out the pics!

Paul,

You are doing a great job on both the cabinet and the Play by Play. It's efforts like yours that keep our 207 Community top notch.

I do have a question: Why did you use the darker wood on the inside of the doors to hold the glass panes in place? I think the lighter maple would have looked better.

Bruce

Hey Bruce.

I'm not married to using the cherry, and if I decide once the cabinet is together that I don't like it, it won't bother me to go a different route... I do like the contrasting shadow like appearance it provides as you see it from the outside looking in. There are a bit of cherry accents on this piece.

Door handles will be created from cherry, shelf supports will be cherry, door catches are cherry, and the base will be cherry.