Just a few thoughts for the future.

Unless the cabinetry is going to be prefinished maple ply or melamine I much prefer to make built in's using poplar if the cabinetry will be painted. I have a 2 car garage size shop and although I have a unisaw with biesmeyer fence I despise handling sheet goods except for the backs. I used to use hardwood plywood for all casework but I find it much easier to handle the materials, less of a hassle because I don't have to be concerned with hiding plies for the shelves, and eventhough I always use face frames, using solid wood for casework is easier for me to mill joinery into as well as it gives me more wiggle room for things like flushing up face frames to the side of the case. Its so easy to sand through those thin veneers I feel like I'm paying good money for junk with a thin halfway decent face. Plus the prefinished maple stuff I've used delaminates easily-at least the stuff they buy around my area. Even shelf pin holes seem more secure when drilled into solid wood than plywood.

At $60 a sheet for 3/4 hardwood ply, I'd rather pay a little more for 1x poplar also because I also find it a lot easier and more efficient to cross cut stock to rough size for shelves and sides than having to cut sheets down to manageable size and end up with waste I don't bother to keep and can't even burn. By the time I add hardwood strips to plywood shelves to conceal the plies I could have been long gone using solid wood and feel better about the project after its installed.

Bruce you got it all wrong... your working a$$ backwards. You need to check the Man Rule handbook.

page 3 paragraph 2, subsection 4 clearly states:

"When spouse leaves the area code all laborious tasks cease"

Continued violation of man rules will result in revocation of Man Cave privileges.

You can get away with a warning this time. You trying to make us look bad?

NYNY,

For fear of loss of Man Cave rights of access, I minimized my time on the project whilst wifey was gone. All I did was clean up some plane shavings with a small broom and dust pan.

By the way, SHE IS HOME NOW and so are my Daughter in Law and 2 of my beautiful grand daughters. I will spend the time playing with them. The project can wait.

UPDATE: Sunday, Aug 14, 2011. Well, I got a few hours to work on the built in. It's been a slow laborious task as the entire project needed to be built one piece at a time and in a very confined space. Here is a peek at the room from the door way AFTER I pushed a lot of stuff out of the way.


Since I could not back up far enough in the room to get full height pics, you will have to settle for these..

Here's as far back as I could get. The two spaces in the bottom will get drawers.

Now the top section: There are five adjustable shelves that go in here. I installed the shelf standards and some clips and set in four of the shelves... Here's what it looks like.

Here's a shot of the electrical box built into the unit...

The top switch controls the light in the closet/safe area. The bottom switch powers the bottom outlet on the right. The top outlet is always on.


This is the closet/gun safe area to the left of the built in.

FYI, the facing trim pieces were milled from 4/4 rough cut Poplar. The jambs in the safe area are pine milled down to 3/8" so that I can get the safe out if I have to. Everything will be painted white to match the trim and shelves in the room.

UPDATE: Saturday, August 20, 2011

Made some more progress this morning. The glue is now drying on the solid wood shelf faces. The glue should be dry in an hour or two. When it is, I will go trim edges flush with the top and bottom, then cross cut the shelves to their proper length. It's hot out in the shop, so I will spend some time inside filling brad and screw holes while the glue dries.

UPDATE: Sunday, Aug 21, 2011:

Well, I let the glue dry overnight. After the rain stopped this morning, I was able to open the shop door and get to work. Can you believe that at 0430 this morning it was already 85F? Yes, it was hot in the shop, but the shelve front edges are flush trimmed.

Here's the set up. Two clamps to the bench and it was snug enough to go at it with the block plane.



Here's what one looked like before the trim job. The amount of material that needed to be removed ranged from about 1/16" to maybe a full 1/8". You can see the rough edge in the lower right corner.



Here's a shot of the finished product. Things came out nice and smooth.



After about 30 minutes shaving down the 5 shelves, I was soaking wet from sweat... Can you just imagine what it would feel like doing it in the afternoon when the temperature is in the 90s?

Next up: Cross cut the shelves to their finished length and then put the veneer tape on the three ply exposed edges.

Here come's the "rain" again....

Was this you this morning?

You bench is CLUTTERED up and a mess. Damn good proof that it's really a bench used by a real woodworker and not a show piece.. You are inspiring me to build one of my own some day.

"Real woodworkers" don't put there plane flat on a bench or work piece, bad etiquette.
That's the second time I saw that this morning
"Real woodworkers" only use a auger bit and brace to drill a hole when there ice fishing.


why didn't you edge band before applying the front edge?

Why are you planing the edge with a block plane?........ LN edge plane.

Or no plane at all. Blue tape the plywood, run a flush trim, bearing will hit the blue tape, remove tape, what's left will be the thickness of the blue tape, flush up surfaces with a scraper .

Do you have a hamster? what are you going to do with all those shavings?

What are you going to do when the shelves start to sag?... Drop edge next time. It will also conceal the shelf clips. or double up the plywood, 1 1/2 shelf.

Looks good though nice job.

There is no reason NOT to set a plane blade down on a wooden surface. What's a plane made to do? Cut wood. What's the bench made of? Wood. I think the whole "don't set your plane blade down" nonsense came from job sites where you had dirt and stones and crap and no bench. Sorry, pet peeve of mine so I had to take the opportunity to bring it out and pet it...

Auger and brace keep going when the cordless drill poops out or you can't find the corded drill!


Now to finish my coffee and re-arrange the clutter on my bench.

You guys are too funny!

NYNY:

We are thankful for the rain. The past couple of years have been damn near arid by Florida standards. The lakes and aquifers need to be replenished.

Yes it was I who was busting RW's chops regarding his bench clutter.

I agree with RW.. Setting my block plane flat on the work bench made of wood has never hurt it and I doubt it will, as I am somewhat gentle with all of my planes.

I did not apply the edge banding before the front strips for a few reasons:

1. I never thought to do it.
2. The selves needed to be cross cut as they were about an 1/8" - 1/4" too long
3. I planned to cross cut them after I applied the front strip which I always cut long to ensure I dont cut them too short!


I used the block plane because it's the best tool I have for the job and I really enjoy using them. "I just love the sound of a hand plane in the morning."

At my age, I don't worry about sagging at all. Plus, with the shelves being 1" ply and with a solid front, I don't think sagging will be an issue.

Finally, we do not have a hamster. But I do have a neighbor with a fire place and she takes all of my shavings and scrap. The dry wood helps her get her fire started. For some reason, that little gift keeps her from complaining about the noise that comes out of the shop.

Thanks for your kind words.

Bruce

I don't think the concept of laying a plane flat came from a job site mentality, I sure it came from the days of old when planes were made of wood and could not be stood up, or planes like a 10 1/2 with a nickers on the side possibly gouging the work piece.

In the heat of battle, sh$t happens,,,,

Edge block plane as opposed to plain block plane. less chance of nicking the top. not to mention the tool arsenal is increased by one more plane.

I'm at work now...There's no stones or crap on my job site, Stoner's but no stones.

Lighten up, it all in good fun....

NYNY,

No problem. It was all accepted as good fun from the start.. You don't have to worry about that with me. I have relatively thick skin. As much crap as I give people, I've learned it always comes back. Come to think of it, maybe I'm bald because my skin is so thick and the hair can't make it out. Of course if it's growing in, that may be the reason for my fuzzy thought processes.

Anyway, my responses to you were to give you my thought (or lack of thought) to the comments you made. Hopefully, you and the other good woodworkers here can point out my short comings ( I really mean that) and thus make me a better woodworker. Have a great day at work. It looks like a cool place to earn a living. As far as 'lightening up', with my heritage and constant dark tan, that's probably not going to happen.



Bruce

UPDATE: Saturday 8/27/2011:

It's been a productive morning in the shop. I finished the edge banding on the remaining shelves. This afternoon I hope to get all fives shelves sanded down and ready for paint.

UPDATE: Sept 13, 2011.

After spending a few hours cleaning up the shop and rearranging my lumber storage to accommodate that big slab of mahogany, I pulled out the 4/4 poplar stock I will be using for the drawers of Celeste's built in storage unit.

I rough cut them to length and stickered them. At 13 1/4 inch wide, they are way too wide for my 6" jointer so I have to flatten one side with hand planes before I can thickness them with my 15" planer.

Here's what the rough cut poplar looks like



Here's what it looks like after about 5 minutes of work with my 606 fore plane.



Here's how I clamped it down:

UPDATE: March 25, 2012:

Yeah, it's been a while since I've updated any progress. Up until this afternoon, there hasn't been any since last September. Well, after almost 6 months of a crazy work schedule I finally got back into the shop today long enough to pare some DT tails and dry fit the first corner of the first drawer. Much to my amazement, they fit. A little clean up with a plane and things will look smooth.

Next up: Get to work on the tails on the other end of the board.

It's feels good to be back in the shop and making shavings.