Monthly Archives: June 2014

I was so excited about getting the skirt wrapped up yesterday, it wasn’t until later I realized how bare and unbalanced this cabinet looks at this stage.  It has this nice, fat skirt attached to a think box.  So I decided I’d better make a start on the top, and while I was at it, the shelf.

The top is 10.75″ wide, which in some woods might be a little tricky, but wide Sapele boards don’t seem to be a problem.  This one was just over 12″ wide, I have another that’s 13.5″ and there were wider ones in the pile.  It turns out the my pickup bed is my favorite combination saw bench and finishing work station.

Wide 4/4 Sapele

This is “4/4” Sapele, and except for the rough sawn texture it’s dead flat and generously thick.  After jointing and planing I could have finished this at almost an inch thick (.993″), that impressed me.  Most places I buy 4/4 it measures out less than an inch, and if it’s S2S it is usually closer to 7/8″ or 13/16″.

I dimensioned the top, but I still have to shape the underside – it will be cut back 2.5″ on the underside all around, leaving a rounded step.

With the sized-but-unshaped top you can start to see the proportions. Squinting helps.

This is more like what the top will look like after it’s undercut and shaped.  I’m not sure how I’ll do this yet, the current front runner is with a tall fence on the table saw.

Detail of how the top will be cut and shaped

I knocked out the shelf, this was a quick job.  Since I have put together a CAD model it was simple to print a pattern for half of the shelf, cut it out in 1/8″ MDF and trace it onto the shelf blank.  A little filing and sanding finished it off.

The shelf is finished

I’m hoping to finish off the top and glue it on today, and make a good start on the door.  I updated my plans last  night, but they are not as well organized at this point so I’m going to hold off on posting them until I have a chance to clean them up.

After staring at the real “Thorsen house cabinet”, I noticed that the door in the Barnard design is different from the left hand door in the real cabinet.  I don’t know if the change was intentional or an error, but the lift pattern in the long mullion is upside down.  In the original door this detail follows the lift in the top rail, in the Barnard door it doesn’t feel as harmonious.  And after looking at the video and photos of the Thorsen dining room there is clearly a pattern of echoing the same shapes in adjacent parts.  So I updated my CAD model to see what it would look like – I like this better, although I’m not sure about having it hinge on the left side yet.  I also slightly raised the short mullion which is closer to the original left door I think.  The rails and stiles look a little too wide compared to the original too, I’m not sure I want to mess with that for this project though.

Updated model with mullion oriented to match the top rail

Barnard version, with the mullion reversed

Original Thorsen Cabinet from “Poems…”, the left door is a mirror image of the right door.

I had a good day in the shop yesterday, and nearly finished the skirts for the Greene & Greene cabinet I’m making.  Sooo close, but they need more finessing before I’m ready to install them.

My day started out by resawing stock to make the back.  I’m not happy with my re-saw setup, I get too much blade drift, but luckily I had plenty of material to surface out the discrepancies.

Resawing stock for the back

I already had the stock for the skirts dimensioned, so getting the finger joints cut wasn’t that much trouble.  Getting the length on the long skirt bar on the front was a little tricky as it needs to be exactly the same width as the cabinet.  Once I had the front at the right length I trimmed the side pieces so that they were exactly the same length as the case sides.

Finger joints cut

Skirts test fit, the board for the bottom is sitting on top of the case

From there it was a matter of chopping the square mortises for the ebony plugs and rounding the corners.  But just running a round over bit along the edges isn’t enough.  First, it doesn’t do an acceptable job on the inside corners, and second I’m using two different sizes, larger on the ends and smaller on the edges.

I used a file to work in all of the inside corners, and to “pillow” the ends of the fingers.  Instead of a flat end with radiuses on the corners I was a smooth pillow or dome.  In this picture I’m nearly there on the side skirt, but more work is required on the front piece.  I just takes a bit of time with a file and sand paper.

Smoothing out the details on the finger joints

Before I can mount the skirts to the case I need to prep the outside of the case and finish sanding the skirts.  The I can screw the skirts to the sides, and glue in the bottom of the case.  Then I need to round over the inside opening of the case.  It’s a lot of little details, but it’s important to get them done nicely.  Oh, and somewhere along the way I need to glue in the ebony pegs.  The front skirt is held in place by some rare earth magnets that I recessed inside of the finger joint.  This gives me a tiny hiding place.

The other think I played with was to have a mortised lock instead of handle or cabinet pull on the door.  I looked through my G&G books and this certainly seems to be the more common approach to cabinet doors outside of the kitchen.  I played with shapes for an Ebony escutcheon and I think I’m pretty close on this one.  Now I need to order a full mortise cabinet lock, I’m thinking of using this one from Whitechapel:

Mortise Lock for Cabinet

I need to add hinges to the model, and I want to play with hinging it from both sides to see if one works better than the other.  This particular door style in the original cabinet was hinged on the left.  Take a look at the original again:

Original Thorsen Cabinet from “Poems…”

Comparing with the original cabinet, it also looks like the bottom mullion on the right side of the door should be a little higher up.  In fact, maybe both mullions should be a little higher up.  And you know what else I just noticed?  The lift in the mullion goes the wrong way simpered to the lift in the top rail, look how in the original it mimics the lift in the rail, while in the Barnard design it’s just doing it’s own thing.

I definitely need to organize a trip up to the Thorsen house one of these weekends.

Updated rendering with a carved Ebony escutcheon instead of a cabinet pull

I’m working away on the “Thorsen Cabinet”, and have the skirt nearly finished.  One more trip to the store to get some screws and the router bit I need.

While I’m working on the skirt and other parts I’be been working up a sample board to check out how I’m planning on finishing this project. I know that’s weeks away, but I’m eager to see how it will look.

This sample was sanded to 320, and then I wet it to raise the grain.  I scuff sanded it with 320 after it dried and put on one coat of Trans-Tint Brown Mahogany dye.  After that was dry I rubbed it with a white Scotchbrite bad to take off any grain fuzzies, and gave it a coat of Linseed Oil.  I left that to dry overnight, then padded on two coats of garnet shellac, rubbed with steel wool and waxed with Dark Brown Briwax.

It looks good, although I think I want a hint more red in the finished cabinet.  I think I’ll try either the Reddish-Brown or Red Mahogany dyes and see how that looks.  Maybe a different color wax too, although that is pretty subtle and probably won’t make much difference.

Finished sample next to sanded, bare Sapele.  Photographed outside in open shade

Same parts, photographed outside in direct sun.

Same sample, photographed inside in natural light.

I think this sample is pretty close to the color of the original cabinet, maybe with a couple more coats of Garnet Shellac.  Whatcha think?

Original Thorsen Cabinet from “Poems…”