Carrying on then.

It seems that my initial burst of energy in regards to cabinetmaking has died off, and my attention has wandered to other, smaller projects in my house. Like hanging light fixtures. I got back on the wagon this weekend however, and pretty much have my wall cabinets completed. One of the reasons I haven't been full of piss and vinegar to keep building cabinets is the weather. Here in frosty Alberta we've been enjoying some unseasonably warm weather the last few weeks which has made working in my garage more bearable. The past week has been back into the -25 range though, so the warmth of the house looks mighty inviting.

So anyways, I'm just going to post a few pics of the various steps to complete a wall cabinet. I'll forgo the biscuit cutting, it's pretty simple.


Once each cabinet came out of the clamps the first thing I did was cut the rabbet for the back panel. In all the case work I've done I've always been tempted to cut the rabbet post glue-up, but never had the nerve to do it. It's infinitely simpler than cutting the rabbet before glueing, but it adds the risk of having to scrap an entire cabinet rather than a single piece if something goes wrong. I did a few tests before hand, to make sure that my rabbet bit would hack it, and all seemed well. To reduce the chance of tearing out a chunk of the topsheet I scribed a line first. Incidentally, I'm amazed at veneer cutting technololgies. The topsheet on this plywood is almost undetectable when you look at a cross section. It can't be more the one 128th of an inch. Unreal. Anyways, rabbet cutting went smoothly.



Once the rabbet was cut I glued on the hangers. These are just 4" strips of 3/4" plywood that lie flat on the back of the cabinet, top and bottom. It's something beefy to sink the screw through whilst hanging the cabinets. Simple.


...then I used an air stapler to attach the back panel. I heart my air stapler. It kicks ass for building jigs and fixtures.


Rather than square off the rabbet I just used my sander to round the corners of the back panel.



I was hoping I wouldn't have to do any sanding, but it didn't work out that way. After wiggling things around during the glue ups, the sides weren't exactly flush with the top and bottom. I decided early on that I would have to sand the finish off the top and bottom, flush everything up, and refinish it. It was really difficult to not sand through the ultra-thin top veneer, and if you were to look really close you might find the odd spot where I went through. Oops. The epoxy finish on the plywood was ultra-hard, and took some serious time to clean off. I ended up having to go to 60 grit, then 80, and finally 120.

I started out softening all the edges with a file but eventually I traded it for 150 grit paper on a sanding block. I don't like sanding, but I've always kinda enjoyed doing edge treatments. It makes a piece go from sharp and rough to finished, just like that. It's very satisfying.

I've got the wall cabinets completed, except for finishing. Hopefully I can get some finish on them and hang them this week.