Kitchen Cabinets in Cherry

I was recently commisioned to build a full set of cabinets for a kitchen in an older Arts and Crafts Style Bungalow. This is a large project that I'll document here as it develops. The first step was going to the home, discussing design elements, wood species, special requests from the clients etc..After this first meeting I designed, with lots of input from the home owners, a set of cabinets that I thought would complement the Home style while incorporating the owners lifestyle. The cabinets will have a very much Arts and Crafts feel being made from Black Cherry, which I was quit happy about. Building a full kitchen is quite different than building a one-off cabinet. First of I'll be using 3/4" Cherry plywood for all of the cabinet boxes. These will be fastened using dadoes and rabbets cut into the panels to accept the mating pieces, with glue and pocket screws to fasten. All of the cabinets are furniture quality, meaning each box is it's own enclosed space seperate from the next. This is a bonus for a kitchen by way of containing any smells or spills from one area to the next. A rock-solid building method that will last for the next hundred years.
Once the boxes are built, they'll get a full solid Cherry face frame, no plywood here, just solid wood. A full 7/8" thick this will stand up to any abuse. From this point on it's all traditional joinery, frame and panel, mortise and tenon doors with centre stiles; hand cut dovetailed, solid cherry drawers with half blind dovetailed fronts. The finish is going to be a hand rubbed oil and varnish mixture. I find it really brings out the wood grain without adding too much gloss. I use a safe, non-toxic finish from a small company out of New York. Tried & True Traditional Oil and Varnish finish is a combination of highly refined polymerized linseed oil and natural-resin varnish (modified pine sap). Its high resin content produces a durable water-resistant finish that buffs to a warm semi-gloss sheen. It strictly adheres to the standards established by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and qualifies as non-toxic and safe for food-contact surfaces in both their uncured and cured (wet and dry) states. A perfect finish for a custom made kitchen.

Finishing the Cherry and Maple Side Table

Well here it is, complete. I chose a hand rubbed oil and varnish mixture for the finish on this piece, I find it really brings out the wood grain without adding too much gloss. I use a safe, non-toxic finish from a small company out of New York. Tried & True Traditional Oil and Varnish finish is a combination of highly refined polymerized linseed oil and natural-resin varnish (modified pine sap). Its high resin content produces a durable water-resistant finish that buffs to a warm semi-gloss sheen. It strictly adheres to the standards established by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and qualifies as non-toxic and safe for food-contact surfaces in both their uncured and cured (wet and dry) states.
The hardware I chose for the piece are delicate cast iron pulls that have a nice traditional look. The table top really jumps out with it's wide panels and blond ribbon across the center. This piece I believe is one that would work well in a formal setting as well as perhaps as an entry table. The five drawers make for ample storage in a small foot print. This side table is for sale. Anyone interested please feel free to contact me for any additional questions.
The dimensions are : Depth: 22" Width: 39" Height: 30"
The unit is priced at $2550.00 CAN.

Before You Reach for that Dovetail Saw...

Before you reach for that dovetail saw there are a few tools that you should think about first. These can make laying out dovetails a whole lot easier in the construction of traditional style drawers. Let's take a look at some of them.

The very first step when building drawers once you have your stock all milled square, planed and ready to go is to determine where your drawer bottom will go. Instead of taking a pencil and drawing in a line I take my Small Plough Plane by VERITAS and actually cut a shallow groove into the bottom inside pieces I'm using.
This leaves no question as to where my drawer bottom goes and eliminates some room for error. Now that I have my drawer bottom marked in I can take my marking gauge and scribe in the material thickness'. This gets me a little closer to a perfect layout. I use the Tite-Mark Marking Gauge which is unique in having a micrometer adjustment system. Once I scribe the material thickness' I reach for my Skew Block Plane. I use the Lie-Nielson version which is derived from the Stanley 140 making this next step the famous "140 Trick" I set up the plane to take a shallow cut across the end of my pieces following the depth of the scribe line I had just made with my Marking Gauge. This only takes two or three light passes and establishes a tiny shoulder that will help in my lay-out to cutting perfect dovetails. Once this small shoulder is cut I get my dividers and lay out my dovetails on the drawer side pieces. Cris Gochnour recently wrote a great article in Fine Woodworking about this technique. Now once we finally have our dovetails laid out we can reach for our Dovetail Saw and start cutting. When it comes time to transfer our tails over to the pins that tiny shoulder we cut into the drawer sides will hold our front and back pieces right where we need them. No chance for mistakes by eyeing things down through the tails. So next time you want to make traditional style drawers and reach for a dovetail saw, first think about a few other tools that will make this process more enjoyable and achieve far better results.

Corner Cabinet with Coopered Doors in Mahogany

This piece although rather plain and simple looking was a real challenge in construction. It’s made from solid Mahogany for a corner Cabinet space. The piece had to be custom fit to the space due to the corner not being 90 degrees.
The doors are coopered, another challenge in cabinet construction but rewarding when properly built. The grain that naturally occurs in Mahogany is a real pleasure to re-match once the panel is cut and beveled in the coopering process and once glued back together make for a seamless fit. James Krenov' book "A Cabinetmakers Notebook" has a great chapter on making coopered doors. The sides and top are attached using dowels as well as some mechanical fasteners. The interior has three non-adjustable shelves.

Krenov Smoothing Plane

One fine day last year I was surfing around the net and came across the James Krenov Direct website. I had stumbled over it before and once again was admiring the pics of his work there. To my surprise I read that James no longer was building his cabinets due to his poor eye sight but was still making his wooden bodied hand planes. There was some contact information on the web site for anyone interested in purchasing one. I immediately wrote a quick note expressing my interest in a plane and also my sympathies to hear about his failing eyesight. I left it at that and within a few days I heard back from Mr. Krenov himself. He said he had "the plane for me! " I think another two to three weeks passed and then a shoe box came in the mail. My new James Krenov smoothing plane. I was like a kid at Christmas time. I couldn't wait to get it out and into a nice piece of hardwood. When I opened the box and placed the plane in my hand it was a perfect match. It was not the first wooden plane I've held or used, but it was by far the most comfortable. It just feels right in your hand. My wife commented on the look of the tool and mentioned that it was easy to tell Mr. Krenovs eye sight was failing.! So yeah, perhaps to the untrained eye it may look a little 'rough' but that's part of the charm. It's all about the feel right.?
Well looks aside, when I finally put it to work it didn't disappoint. It surpassed all expectations and became my main smoothing plane. Funny, when things are not going great and you're kind of fighting with a certain piece of wood...perhaps some reversing grain and you're looking over at the wood stove and looking back at the wood your fighting to control tear out with...this tool wins every time. I've since made a Krenov style plane and have studied the one I ordered....no chance....not even close...I don't know why the Krenov works so well? I can't tell what is done to make it perfectly chatter free..I can't replicate the throat opening or the irregular shape of the body...only one mans hands can and I'd be interested to see if he has made any two alike.I guess its just one of life's sweet mysteries...he is indeed a master craftsman we can all learn and draw inspiration from.
If you'd like to see an interview with James Krenov discussing his plane making go to:
www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ProjectsAndDesign/ProjectsAndDesignArticle.aspx?id=30181

Mahogany Wall Shelf

It's Monday morning and I just finished this small wall shelf over the weekend. It's body and interior drawer are African Mahogany, the drawer front is Flame Birch and the runners are made of Rosewood. I wanted to try to incorporate the sliding drawer rails into a piece so this was more or less an experiment. Kind of a Modern look with traditional joinery.

I'm happy how it turned out. The dovetails were a bit of a challenge due to the thickness of the Mahogany. The Birch for the drawer front is known as Flame Birch and has a real figured grain. Lots of shimmer. This adds to the difficulty of the piece due to the reversing grain pattern that create the Flame look. A cabinet scraper was the tool for the job. The finish is a hand rubbed wax.

VERITAS Jointer Plane

After I 'Scrub" the rough stock down removing and twists or warps I move on to my Jointer Plane. This is the tool of choice to follow with. It will remove all of the highs and lows from the surface of your piece. Again my Jointer is made by VERITAS here in Canada. This Jointer is unique in the fact that its blade is set ‘bevel-up’ on a 12° bed and when combined with a 25° blade bevel, it creates a cutting angle of 37°. I mostly use this plane with the optional 38° Blade, combined with the 12° bed angle, creates the so called 'York' pitch, perfect for dealing with difficult grains in hard wood and the result is almost no tear-out. Another great feature of the VERITAS Jointer is the adjustable throat plate. This makes it super simple to close up the throat so you can take a real fine shaving. Another factor to consider when using any Jointer Plane is the size. The VERITAS is 22" x 2 7/8" and weighs 7 1/2 lbs. A big plane to handle, but once you get it going, the extra weight of the tool itself helps to keep it moving along through the wood. I also wax the sole every couple of minutes with just a standard block of Paraffin to help reduce friction.