Display Cabinets

P. Michael Henderson
July 2009

11/07/2009 I delivered the cabinets to Judy today.  Now to start on the other two cabinets she has.

10/31/2009 The cabinets are complete.  They just have to be delivered now.  I especially like how the lower cabinet came out.

10/30/2009 I got the glass today and just need to put the wood strips behind it and deliver the cabinets to Judy.  This completes the project.  Pictures tomorrow.

10/28/2009 I finished rubbing out the finish on both the top and bottom cabinets.  The only things left are the glass and the handles.  I thought the handles would be easy but the way they're made, it's going to be a challenge to put them on so that they look nice from the back of the door, as well as the front.  That's my project for tomorrow.

10/25/2009 I have the top cabinet finished (finish applied, that is).  The doors are just a bit tight so I'll have to adjust that, and I need to rub out the finish to make it nice and smooth to the touch.  Then I'll buy the glass for the doors and put the handles on.

10/19/2009 The bottom cabinet is just about finished.  I have a few adjustments and I need to get the glass for the doors and set it, but the rest is about done.

10/16/2009 I have essentially all the woodwork done on the cabinets and am doing the finishing.  I made the shelf for the lower cabinet and finished it today.  Also finished the base of the lower cabinet.  I'll take pictures when I have the doors and the cabinet, itself, finished.

10/14/2009 I'm back!  Norma is out of the hospital so I can restart work on the cabinets, at least a little each day.  I'll post more as I make progress.

9/26/2009 I got the doors completed and fitted on the upper cabinet - the edges have been eased, and I cut a rabbet in the back of the doors for the glass to go into - you can see the rabbets in the second picture.  I still have to do the stop and the bullet latches, however.  I think doors are some of the most challenging woodworking tasks because everything has to be right - the carcass has to be straight and square, the doors have to be square and flat, and the fit has to be very close to not have unsightly gaps around or between the doors.  These, I think, came out quite well.  I made them just a bit large and used a sander to trim them to just fit.  I inset the cloud lift detail about 1/4" so that there would be some overlap between it and the doors, and it worked well.  I used three hinges on each side because of the length of the doors and the weight they'll carry with glass in them.  Now to put in the bullet latches and the door stop, then to get the finishing done.  Things will be slow (actually non-existent) for the next few weeks while Norma is in the hospital.

09/20/2009 I've been busy with some family issues and haven't been able to work on the cabinets for a while.  But I did get the doors for the upper cabinet cut out and the joinery put in.  The doors have to be glued, trimmed, the rabbet for the glass put in, and the edges rounded so I still have more work to go.  But I'm making slow progress.

You can't really see it in the pix, but I cut the top of the doors from one board so the grain goes completely across the top of the doors.  That wood looks dark in the pix but once it's sanded it'll be the same color as the rest of the cabinet.  Those black marks on the doors are markings I put on to keep track of what goes where.  They'll be sanded off.

09/12/2009 The doors for the bottom cabinet are finished, except for sanding, lacquer, and putting in the glass.  I used Brusso knife hinges for the doors (second pix).  These are high quality hinges and allow the doors to open almost all the way to the side (fourth pix).  To hold the doors closed, I used the Brusso 7/16" bullet latches, one part shown in the third pix.  There's another piece that's installed in the bottom of the door and not shown.  I also put a "stop" at the top of the cabinet that the doors bump into when closed (to keep the doors from going too far in).  I didn't take a picture of that but it's just a piece of wood with leather glued to it.  The leather makes a bit softer landing when closing the doors than if the doors were hitting wood-on-wood.

You can see the rabbet in the back of the doors in the fourth picture.  The glass will go into the rabbeted area and I'll put small pieces of wood behind the glass to finish off the back.  I'll use silicon caulk when I put the glass in to lock the glass to the doors.  This will add a lot of strength to the doors but still allow the glass to be replaced if necessary in the future.  I made the rabbet about 3/8" deep so the front of the glass will be about half way on the doors.  I'll use 1/8" glass so my wood strips will be about 1/4".

Now I have to figure out what kind of handles to put on the doors.  I have some pictures of Greene & Greene handles and will probably make some based on the those.  But next is the doors for the upper cabinet.

09/11/2009 I have the doors made for the lower cabinet but I want to get some bullet catches to hold the doors closed.  Pictures soon - after I get the bullet catches installed.  I used Brusso knife hinges on the doors.  Brusso makes very high quality hinges but, like most hinges, they're difficult to install - took me most of the day today.  I've had some family health issues which have taken priority so I haven't been able to put much time on the cabinets this week.

09/05/2009 I'm finishing the bottom of the lower cabinet, putting figure 8 fasteners on it so I can attach it to the cabinet.  The reason for using the figure 8 fasteners (so named because of their shape) is to allow for wood movement.  The sides of the bottom are cross grain to the sides of the cabinet.  If the bottom was glued on, or screwed without allowing for expansion and contraction, the sides would probably eventually split.  I'm not going to attach the bottom yet - I'll wait until after I spray lacquer.  But next is the doors.

09/04/2009 I finished the cloud lift detail on the top of the upper cabinet today.  The pieces that go around the sides were a problem, however.  Since they are cross grain I couldn't just glue them because the expansion and contraction of the sides would eventually break the glue joint (or split the sides).  So what I did was glue the front 2" and use screws at the rear in elongated holes.  Doing that allows for the expansion and contraction of the wood without breaking the glue or splitting the sides.  I countersunk the screw holes and used plugs to hide the screws.  I think I matched the wood fairly well on the plugs, as shown in the second picture.

I used miter joints at the corners and they came out very well.

09/01/2009 I had a couple of other projects that I had to finish and didn't work on the cabinets last week.  This week, it's been very hot which made it difficult to spray the lacquer, plus the glue set up quickly after I had the cabinet clamped up.  But I was able to get the top cabinet glued up.  The inside is shot with lacquer but not the outside - that will be the last thing I do.  Next, I'll put the cloud detail around the top, then start on the doors.

08/20/2009 I made the cloud lift detail for the top of the upper cabinet today, and cut the top of the sides so that it will be inset by 1/4".  By insetting the detail, the doors should look better when closed - that is, there should not be a gap between the cloud lift detail and the doors when closed.

08/19/2009 I made the template for the cloud lift and routed out the cloud lift on the base.  The front two corners of the base are mitered and the back piece is put on with dovetails.  I'll attach it to the main part of the cabinet with figure 8 fasteners.  I think it looks very nice.  The cabinet is going to be attractive once the doors get made and attached.

Here's a picture of the dovetails in the rear, and the miter joint on the front corner.  Note that I used one continuous piece of wood for the base so the grain goes around the corner.  This is known as "chasing grain."

08/18/2009 I started a new web page because this page was getting too long, which might make it slow to load.  You'll see a link to the earlier work at the bottom of this page.

I did a trial assembly of the upper cabinet today just to see if everything fit okay.  There's some trimming required in a few places, but overall, the fit is good.

Next, I'll do the cloud lift detail because I need it on the base of the lower cabinet, and the top of the upper cabinet.  I'll make a template so I can route the shape.

Click here to see more of the cabinets project