The odd little corner cabinet that I’ve been building in my shop is almost done. In fact, I hope to be applying finishes to the inside and outside this week. I’ve been taking a lot of pictures, and if I wait until I’m done, I’ll have too many to share in one post.
So, I’m going to bring you from where we left off in September. If you recall, I had a small piece of tree stump that I hollowed out to serve as a door to a corner cabinet. I had five pieces of wood that seemed like they could be assembled in the form of a corner cabinet. I have to admit, this has been a very challenging project.
First off, other than the 90° joint of the two sides, nothing in this cabinet is straight or square. The door is curved in two directions. It is a semi-circle that gets wider (also in two directions) from top to bottom. The door is hollow, which means the interior of the cabinet is 70% larger at the bottom than it is at the top. Add to this mix of challenges, I don’t own tools capable of measuring the space I needed to enclose. That left me with trial and error.
For example, I put the sides together, attached the door and closed it over a piece of piece of wood. Then I traced the outline of the door onto the blank and cut it out, leaving some room to spare. I did the same with the top. On the side opposite the hinges, I had to insert a piece of wood that matched the angle of the door and matched the curve of that edge of the door. You’ll see this in the pictures.
Once I had this house of cards held together in a functional state, I decided to add an interior shelf – yes, making already difficult things more difficult is part of my makeup. The shelf is adjustable, which meant that it had to be a shape that fit inside the door at all the various levels. More trial and error. Then I discovered that the shelf was front-heavy. It tipped forward. I added weight to the back edge by cutting a slot to hold pieces of lead flashing material.
Right now, everything is assembled and sanded. The exterior wood parts will be painted to match the background of the door and the interior will be finished clear. I am saving one detail for next week’s One-Liner Wednesday, but I do hope to have the cabinet finished prior to next Tuesday. Hang on (if you’re interested).
Cee doesn’t seem to be online these days. I hope she’s OK, but for those of you expecting some Fun Fotos, I’ve included some random images from the archive below the slide show. I hope you enjoy one or both.
Happy Monday.
Cutting the mortises for the hinges 
Cleaning up the edge with my favorite tool – a spokeshave. 
Lining up the two sides 
Relief cuts before cutting out the top shelf. 
Cutting the cabinet top 
At this point, nothing is glued together 
I used “biscuits” to join the mitered corner 
Test fitting all the parts 
Here’s what a biscuit joint looks like. 
The top clamp holds the pieces at 90°. The others apply pressure. 
The top clamp holds the pieces at 90°. The others apply pressure. 
Square and strong 
The joint is looking good 
The ragged edge on the left will be cleaned up later 
The top and bottom line up well 
Lots of test fits for the bottom shelf 
The shelf is front-heavy. It needs weight in the back 
The little remote is the right amount of weight 
Laying out the cut line 
It would be too dangerous to cut on a machine 
The saw kerf is wide enough for two pieces of lead 
Adding lead to the shelf 
The weighted shelf sits well 
With the added weight, the shelf is stable 
The shelf fits at every level it can be set at 
Testing that the door closes with the shelf in place 
The door closes with the shelf at every level
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