You
Hi, I'm norm abram welcome to the new yankee workshop, but today we're going to build this pine cupboard
Good storage area down below
some drawers
And even display store off now the inspiration for this piece came from a visit. We made to England
I'll take you there next right here on key workshop
The new yankee workshop features the craftsmanship abram
Well today, we're all gay not far from Brighton on the southwest of the United Kingdom
At Graham a Santee and I have the honor today of having him to surround hi Graham
I know it's good to see you
You see what I got today
ah
What I'm looking for is some kind of
Sideboard or a server with some storage below with doors and drawers and up above some storage either open or preferably with nice doors
Yeah, we got done that let's have a look over here first. I see a piece right there now
What can you tell me about that? This is a French piece in pine. It's a buffet decor buffet decor
What does that mean? It's just me that's in two parts
Splits here from movement top and bottom and what's this wood? That's not pine
No, that's some beat there on the drawer fronts and again up here on the turn
That's a nice piece
But I think it's a little bit comp with these turnings and the fancy panels and it's a little large for what I'm looking for
This place is we jammed up. Yeah, we're speaking over the bed
Oh Mark saw this furniture, what's this doing here? It looks like some kind of well
This is a French well head with some running gear. It's
Just a bit fun isn't it?
Works who's gonna be like that? Well, it'll go into a garden or maybe get used in the film
So for the movie sets, yeah
Now now these are the things that always catch my eye. I certainly could use one in the workshop
What can you tell me about this?
Where did it come from? This is French and it's from an iron mongry store each drawer
There's got a brass and separate brass number on you see great
Now these small small ones go through there that are fixed
And there's one on the corner with a keyhole the only one that I see
Yeah, we think that must be to the money the money. Okay, have to have a safe place
So you've got one of everything here. It seems
Okay, that's more like it. Is this English? No, this is Austrian
Pine again much simpler construction than the other one
But you know, it still has nice dovetailed joints on the drawers and the joinery quality is good solid bottom
No, who'd have built something like this. This would have been made by the village carpenter. So is it one of a kind?
Absolutely. Yeah, just made for one. That's great. It's just about the right size. I think
This would be the one and I've got here just in time because it's apparently already sold. Yeah, but it looks terrific all
polished and waxed
What do these pieces look like when they come to you very different from this?
But if we go along to the workshop, we can have a look at some okay
Graham this is quite an operation. You've got
warehouse space workshop space
Where do you get all this stuff? Oh, we have suppliers out all over Europe, you know in Ireland in France
and
Denmark hopefully soon in Eastern Europe. So they scout it out and yeah bring it here and well
I go I go look at it normally. Oh you look at it. Yeah, and then it comes here and this is the sort of
Beginning of the process. It's the first part. Yeah. Wow
What's this? This is an Irish
dresser or hutch
Typical from an Irish farmhouse from the middle of the last century, but had lots of modern coats of paint on it
Of course. Yeah. Well, this is a it certainly isn't ready to go out. No. No, it needs a bit of work
Yeah, we have to get it back to the wood. Where are those hutches that you said were like the ones we were looking at?
There's one over here. Look. Oh, yeah, very similar to the one we looked at very similar
Has obscured glass in it, of course, which we usually change for clear glass because that's what people prefer
Huh, but you can see under the paint there the the real color of the the old pine. Yeah, it's the old pine
Fortunately, the inside isn't painted. So and you're gonna do you take it apart?
Well, the drawers obviously will strip separately and the doors will just take off but otherwise we immerse the whole carcass
It's hard to believe that change the hardware for something. Yeah put something more appropriate. Yeah
Graham tell me
What do you what did you pay for something like this? That one cost 180 pounds in Austria in that condition
He didn't pay too much. Did you enough but not too much
$400
I
Can't believe for a moment that Graham Price paid any
$400 for that old beat-up cupboard that he showed me. He's much too sharp for that
In fact, if I was trying to sell him this piece, he'd probably deal for quite a while
This is our version of the cupboard that we saw in his showroom
Now I built mine out of number two pine because it has the small knots
Which adds a lot of character to the piece
But more importantly, this is about one quarter the price that I would have to pay for clear select pine
now if you like the look of this cupboard and you'd like to build one for your
Dining room or for your kitchen a measured drawing is available with the materials list and you'll hear more about that before the program ends
And before we start working today, I want to take a moment to talk about shop safety
Be sure to read understand and follow all the safety rules that come with your power tools
Knowing how to use your power tools properly will greatly reduce the risk of personal injury and
And remember this there is no more important safety rule than to wear these safety glasses
Now there's a lot to do on this project
So I've already glued up all the panels that I'm going to need
They consist of 1 by 8 and 1 by 6 boards that have been edge jointed
So they're nice and straight and I've glued them together and reinforced the joints with these hardwood biscuits
You can even see the end of one at this cutout
After the glue dried I sanded them nice and smooth and cut them to the correct width and height
Now this happens to be one of the side panels and down at the bottom
I have a cutout and that's so that the whole width of the panel does not have to sit on the floor
now to make that cutout I laid it out and
Drilled some 7 8 inch holes in each corner so that I get a radius instead of a sharp edge which might split
Now I have to cut along this line between the two holes
So I've set up a straight edge clamp, and I'm going to use my circular saw to cut that piece out
On the inside of those side panels
There's a series of dados and rabbets, and they receive either shelves or other cross members
The dados do not come through the front edge of the cabinet because I don't want them to show
I milled all the dados with the help of a straight edge guide and my router which was set up with a half inch straight cutting bit
Now along the back edge there's a rabbet for the plywood backing
That's made using a router equipped with a three-eighths rabbeting bit that has a ball bearing that follows the edge of the panel
Now with a little glue in the dado and on the end of the bottom shelf we're ready for a little assembly
Now you'll notice there's a little cutout at the leading edge of the shelf
I'll tell you what that's all about in a minute
The purpose of these clamps is to pull everything tightly together before I nail it
Now it's a little trickier nailing the cabinet together from the inside
But you avoid the problem of having nail holes that show on the outside
There's a couple more pieces that go in the dados and rabbets
This piece of one by three with biscuit slots cut in it to receive the draw supports
Sits in this dado and I'm not going to glue it I want to let the side move freely so it just floats
But this top piece will get secured with glue and nails
You notice I've cut some dados and those are for some cross pieces that I'll use to secure the top
Now this piece of quarter inch plywood for the back adds a lot of strength and it helps keep the dust out
The conventional way of finishing the front of a cabinet is to apply a face frame to the carcass
using flat stock but I noticed on the antique original that they had a laminated setup
and I like the way that looks so I decided to carry it out on our piece
So in addition to the side panel I'm putting a quarter inch piece
then a three-quarter inch piece which gives me the look of a post an inch and three-quarters square
Now before I apply these I want to make the mortises for my hinges
and cut some biscuit slots to receive the horizontal rails
The mortise for the hinge is made using a jig which has a window slightly larger than the hinge
itself and that compensates for the difference between the size of the collar and the edge of the bit
Now this handy little device cleans out the corners of the mortise
Now the laminated posts are held together by a little bit of glue and clamp pressure, no nails
With biscuits installed in the post, I can now slip in the rail that goes under the drawers and clamp it in place
Now this little piece is just a divider between the two drawers
and that takes care of the top rail
Now these are the drawer supports and this is one of the end supports
It has a little piece on the side to keep the drawer directing in straight
With the biscuit in place I just slip it into the slots cut in the rails
I left myself just enough room to pop it in place
and pull everything together
Now I'll just use a couple wedges to put some pressure on the joints until the glue sets
Now here's the center divider which will guide the side of the drawer
attached with some glue and brads
On the top of the base cabinet there are three cross pieces
and on one end I've made a shiplap joint
Nothing fancy, just cut on the radial arm saw
and that will fit in the drawer
Nothing fancy, just cut on the radial arm saw
and that will fit into these dados that I made in this rear rail
On the other end there's a biscuit and with some glue that attaches to the front rail
Now the back is simply going to float in this slot
The sides will expand and contract, this will not stop that from moving
The top which gets attached to the front and back rail will help hold it down
and as you open the drawer it won't tip out
Now this piece of quarter inch stock is simply a lamination
to make the rail look a little bit thicker
Now this little one inch wide strip is a bottom rail
that I'm holding down from the top edge of the shelf about 3 eighths of an inch
so that the doors will have something to close against
Well that just about does it for today
We'll let that set overnight and tomorrow we'll build the upper part of the cupboard
which is made just like the base except that it has a solid pine back
Then we'll make the doors, the drawers and this decorative cornice
Good morning, I'm almost finished attaching the sides
to the upper unit of our cupboard
It's the same as the lower unit and everything is held together with glue and nails
These are the boards that form the back of the upper unit
Full thickness, 1 by 6's and 1 by 8's, I milled a tongue in one edge
a groove in the other edge and a groove at the bottom of the board
All that was done using my shaper, a tool that we don't use every day in the shop
but when you need it, you need it
Now for safety reasons we unplug the shaper
and I can now rearrange the cutters to make the groove in the boards
To make the groove in the bottom of the board I use my miter gauge
which is equipped with hole downs and the same set of cutters
Now to take the edge off the corners on the face side
with a little bit of a decorative V groove, I'm just using my block plane
There's no glue required here, just a couple nails in every board
where the back meets the shelves
Now you'll note that I made a 3 quarter inch deep rabbit
in the sides to accommodate the back
That's deliberate to allow the back to expand and contract a bit
Just a little dab of glue
right about in the center of the back to hold this spline in place
It's one of those details that can't hurt
Here I'm building up the post for the upper unit
just like I did on the lower unit
Now the top rail is a little bit wider and it's held in place with some biscuits
I've got to work that in before I finish clamping this left hand post
Now this is a little decorative piece that we copied from the original
Here's where that decorative piece goes
just beneath the lower rail
and it's meant to be recessed in about a quarter of an inch
The frames for both the upper and lower doors are made the same way
There are vertical pieces referred to as styles
and they have a groove down the center
and there are horizontal pieces referred to as rails
which have a groove and a tongue which fits into that
Now the tongues and grooves are made exactly the same way
as I did for the backboards
The only thing I haven't showed you with the shaper is how to make a tongue across the grain
I used the same miter gauge but I put a backer block to prevent split out
Before I glue up the frames for the lower doors
I have to make the panel that fits in the groove
Using the same 3 eighths inch rabbiting bit that I used earlier
I've cut a rabbet around the edge of a 5 eighths inch thick solid panel
that will fit in the grooves of the rails and styles
Now the only thing that holds the rails and styles together is glue
Of course there's no glue at all on the panel
You want that to float
Now we'll check it for square
needs one little tap
That's good and we'll set it aside to dry
Here's one of the upper door frames
I want to set a glass panel in it so I'm going to have to remove the material along this side of the groove
Then I'll be able to install a piece of glass
and hold it in place with a small quarter round
I'm going to use my rabbiting bit
The drawer construction features a solid pine front
connected to the sides with dovetail joinery
The rest of it is made out of a high grade cabinet plywood
that floats in the bottom in a groove
and the side is attached to the back with a dado joint
and that's what I'm going to make first
Now with the stacked dado head reduced to a quarter of an inch in width
I can run the groove for the bottom
If a woodworker has a good dovetailing jig and a router
and he carefully follows the instructions that come with it
he'll end up with perfect dovetails every time
These holes are for screws which will be used to secure the top
No glue, just screws here
A few biscuits will help align the upper portion of the cupboard with the lower section
Alright, those biscuits align it
Now I'm going to put a couple screws from underneath to secure it
You can take it apart
Now this is the first piece of the cornice
It won't be seen, it's just a piece of three quarter inch stock
that's beveled back at a fifteen degree angle
Now this next piece of the cornice I actually milled from a piece of
one by five over at the table saw
It wasn't that difficult to do
Now here's a piece of stock that I've ripped to four inches to make our molding
Here's a finished piece of the molding
The first cut that I want to make is this back bevel and that's where it sits up against the side of the cabinet
So I've tilted the saw blade to fifteen degrees and I'll just run the piece through on edge
The next cut to make is this one right here which is parallel to the back cut
So I've just lowered the blade a bit
The next cut is right here and that's a vertical cut
So the saw is back to ninety degrees
Now with the fence moved to the other side of the blade and the blade tipped to forty degrees
I'm now ready to make this beveled shoulder cut
For the next pass the blade has been tipped back to fifteen degrees and I'll run the bottom edge
One more slight adjustment to the fence and we'll make the final pass
Now this last piece is a standard molding right off the shelf at the lumber yard
It's called an inch and three quarter band molding and it kind of pretties up the piece
We'll have to fussing with the hinges a bit, we're ready for the finish
And we'll put the glass in after that
For a stain on our cupboard I'm using a water based product that the manufacturer refers to as Spanish oak
And it seems to be the closest thing we've found that comes to that English pine look
Once the stain has dried we'll give it some protection with a couple coats of polyurethane
Well here it is, our pine cupboard with the final coat of satin polyurethane
The nice brass hardware and the glass in our upper doors
This is a very useful piece for the kitchen, dining room or any place storage is required or display is desired
I hope you enjoyed building this pine cupboard
For a catalog of all the New Yankee Workshop projects please write to
The New Yankee Workshop, Post Office Box 9345, South Burlington, Vermont, 05407-9345
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