A friend came in the shop and saw me using a little tool I made years ago, and said “Hey that’s a neat little widget”. So I thought maybe someone else might be interested as well…
If you make cabinets with inset doors and drawers, you need to open them a hundred times before there are pulls installed. I used to drill a hole in the rear of the cabinet and push them open with a screwdriver or something. Or else I’d break my fingernails trying to get a grip from the front.
One day I took 10 minutes to make this thing and solved the problem. Basically just a thin piece of steel with a tongue cut and slightly bent out of plane… the photo is self-explanatory. Just sand all the edges smooth so as not to scratch anything.
DR
Replies
Nice, much better than a masking tape drawer pull. Child proof, too.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
You should get that patented and sell it to Veritas!
Slick, clever, and surpassingly simple - great idea, beautiful tool, nice execution!
... and here I'd been letting my fingernails grow long for all these years to sneak those doors open ... but it still helps with finding the lost stuff that scoots *under* the cabinet I can't open...
... keep smilin'
---John
Hi Ring,
A neat tool, certainly.I have already seen the very piece of thin springy steel stuff for the job.
However, how come you are not putting on the cabinet backs absolutely as the last thing in the process? (assuming we are talking about loose cabinets here). Also, as you will know where the knob/handle is to be positioned it makes sense to drill for this on the drill press, so there is a hole there to help open...
On the odd occasion when things have not gone as above, I have used a spot of compressed (150psi) air-then either the door surrenders or the back flies off...
Just another tack on things.
Edited 6/26/2005 5:07 am ET by mookaroid
Mooka,
In a perfect world we would know what handles are going on the doors, but in fact it is very common that the customer still hasn't chosen handles and I'm already painting the cabinets.
The way we do kitchen cabinets, the backs go on after the face frames are finished. We fit all the doors and drawer fronts to their openings (with the backs in place), even though the drawers have not been built yet. The cabinets then go into the spray room to be finished lying on their backs, so we keep the backs on. After finishing we make the drawers and attach all the fronts.
regards,
DR
That's a very clever device.
I would write it up and send it around to the wwing mags for their tips/techniques column. They always seem to be looking for neat stuff like this.
How did you make the interior cuts in the piece of metal. I assume you used some kind of thin spring steel. You should include this info, along with a source for the steel.
I too think you ought to send the idea along to Lee Valley.
********************************************************
"I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there."
-- Herb Caen (1916-1997)
The steel is less than 1 mm thick. I just drilled a starter hole, then jigsawed the cuts with a metal-cutting blade.
Don't know if I have the energy to "send it around" as you say. Like most shops there are lots of little tricks that just accumulate over the years, and after the problem is solved you don't give it a second thought.
Thanks for the constructive shove,
DR
"sending it around" is really not much work. I would write up what you have said in this thread, and include a pic.The hardest part is gathering the names and addresses -- and I would just pick off the main editor's name and the addresses from issues on a newstand. You don't even have to buy their mag. If anybody's interested, they'll get in touch -- but this sometimes takes months. I would call Lee Valley and get a name. Then revise the letter a little ("I have made this device you might be interested in manufacturing..."), with a pic, and send it along.********************************************************
"I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there."
-- Herb Caen (1916-1997)
nikki,
I am halfway around the world from you, and although a surprising number of things are available, what constitutes for you "a newstand" is not one of them. Neither do I feel like making long-distance calls to anyone over what is, after all, just a widget. But thanks again for the encouragement.
DR
That's a brilliant little device. Thanks for sharing it. Can't help but notice the "woodworker's thumbnail".
ring, GREAT idea!Why didn'tI think of that?
I used to install wood folding doors and had to hand plane forward and reverse bevels on each door so as not to create a huge gap between a set of 4/6' or 8 doors folding like an accordian
I CAN'T count how many of hundreds of times, I had to bend down and grasp the door bottoms to ease them apart. Your 'Widget' would have saved me all that 'Stoop labor'Gopod luck, Steinmetz.
DANG! I used a suction cup and had rubber marks all over my nice wood!
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