Hello. I’m building a pine pantry cabinet and have a few questions. First, when attaching the back would I be best served to use a flat bottomed screw and counterbored holes, or is there a better way for someone new? Also, would I weaken or otherwise harm the doors if I used a core or cove router bit to create a kind of faux raised panel look? I’m using 3/4 pine plank and the cabinet stands 60″ high, 36″wide and 24″ deep. The doors will be 18″x30″ each. These are, of course, the plan dimensions, I’m expecting the finished product to be slightly smaller due to needed trimming (I shouldn’t have to do that, should I?…). I have many, many more questions, but I also have Bruce Hoadley’s “Understanding Wood” and Bob Flexner’s “Understanding Wood Finishing” on order to be followed by some “Tage Frid Teaches” volumes. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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Replies
15Board,
You did not mention if this cabinet was to be hung or stand on the floor? Assuming your using a 1/4 panel for the back, and standing it on the floor, usually brads are all that is required to hold the back panel in place. What you might want to do is rabbit the sides a bit more than 1/4" to accept the back panel and provide for any screw head if you choose to use those..no counterbore required.
You would not hurt the piece by coving the edge for a faux raised panel. Several months ago there was an article in FWW where they did that on some trim. They first removed the bulk of the material with a dado blade and then shaped with a router table and the cove bit....don't know if this could be done freehand. Personally, I hand plane to create the raised panel look.
You'll need to build your doors after the carcas is put together..so you can get exact measurements. Becareful during glue up to get your carcas as square as possible...think through the process and identify how you'll check for level and square before the glue sets up.
Thank you for the advice. The back is made from the same 3/4 stock and the piece is to sit on the floor. I might make a decorative trim for the bottom but I'll have to see if I've enough left over first. I wondered if it might not be best to assemble the carcass before making the doors, thanks for making up my mind. Something this tall I'll likely square it up by checking across the corners. I'll have to play around with offset clamping before I begin assembling. My main concern at glue up will be keeping the edges reasonably flat, and not dropping something, and probably thirty more things I don't know about. Anyhow, my son is bugging me to get started so thanks again for the help and anything you may have to add will also be appreciated.
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