Replies

1. 
   MikeHennessy | Nov 12, 2007 04:36pm | #1

   She would like it stained dark so I was thinking of using poplar (inexpensive, available and easy to work with).  Any other suggestions as far as wood goes?

   Poplar probably isn't your best choice for this. It's pretty soft so it gets banged up easily, and lacks grain character for staining. A hardwood like cherry or maple would probably be my choice. If you are using primarily power tools, hardwood is not appreciably harder to work with than are softwoods. If your budget or material availability limits you to poplar, I'd be thinking "paint", not stain. If you'd like to try stained poplar, do some test pieces first so you can decide if you like how it looks before you do all the work to make the pieces.

   Regarding the construction, I was going to frame the drawer fronts from poplar with a tongue and grove joint and use a 1/4" panel.  Is the 1/4" sufficient for this use?  These fronts will be face mounted to the drawer box.

   1/4" will be fine for the doors. For the drawer faces, glue some spacer blocks on the backs of the panels where the hardware will go. Otherwise, your hardware will tend to bow the panel and always feel loose.

   I also want to chamfer the inside edge of the frame.  Easy to do on the router table.  But how do u get the chamfer to stop and match where the two sides of the drawer frame intersect?  Is this done by stopping short then cutting the last section of the chamfer by hand with a chisel to match the intersecting side? 

   This is most easily done by routing the chamfer after the frame is assebled, squaring off the corners by hand. Since you may not have enough clearance for the bit's guide bearing with the panel in place, you may need to clamp the frame together without the frame for routing. Then glue it up and square off the corners.

   Last question....if I want to put a molding  on the inside of the of the frame, over the panel, instead of chamfering the edge, is this just cut, glued and pinned in when the door is constructed?  Any good sources for cabinet molding such as this?

   You could do it that way. A good source of such molding is from the sharp end of your router. ;-)

   Since you have a router table, another way to do this (and perhaps the most straightforward) is to buy a matched set of door bits for your router. They will cut everything including the (modified) M&T joints, molding and grooves for the panels and come in several styles.

   Mike Hennessy
   Pittsburgh, PA