MAKING THE DOORS

An escutcheon is fastened to one of the doors of the bookcase shown at left. On this piece, the key and escutcheons are purely decorative. The doors are actually held shut by spring-loaded catches installed on the inside faces of the stiles near the bottom of the doors.

 

MAKING THE DOORSMAKING THE DOORSMAKING THE DOORS

1

Cutting the tenon in the rails

Start making the frame-and-panel doors of the bookcase by cutting blind tenons at the ends of all the rails. To do the job on your table saw, install a dado head slightly wider than the tenon length. Attach an auxiliary wood fence and notch it by raising the dado head into it. Set the width of cut equal to the tenon length and adjust the cutting height to about one-third the thickness of the stock. Holding the rail flush against the miter gauge and the fence, feed the stock face­down into the blades to cut one tenon cheek. Turn the board over and make the same cut on the other side. Check for fit
in a test mortise (step 4), then repeat the process on the other end of the board and on the other rails (above, left). To cut the tenon shoulders, set the cutting height at about У inch. Then, with the rail face flush against the miter gauge and the end butted against the fence, feed the workpiece into the blades. Turn the rail over and repeat the cut on the other side (above, right). Cut the rest of the tenon shoulders the same way. Fashion integrated molding on the inside edges of the door frames on a router table (page 129) using a pilot­ed molding bit.

MAKING THE DOORS

2

Preparing the rails for glue up

The corners of the tenon shoulders must be mitered to mate properly with the stiles. Remove the auxiliary fence from the table saw fence and install a crosscut or combination blade. Set the blade angle to 45°, make a test cut in a scrap board, and check the result with a combination square. Adjust the fence position and blade height so the cut is as wide and deep as the width of the edge molding. (The blade teeth should just protrude beyond the tenon shoulder.) To make the cuts, hold the piece flush against the fence and miter gauge as you feed it edge down into the blade. Repeat the cuts on the ends of each molded edge of the remain­ing rails (left).

MAKING THE DOORSMAKING THE DOORS

MAKING THE DOORS

Notching the stiles

Leave the table saw blade angled at 45°, measure the width of each rail, and mark a line on the molded edge of its mating stile a corresponding distance from the end. Cut into the molded edge at the line, making certain that the cut will not mar the face of the stile. Slice off most of the strip of molding between
the 45° cut and each end of the stile with a band saw (above, left). Smooth the cut edge using the table saw. Leaving the rip fence in place, hold the stile flush against the miter gauge, and slide the stock back and forth across the blade (above, right). Repeat the process for all the stiles.

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4

Cutting mortises in the stiles

Use one of the tenons you cut in step 1 as a guide to outlining the mortises on the edges of the stiles. To make the job easier, clamp all the stiles together face to face with their ends aligned. Install a mortising attachment on your drill press and clamp one stile to the fence, center­ing the mortise outline under the chisel and bit. Make the drilling depth Уіь inch more than the tenon length; make a cut at each end of the mortise before boring out the waste in between (left). Repeat the procedure to cut the remaining mortises.

Wood pad

MAKING THE DOORS

Gluing up the doors

Test-assemble the doors and use a chisel to pare away some wood from any overly tight joint. Once you are satisfied with the fit, sand any surfaces that will be difficult to reach when the doors have been glued up, and spread glue on all the

contacting surfaces of the joints. Reassemble the doors and set each one on two bar clamps, aligning the bars with the rails. Using wood pads to protect the stock, tighten the clamps (above) until a thin glue bead squeezes out of the joints.

INSTALLING THE DOORS

MAKING THE DOORS

2 Making the molding

Cut a board longer than you will need for the molding, then install a 14-inch cove bit in your router and mount the tool in a table. Align the bit bearing with the fence and adjust the cutter height to shape the bottom corner of the stock. Mount a featherboard on the table in line with the bit to secure the stock during the cut. Turn on the tool and feed the stock, finishing the pass with a push stick. Shape the other edge of the board the same way (right). Rip the molding from the stock on the table saw and cut the molding to length, mitering the ends at 45°. Cut and fit one piece at a time.

1

Preparing the doors for glass

Glass panels lie in rabbets and are held in place by thin strips of molding. Clamp one door frame to a work surface, then install a piloted %-inch rabbeting bit in your router and set the depth of cut to the combined thickness of the glass and the molding. Hold the tool firmly with both hands while resting the base plate on the frame near one corner, then guide the bit into the inside edge of the door. Move the router clockwise along the edges (left), keeping the pilot bearing pressed against the stock. Square the cor­ners with a chisel and a wooden mallet. Repeat for the second door.

4

MAKING THE DOORS

MAKING THE DOORS
MAKING THE DOORS

Securing the glass

Unscrew the doors from the bookcase and set one door inside face up on a work surface. Set a drop of clear glazing com­pound every few inches along the rabbet in the door frame to prevent the glass from rattling. Set the glass and the molding in place and, starting 2 inches from the cor­ners, drill pilot holes at б-inch intervals through the molding and into the frame. Tack down the molding with brads, using a piece of cardboard to protect the glass from the hammer (left). To finish off the secretary, reinstall the doors.

3

Gluing the banding

Using a hardwood darker than the leg, cut a rectangular piece of banding for every dado. Saw the banding so the grain will be parallel with the grain of the leg when the pieces are glued in place; they should be the same width as the dadoes, but about / inch longer and 3/ie inch thick. Spread glue on two pieces of banding, set them in dadoes on opposite sides of the leg and secure them in place with a C clamp (right). Once the adhesive has cured, remove the clamp and trim the ends of the banding flush with the leg by running the adjoining dadoes across the router table again as in step 2. Glue band­ing into these dadoes, then sand the band­ing flush with the leg surface.

2

Drilling the mortises

You can cut the mortises in the posts by hand with a chisel and mallet, or use a router fitted with a mortising bit. But con­sidering the depth of the mortises—1% inches—a hollow chisel mortiser, like the one shown at right or a drill press with a mortising attachment, will do the job most quickly and accurately. Set up the machine following the manufacturer’s directions. For the mortiser shown, install a 3/e-inch bit and place one of the posts on the table, centering a mortise outline under the cutter. Butt the fence against the stock and adjust the hold-down to secure the post while still allowing you to slide the workpiece freely along the fence. Make a cut at each end of the outline, then a series of staggered cuts in between (right) to complete the mortise.

2

Making and gluing up the dust frames

Cut the pieces of the dust frames to length and drill elongated screw holes in the end boards; to allow for wood movement, the holes should be longer and wider than the shanks of the fasteners you will use to attach the frames to the carcase sides. Sand any frame surfaces that will be difficult to reach after glue up. Cut a plate joint (photo, page 109) at each corner of the frames, assemble the joints with wood biscuits and glue, then secure them with bar clamps, aligning the bars with the end pieces and protecting the stock with wood pads (above). Make sure the front end piece is recessed by an amount equal to the depth of the dadoes you cut in step 1. When making the dust frame for the two narrower drawers, include the cross rail (page 106).

3

Gluing on the false fronts

Remove the drawer and spread a thin layer of glue on the back of the false front. Place the front in position, with the two brads in their impressions. Hold the assembly together, using bar clamps along the top edge of the front and deep-throated C clamps along the bottom edge; protect the stock with wood pads where necessary. Tighten the clamps evenly until there are no gaps between the false front and the drawer (right).

Updated: March 19, 2016 — 1:03 pm