Display Cabinet 1

Getting Started

We have a stone chimney running up against the north wall of our living room, and we used to have a book case in front of it. There needs to be something in front of it or it just looks wrong. The book case was OK, but we really need something different there. I saw a design for a mission style display case, and I modified it for my dimensions and used quarter-sawn oak veneered plywood from Menards instead of solid quarter-sawn oak boards glued together. I will glue solid oak around the exterior edges, including the bottom edges to mask/protect any edges that will be exposed.

Here is an image of the design from SketchUp:

 

The two colors just show the plywood vs solid oak. The colors will match in the final piece.

I got the two sheets of 3/4inch 4x8 solid veneer core quarter-sawn face veneer plywood a couple days ago. I set up a cutting platform behind my truck before unloading the plywood. I used my two shopdogs, a plywood grid I made, and a piece of 3/4-inch 4x8 styrofoam insulation to make the cutting platform. I could just slide the sheets of plywood out of the truck onto the cutting platform and cross-cut them down into manageable pieces for the table saw.

 

I only had to make one cross-cut on each sheet, but that made them small enough for me to start cutting them down for width on the table saw. I got to use my table saw extension table for the first time. It was nice not worrying about the wood falling off the end of the table saw onto the floor.

 

The sheets after cross cuts with circular saw. The sheets came face up in the package, so I added some painters tape to stop any big tear-out.

 

This is the cutting diagram. I ended up taking the kick plates (bottom left) from the right side of the other sheet so the grain would be running the right way.

 

I labeled each board as I ripped them with a Sharpie and some tape.

 

These boards will be the sides of the cabinet. I need to mark the tops on these because the grain looks a lot better with them oriented one way over the other. The rays/flecks catch the light a lot better.

 

Ripping the kick plates. The table saw extension flips down when I don't need it.

Now I can start cutting the boards to length. I will score the back face of the boards (down side on the table saw) to create a crisp line and avoid tear out on the two outside side boards. The front face (up side on table saw) should be OK since the blade cuts down into the wood.The other board's ends are all buried in a dado, so it is not an issue for them.