An Elegant Jelly Cabinet - Construction Part 8 - Back and Front

Attaching the back panel was as simple as gluing the two stiles to the back edges of the carcass.  These are rebated to take the sliding back panel.
I'll leave the panel out for now so that I can have easy access to the inside of the cupboard.  It will slide in easily from the bottom at any time.

Making the Door Frame

The door frame will be morticed and tenoned.  I cut the mortices first, and once again the trusty Makita does the job.  By placing the two stiles side by side and projecting beyond the edge of the bench vice, I have a more stable platform for the router.

The fence runs against the side of the stile (actually the face - but you know what I mean), and it simply has to be swapped from one side to the other to cut both mortices.

Once all the mortices are cut - top and bottom - I clamp the stiles in place and mark out the tenons on the top and bottom rails.  I find that it is easier and more accurate to do it this way.

After marking out the tenons, I use a bench hook to hold the piece while I saw the shoulders of each.  The finished tenons are cleaned up with a shoulder plane.


Because the mortices were cut with the router, the ends of all of them have a rounded profile, the same as the router bit.

To make the tenons fit closely, I round over the end of the tenon that will abut the round end of the mortice.  Pare with a chisel first and then finish off with some cloth backed sandpaper.  This is a broken sander belt (never throw anything away)

 It is easier to round the tenon than to square the mortice.

These mortices are left open at the top for the top rail, and for the bottom of the bottom rail, to give me more glue area for the joint.

Neither of these will be seen in the finished cabinet, and I prefer the strength that the extra tenon area provides.

Here is the top rail - trial fitted.
Not too shabby at all.

Wish it was the same story with the bottom rail.  Boo Hoo !!!!
I got a bit carried away with the router when cutting the mortices.  They are too long and, as a consequence, the rail is now too narrow, and the top of the mortice peeks out from above the rail.

Here's my fix.
The rail width is not critical, and if I widen it just a tad - then the holes will disappear.  I don't have enough timber left to make another rail, so I have glued a ripping to the bottom of the rail, and will simply re-shape it to follow the tenon when it dries.  Like I said - never throw anything away.  Now, of course, the door will be a smidgen shorter.  Another reason to be glad I left it until last.

The bottom of this lower rail will be covered by a moulding - so the mistake will never be seen from the front, and even from below, a cockroach view will show only a clean edge.   It is a relief to get out of trouble so easily.

This necessary fix stopped me from finishing the door frame today.  And so I started to prepare the rosewood panel for the door.  I won't make the door until the frame is installed, so that once again it is a good fit.  No more mistakes I hope.

As you can see on the left, this panel has plenty of ripples from the power planer that dressed it at the mill.  I remove these with a bevel up plane. This one is a copy of the Stanley 62 - (made by Stanley from 1905 - 1942) - and was made by Lie Nielsen.

This piece of Australian Rosewood also had a nasty snipe on the end that had been left by the power planer as well.  It needed attention, and while I was at it I finished surfacing the whole panel.

OK, the end is in sight.  Maybe two more entries here at the Village Woodworker will see it through to completion.

Happy woodworking to all .....