Popular Woodworking 2001-06 № 122, страница 35

Popular Woodworking 2001-06 № 122, страница 35

Cut the rabbet for the glass using a rabbeting bit in your router table.After the rabbet is cut,you'll need to square the edges with a chisel. Because this work is delicate, make sure your chisel is super sharp.

Put down a thin bead of silicone in the rabbet, then put the glass on that.Then lay down another bead of silicone and press the wooden retaining strip into place to cover the goop. Now your doors look good when both open and shut.

on a table saw using a dado stack and then used them to lay out my mortises.

All the tenons for the doors are thick. The tenons on the rails are all 1" long. The tenons on the middle stiles are V2" long. I cut 3/i6"

shoulders on all the

tenons.

When cutting your mortises, make them 1/l6" deeper than the tenon is long. This prevents your tenon from "bottoming out" in your mortise.

Check the fit of everything and then glue up the doors. When the glue is dry, you need to cut

x v8" rabbets on the back side of the door to hold the glass. The best way to do this is to use a bearing-guided rabbeting bit in your router table as shown in the photo above.

Take it slow in the corners so you don't blow out the wood around the middle stile and middle rail. Sand your doors and get ready to hang them.

Get a Perfect Gap

The goal when hanging an inset door like this is to get a

V16"

gap all around. If your case is square and your doors are square, it's going to be a simple task.

Start by putting one of the doors in place and holding the stile against the side. This is where you're going to find out if everything is square. If things are square, you can just start shaving off a little bit from the stiles and rails until you have the gap you want.

If things aren't square, you need to make some tapered cuts on your doors. You

can do this on your jointer, but I prefer to use a handplane to shave off the excess. This allows you to stop your cut exactly where you want it. Keep working at it until the gap looks reasonably uniform.

Now hang the doors. I used Amerock non-mortise hinges. These hinges are adjustable so you can get your inset doors lined up just right. And installing them is a snap.

First screw the hinges to the case. Then attach the doors to the hinges using spring clamps. Drill pilot holes for your screws and screw the doors to the hinges. Remove the spring clamps. While you're at it, add the knob and the catches you've chosen to hold the doors shut.

Remove all the hardware and then cut some V4" x V4" retaining strips to hold the glass in place. Sand everything to 150 grit and prepare for finishing.

Finishing

This finish consists of a reddish dye, followed by a coat of lacquer, a coat of warm brown glaze and then three more coats of lacquer. Begin the finishing with a water-based dye. I use Moser's Light Sheraton Mahogany dye (from Woodworker's Supply, 800-645-9292, item #844414, $11.90).

Then I covered the entire project with one coat of Lily's warm brown glaze. You can usually find glaze at professional painter's stores for about $26 a gallon. Wipe the glaze on with a cheesecloth. Allow it to flash after a couple minutes, and then wipe off the excess until you achieve an even

tone. Allow the glaze to dry overnight. Finally, apply three top coats of a clear finish, such as lacquer.

Glass

Normally I would pin the strips to the doors to hold the glass in place. But because the mullions are so small this was out of the question. Silicone to the rescue. Put a small bead of 100 percent clear silicone (available at any home center) in the rabbet, and place the 1/s"-thick glass in place. Then run another small bead of silicone in the gap between the wood and the glass and press the wooden retaining strips in place. Use spring clamps to hold them in place while the silicone sets up.

Now that the bookcase is done, I plan to set it up in my study, right where I always envisioned it. And the first thing I'm going to put in there is all those auction catalogs I don't have any more use for. PW

SUPPLIES

Woodworker's Supply 800-645-9292

4 • Amerock non-mortise hinges, item # 890626, $2.95 each.

Lee Valley Tools 800-871-8158

2 • I l5/i6" double catch, item #00WI2.02, $1.40 each

1 • Brass knob, item #0IA2I.24, $2.40 each

2 • Bronze shelving sleeves (20), item # 63Z05.03, $2.95 each

I • Bronze shelving supports (20), item # 63Z05.04, $2.95 each