More work on the Media Cabinet

So for the last couple of days I have been working on milling more wood for the base. I really need to get the base right or the whole thing is going to be off. Also, as usual, I've made a slight design change. In the stock picture, the base is flush with the rails and posts. I liked this, but it was going to be trickier than I wanted it to be. Also, I'm using solid wood, not plywood, so this would be an issue with wood movement. So, I've decided to change it to set on top, like a table top, with a 3/4-1" overlap on three sides (not the back). This solves my wood movement problem (sort of) but will also dress it up a bit; I'm going to use a classic ogee profile on it. So, with that, I've done all my mortise and tenon joints for the base rails.

From MediaCabinet

Here it is all dry fit.

From MediaCabinet

I have not glued it together yet as I want to add two cross braces about a third of the way in from each side. This will give me better support and also give me another place to screw the base into the bottom with slots for wood movement.

Next I milled up the 4/4 lumber that is going to be used for the base.

From MediaCabinet

And here they are LOOSELY dry fit to the bottom.

From MediaCabinet

I still need to cut them to exact length and glue them together. I'm not in a huge hurry for that as I had to order the router bit I need for the profile so it won't be here for a while. But I think what I will start on next are the two main vertical support in the center of the cabinet, as well as the outside verticals. I'm not completely sure how I want to attach these to the base, but I am leaning toward mortise and tenon here as well; input welcome on that one.

Well, back to the jointer and planer...

Be Safe!

Media Cabinet has begun...baby steps

Have to crawl before you can walk and walk before you run and that is how my projects get started. I am preparing to build a media cabinet for my house based on a Pottery Barn design.

From MediaCabinet

The first thing I had to do was get some measurements, which Pottery Barn provides, and then guesstimate how much wood I was going to need. I am not using any plywood, all solid wood, so I will be compensating for wood movement as I go. So, with that, I have procured what I hope to be all the wood I need, but I will probably need more.

From MediaCabinet

From MediaCabinet

The lumber is made up of 12/4, 8/4 and 4/4. The 12/4 will be for the legs and the top (resawn) and the 8/4 will be for book matched doors, rails and stiles and other parts and the 4/4 will be for just about everything else.

So, for the baby steps, it begins with deciding what to use where, which I've started to do, as well as mill the lumber. Here you can see some of the 12/4 milled for the legs; these will be cut in half to form two legs, four total and a leg in the middle for center support.

From MediaCabinet

Next I needed to resaw some 8/4 to make the rails for the base; I'm building the bottom platform before anything else as everything will be based on this dimension. So here I am setup for for the resaw.

From MediaCabinet

And a shot after it has been cut.

From MediaCabinet

This, roughly 6', section will give me all four rails I need for the bottom; two about 57" and two about 18". Next will be milling them to final size and laying out and cutting the tenons. Once I cut the tenons, I will layout for the mortises and begin to fit dry fit everything and move to the next stage. More to come...

Be Safe!