666 6
card scraper and when the tenons were fl ush, I scraped the
entire surface of both cabinet sides.
I had set aside a small piece of stock for the backsplash.
The grain on this piece arched to match the profi le I intended
to cut, and with the back in place in the carcase, I trimmed it
to fi nal width and length, then marked the curved top edge.
After cutting the shape on the band saw, I removed the saw
marks with my block plane and shaped the corners with a rasp
where the splash meets the case sides.
I’ve Got a Secret
The arched apron below the lowest shelf also was selected
with the curve of the grain centered on the cut-out shape. The
apron attaches to the cabinet in an unusual way. It actually is
the front of a hidden drawer.
The apron is^1 ⁄ 16 " shorter than the distance between the
two sides of the cabinet, and the^5 ⁄ 8 "-thick maple drawer sides
are 1^3 ⁄ 4 " wide and 10^1 ⁄ 4 " long. The sides join the drawer front
with half-blind dovetails, and are set in from the ends about
(^1) ⁄ 8 " on each side. A (^1) ⁄ 4 "-wide, (^1) ⁄ 8 "-deep groove was cut in the
outer face of each drawer side after the drawer was assem-
bled to hang the drawer on runners.
The drawer runners are strips of maple,^3 ⁄ 4 " wide x^1 ⁄ 4 "
thick, held to the cabinet sides with screws. The reason for
setting the drawer sides in was to leave the smallest possible
gap between the ends of the drawer front and the cabinet
A little off the top. The pencil lines smear where
material needs to be removed. A planemaker’s
fl oat gives good control and leaves a smooth
surface.
How it ought to be. The ends can be a bit loose
because the wedges will expand the tenons.
Test, don’t guess. Penciled hatch marks on the
tenons will smear and reveal tight spots within the
joints during the test fi tting.
One size fi ts all. In theory, the tapered wedges will fi t anywhere. In reality, I fi t each one and kept them in order.
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