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the joints and display quartersawn figure on the front of the
cabinet.
I made a template out of^1 ⁄ 2 "-thick baltic birch plywood
that located the holes for the pegs that support the two
adjustable shelves. After drilling the holes, the carcase was
complete, except for the two blocks that cap the trim on the
top front of the cabinet. I laid out the blocks on each end of
a piece of wood about a foot long to give me room to hold
them while cutting them on the band saw (shown bottom
right).
This extra material also provided a way to hold the blocks
in my bench vise while cleaning them up with a rasp. After all
the surfaces were smooth, I glued them in place.
Door
With the back panel completed, and the case parts as-
sembled, It was time to work on the door. The glass sits in
a 1 ⁄ 4 "-wide by 3 ⁄ 8 "-deep rabbet and is held in place with
(^1) ⁄ 4 "-square strips of wood.This glass stop is nailed in place
after the cabinet is finished. The outer stiles and rails are
held together with mortise-and-tenon joints. The inter-
mediate stiles and rail also have tenons on their ends. The
door tenons all have a step in them to accommodate the
rabbet for the door’s glass. The 1 ⁄ 4 "-wide mortises are in
line with the inside of the rabbet.
At the upper portion of the bookcase door, the intermediate
rail joins the two narrow stiles with a half-lap joint as shown
on page 86. I made the joints for the outer stiles and rails, and
then clamped the door together to lay out the joints for the
intermediate stiles and rails. I cut these joints, as well as the all
tenons for all the door parts, with a stack dado set in the table
saw.
I assembled the door in stages, to avoid putting together
a lot of parts at once. I assembled the half-lap joints fi rst. The
top and bottom rails were then put on the ends of the smaller
stiles and clamped. While this assembly was drying, I cut the
mortise for the lock, and carved the recess to inlay the brass
escutcheon for the keyhole.
I secured one of the long stiles in my bench vise (as shown
below), and put glue in the mortises before placing the tenons
of the rail assembly. Next I put some glue on the top edges of
the tenons on the rails. Then I tapped the second rail in place
before I began clamping.
Fumed Finish
Fuming white oak with ammonia is an exercise in faith; the
color doesn’t look right until the piece is fi nished with shellac
and dark wax. There is also a distinct risk that some parts
won’t come out the same color as others, or, perhaps worse,
that there will be some sapwood present that won’t take on
any color at all.
Twenty-six percent ammonia is used in blue print machines,
and is a much stronger solution than household ammonia,
which is about five percent. Such a strong chemical requires
great care in handling, as the fumes can quickly damage eyes,
After "fuming" for 24 hours the tent was aired out and the plastic
removed. Here you can see the construction of the tent frame, and the
change in color.
The quartersawn white oak in its natural color.
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