So, a year ago, when Teresa and I ripped out the closet wall in the master bedroom and installed sliding doors, I built a shelf unit into the closet. I had originally planned on building a cedar closet into the big closet but then just wanted to get the job done and it seemed easier to build it out of MDF. Of course, I had purchased quite a bit of rough cedar in preparation, which has been sitting, stacked in my basement for a year now.
So, finally, taking a comp day from work, I went into the basement and started working on building a free-standing closet/cabinet from the 1X8 cedar planks. The basic concept is pretty straight forward with a bit of decoration. There will be a 2X4 rectangular frame at the very bottom and very top of the cabinet. The frames will be below the floor and above the ceiling of the cabinet. The sides of the cabinet are 3 1X8 cedar planks about 6.5 feet long. They are screwed into the 2X4s. There will be a 1X4 cedar plank that runs around the sides and front of the cabinet at the bottom and top. This will hide the screws connecting the side planks to the 2X4s. I routed a rabbit joint along the back edges of the last cedar plank on either side. I will lay a quarter inch sheet of plywood or hard board in for the back of the cabinet. I will rout two sets of dados on the inside walls of the closet sides and permanently affix shelves there. The doors will be two cedar planks each making the cabinet four planks wide and three planks deep. Let's see if I can explain the doors and opening a bit. For one, the doors are 1.5 inches longer, bottom to top, than the actual open closet space. This is so that the 3/4 inch floor and 3/4 inch ceiling of the closet are there for the doors to close against. Since I want the doors, when closed, to be behind the 1X4 bottom and top trim, the 2X4 frame has to sit forward of the sides of the cabinet by the thickness of the doors, Actually it will sit forward of the sides slightly less than the thickness of the door, so that when the doors close, the front edge of the door will be resting very slightly on the 1X4 trim. I was worried that if I didn't get everything just perfect, the doors might catch on the trim as you opened them. So, the front 2X4 is rabbit jointed at it's ends so that the front most edge, extends to the left and right by the thickness of the walls of the cabinet. The doors will be hinged with those long decorative hinges, where the hinge plates will be mounted to the front of the door and the sides of the cabinet, so they will be visible. Lastly, I will take 1X2 cedar strips and stick them on the sides of the cabinet to cover the screws that anchor the shelves in place. There will also be cedar strips across the doors holding the two door planks together. The door strips will be slightly above the strips on the side walls so that the doors can open all the way against the sides of the cabinet, and if I do it just right, there should be some friction there between the strips on the doors and the strips on the cabinet, to keep the doors in place while open. I will also get an old, large, sliding hasp to lock the doors together when closed. The general impression should be of an old cedar closet. So far, I cut all the side planks roughly to length. I have screwed the side planks to 2X4s. I mounted the 2X4s slightly short of the ends of the planks and I will take my circ saw and trim the planks flush with the 2X4s. I have already rabbit jointed the back to planks. I cut all the 2X4s to length. Hopefully this weekend I will rabbit joint the front 2X4s, dado the side walls, and biscuit join the shelves together. I don't need this cabinet really. I am just doing something to get some time in the shop. With the wedding, honeymoon, holidays, and work, I have not done diddly for months. -- Blue skies. Dan Rossi Carnegie Mellon University. E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: (412) 268-9081 To listen to the show archives go to link http://acbradio.org/handyman.html or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List Members At The Following address: http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ Visit the new archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindhandyman/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindhandyman/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
