Hall Organizer for Bekah

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The area next to the front door can be chaotic, especially with young kids. Here is Bekah’s solution.

I started by gluing up 8 foot sections of white fir. The boards were too long for my 4 inch jointer, so I hand planed the edges with my Bailey #7.

Three 2x8s were joined with 3/8 inch dowels and clamped. The 8 foot length was later cut in half for the bottom and top of the bench.

It’s tough to find perfectly flat 2×8 construction lumber. So after the glue dried overnight, a bit of flatening was required. The glue-up was too wide for my planer, so my Bailey #5 did the trick. I used an 18 inch steel rule on edge to gauge flatness. The final thickness was 1-1/8 inches.

Dados were cut into the sides and horizontal sections to hold dividers. The tenons were adjusted with a rabbet plane for a good fit. Here the pieces are being dry-fit before glue-up. Shoulder tenons were used on the horizontal pieces to hide any joinery errors.

Here is the actual glue-up of the sides. Notice the clamping cauls and the pipe clamp extensions . Diagonal measurements were made to ensure squareness. Because of the number of joints, the glue-up was done in two stages.

Here is the second glue-up where the top is attached. The dados in the top were cut the full length. You can see the small pieces glued into the front portion of the data where the top overhangs the base. The screw clamps are holding a 2-1/2 board that closes off the empty area under the bottom section of cubbies. This is so mom doesn’t have to search for errant articles underneath the bench.

The upper section of the piece was made much the same as the bench below. It’s purpose is to provide hooks for coats and backpacks, as well as baskets for hats and gloves.

The back pieces were tongue and grooved to allow for across the grain wood movement. They also provide the structure for the hooks, and for hanging the piece on the wall. The tongue and groove boards reside in a rabbet cut into the sides.

Levi hanging out on the bench. Dimensions are 17 inches tall, 48 wide and 16 deep.

Tool Cabinet for Zeek

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I bequeathed my ShopSmith to Zeek to free up space in my overcrowded shop. He needed some additional storage space to for the various accessories that went with the saw.

We started with the top and bottom of the cabinet. 2x4s were laid flat and screwed onto the 3/4 plywood. An 1/8 inch space was left between the 2×4 pieces to allow for expansion. The 2x4s provide the structure to attach the castors to the bottom and the melamine top. Notice the dado cut in the plywood to accept the center divider between the two drawer compartments.

Next step was to attach the 3/4 inch plywood sides and center divider. The center divider was cut shorter (by the thickness of the back) than the 1/2 inch back. Also the rear of the top and bottom plywood panels were 1/2 inch shorter than the 2×4 frame at the back, to provide allow the back to overlap the top and bottom plywood panels.

We used the leftover melamine particle board from the wash/dryer pedestal project for the top. We were a little short, so we edge jointed two pieces of melamine together with a 1/4 inch piece of oak sandwiched between them.

To dress up the front of the cabinet, 5/16 inch solid oak strips were re-sawn and attached to the exposed plywood edges with glue and 22 gauge brads.

2x4s laid flat on the underside of the top were expoxied, screwed, and allowed to cure overnight. Screws driven from the under side of the top of the drawer compartment secure the top to the cabinet.

Full extension slides were attached to the sides of the drawer compartments before attaching the back. Note the the slides are 1/2 inch higher on the right side than the left, so that the screws attaching the slides to not interfere with each other in the center partition.

Next the 10 drawers were built. Front and back of the drawers are 3/4 inch plywood, Sides are 1/2 inch plywood. Bottoms are 1/8 inch hardboard. Sides were glued and nailed to front and backs. A 1-1/2 inch wide piece of 1/4 pine was attached to the center of the underside of the bottom with screws from front to back to increase the rigidity of the bottom.

Now the slides were attached to the drawers. Drawer sizes: 6, 5-1/2, (2) 4, and 3-1/2. Drawers were spaced about 3/8 inch apart .

Finally, the 1/2 inch false fronts were attached to the drawers. The drawer above was removed to allow the f-style clamps room to be attached while the glue dried. A penny and a nickle were stacked under each side of the false front on top of the drawer beneath to give the desired spacing between the drawer fronts. After 1/2 hour of clamping, four screws were run from the inside of the drawer front into the false front. The maple drawer fronts and cabinet sides were lightly sanded and a natural Danish Oil finish was applied.