Cabinet front

[Brian Penning]

I've been trying to figure out how the front of this bookcase is constructed.
At first I thought the hinges were attached to some sort of face-frame but on closer inspection the hinges appear recessed.
I want to make something similar but am stumped over the "face-frame" and whether there is even a face-frame. The center stile where the doors lock also adds to my confusion about whether or not there's a face-frame.
Appreciate any ideas.

http://www.harvesthouse.ca/assets/product_images/Mission-MDB08.jpg

[mike holden]

Brian,
this appears to have the doors hung from the sides of the carcase. Be aware that, just looking at the location of the hinge pins, the doors will not open more than 90 degrees.
The center stile looks like it is just placed into a stopped dado.
Pretty piece, and looks quite simple in construction.
Mike

[Peter Quinn]

like Mike said, I'd suspect they are using butt hinges mortised into the sides of the case. Its hard to say without a closer inspection, but the center is probably an astragal attached to one door, and not a center stile at all. They make hinges that will swing out and around those case sides should you desire that.

[Brian Penning]

Thanks for the replies. However I find that the left side of the carcass, especially the bottom left corner is what's throwing me off. I see a distinction between the carcase side and what, again, almost looks like a face-frame or moulding.

[Caspar Hauser]

The photograph is somewhat less than clear especially at the lower left for some reason. However the lower right is easier to see and shows no face frame. Looking at the way the books are leaning there appears to be a central divider as opposed to an astragal.

CH

[Peter Quinn]

The bottom left corner is all shimmer and shadows in that picture. Look at the bottom right corner. It looks like the bottom shelf, or fixed partition, is dovetailed into the case sides, the curved bottom apron is mortised in, which you can see on the left side. The leading edge of the sides is perfect flat sawn grain, the sides are QS, so that would suggest they are continuous. The edge of a QSWO board will always be flat sawn grain.

Much traditional furniture does not use FF construction like you see in kitchen type cabinets. It is not at all unusual with solid wood construction to have the sides form what appears to be a frame on the front.

[Carl Beckett]

you are asking about this? Give the group here an idea of what you are wanting to learn/do, and maybe they have some clever ways of accomplishing it, no matter what the construction for this particular piece.

I do see why you are wondering about that lower left corner - it could be a couple of things:

Photography/photoshopping, lighting. I do notice a shadow line suggesting the dominant lighting is coming from the viewers right and slightly above. There is something funky about the shadow line that comes down the far left edge of the face, as it transitions across the bottom. My vote would go that that the producer of this photograph didnt like something about how the photo looked, so did a little editing to blend it in. (I am guessing this photo was taken for marketing purposes, and not construction detail).

I also agree that the center vertical is likely an astragal and not a center stile - look at the way it shadows on the very bottom end/edge

But the real question is, what do you want? I can think of several ways of producing this piece depending on what you want to do (use veneer, plywood, solid wood, thru tenons or just appear that way, rabbet or dovetail the bottom and top to the sides, center stile or not, etc.) I know that you could get 100 more ideas from the people here, if you let them know what you were trying to accomplish (achieve the look at the cheapest cost? Certain limitations to tools that you have? Create a production capable design? Create the most traditional joinery construction?

Interestingly, I have something almost identical to this setting in my living room. I didnt make it, it is a 'little bit old" - maybe 20's circa. It DOES use a face frame construction, attached to what I believe are likely plywood sides so you get a grain mismatch line on the side. The shadow in the pic makes it look possible that this piece is constructed this way.

[Brian Penning]

you are asking about this? Give the group here an idea of what you are wanting to learn/do, and maybe they have some clever ways of accomplishing it, no matter what the construction for this particular piece.

I do see why you are wondering about that lower left corner - it could be a couple of things:

Photography/photoshopping, lighting. I do notice a shadow line suggesting the dominant lighting is coming from the viewers right and slightly above. There is something funky about the shadow line that comes down the far left edge of the face, as it transitions across the bottom. My vote would go that that the producer of this photograph didnt like something about how the photo looked, so did a little editing to blend it in. (I am guessing this photo was taken for marketing purposes, and not construction detail).

I also agree that the center vertical is likely an astragal and not a center stile - look at the way it shadows on the very bottom end/edge

But the real question is, what do you want? I can think of several ways of producing this piece depending on what you want to do (use veneer, plywood, solid wood, thru tenons or just appear that way, rabbet or dovetail the bottom and top to the sides, center stile or not, etc.) I know that you could get 100 more ideas from the people here, if you let them know what you were trying to accomplish (achieve the look at the cheapest cost? Certain limitations to tools that you have? Create a production capable design? Create the most traditional joinery construction?

Interestingly, I have something almost identical to this setting in my living room. I didnt make it, it is a 'little bit old" - maybe 20's circa. It DOES use a face frame construction, attached to what I believe are likely plywood sides so you get a grain mismatch line on the side. The shadow in the pic makes it look possible that this piece is constructed this way.


I want to make an exact copy with Q/S oak. Simply trying to understand how the front of this piece was/is constructed based on the photo.
Methods of the construction are not and won't be a problem for me.
Again just trying to understand what I'm looking at.
Received some ideas already with the hinges attached to the side and that front stile.

[Bruce Page]

Brian, the pictured cabinet looks very similar to a cabinet that I built. The “face frame” header is mortised into the case sides and the side pieces that the doors hang from are glued & screwed onto the sides. The hinges are mortised as well. Pretty simple really.

[Brian Penning]

Wow! That's a beautiful looking piece.
Got any completed photos?
Those ship-lap boards for the back? I had thought of that but was wondering if A&C/Mission furniture used this method.
The sides solid boards?

[Bruce Page]

Thanks. It is not finished yet…:o:o
I was going to do ship lap but decided to do tongue & groove joints instead.
It’s solid QSWO except for the panel that goes behind the drawers.