Simple question

[Jerome Hanby]

I need to cut a couple of square openings (windows) and rectangular openings (doors) in the sides of a kid's book case I'm building. Sides are going to be birch plywood, the end result will be painted. The openings will have some small hardwood (poplar) trim that covers the inside edges to cover the plywood and add some decoration. Is there a superior way to make those cuts?

I had two ideas. One, make a template, cut them out with a router, then saw the corners square. Two, drill a starter hole for the blade and use the Festool jig saw on the Festool guide rails (from the Festool circular saw, I have a carriage for the jigsaw to use the same rails) to cut the openings. Have also been tempted to rip and crosscut the sides into pieces, use the table saw to cut the pieces for the openings, then glue it all back together. If it makes a difference, the sides are identical, each has one "door" and one "window". I suppose someone with more skills that I have would cut them out freehand with either a hand saw or a jigsaw, but I'd never get straight edges...

I suppose I could cut the poplar "trim" so it had a channel that would wrap around the plywood and hide my edges or do the trim in three steps, cover the opening edges getting the inside and outside edges flush with the plywood sides then add trim inside and out to cover the interface between the first poplar and plywood.

Seems like all of this is much more difficult than it should be. Surely I'm missing some better way to do this.

[Aaron Berk]

What size are these doors and windows?

Less than a foot and I'd router or jig saw them. You can use a chisel to clean up the rounded router corners.

[Jerome Hanby]

Think the windows are about 3" square, doors are about 9" x 3". I tried to pull measurements off of a photograph of what is wanted (Pottery Barn doesn't sell them anymore), so I'm playing loose and fast on the dimensions...

[Aaron Berk]

jig saw it, if you have a quality jigsaw.

Or what about an oscillating plunge cut? Do you own a Fein or Harbour freight equivalent?

[Dell Littlefield]

Last weekend, I did a similar project. I cut the holes with a jigsaw staying on the waste side of the line and squaring the corners. Then a router with a pattern bit and a straight edge did a good job of cleaning up afterwards. Since you are going to line the openings, you may not even need to use the router. A fine tooth saw and the jigsaw guide is probably all you need. Try it on a piece of scrap and you will know

[Jerome Hanby]

I've got a Festool jigsaw. Also have a multifunction tool (03 3) from HF. My problem isn't starting the cut, my problem is that I can't cut a straight line:D


jig saw it, if you have a quality jigsaw.

Or what about an oscillating plunge cut? Do you own a Fein or Harbour freight equivalent?

[Jerome Hanby]

Thanks for the input Dell, I think I'm going to rough out with the jig saw, pattern route to the line, then try to square out the corners. Also think I'll route the popular trim into a U channel to help hide my corner cuts.


Last weekend, I did a similar project. I cut the holes with a jigsaw staying on the waste side of the line and squaring the corners. Then a router with a pattern bit and a straight edge did a good job of cleaning up afterwards. Since you are going to line the openings, you may not even need to use the router. A fine tooth saw and the jigsaw guide is probably all you need. Try it on a piece of scrap and you will know

[Jim Matthews]

If you're painting, your making this more complicated.

Try this (http://www.eaglelakewoodworking.com/post/How-do-you-make-a-drawer-front-and-surrounding-piece-from-one-board.aspx), instead. Think of the window as the drawer front, and rotate the works upright, 90 degrees.
A little putty, followed by judicious sanding and you're ready for paint.

[Jerome Hanby]

I mentioned doing this in my first post, and I'm about to the point that I think, with my skill set, this will probably give me the best result. I can use biscuits to help line all the parts back up. Since the "door" and "window" are the same width and are aligned on each side, I would basically cut each side into three strips then cut the middle strip up to leave the door and window. Heck, I've got plenty of material, I can do one side and see how it works out. In fact if I'm doing all of this anyway, I could cut a small strip off the front and glue it back after I cut the shelf dadoes and avoid having to chisel out the rounded part to create a stopped dado....


If you're painting, your making this more complicated.

Try this (http://www.eaglelakewoodworking.com/post/How-do-you-make-a-drawer-front-and-surrounding-piece-from-one-board.aspx), instead. Think of the window as the drawer front, and rotate the works upright, 90 degrees.
A little putty, followed by judicious sanding and you're ready for paint.

[Jim Matthews]

The cover strip idea is genuinely clever.

Biscuits may not help, in the long run... they tend to show through the face surfaces of plywood casework I made in the '90s.
Some wax paper and sufficient weight over the joints should keep everything aligned as you clamp up.

I would suggest the window should have some overlay, trimmed to make the best fit.

Sorry I missed the mention of this, you're well ahead of me from the start!

[Jerome Hanby]

The original did have some overlay. Let me see if I can upload the picture I'm working from.204598

Making a few changes. I'm squaring off the box part by adding a top. The pointed space under the roof will just be one unbroken space. So three shelves inside the box, bottom with a door on each side, other two with a window on each side. Fourth shelf with the top of the box as its floor and the pointed space under the roof as space available. Based on dimensions I was able to interpolate fro the photo that I have and a little dead reckoning, bottom shelf will be about a foot high, other two about 9 inches, and the top whatever it turns out to be :D.

Since this one will be birch plywood with poplar for the trim, I think it will be better and certainly lighter than the MDF thing that Potter Barn used to sell.

[Trent Shirley]

You can clamp on a board to guide your jigsaw easier than you could make a template for the router. All in all I thnk that would be the easiest. Clamp your board to the inside of the cut rather than the outside so that you have enough surface to clamp to plus the distance from edge of jigsaw to blade. Maybe make a paper template and tape it where you want it so that you can easily set the positioning for the clamped guide board.