Hidden dovetail shop cabinet design

[Michael Todrin]

I just glued up the carcass for a small shop cabinet (18.5x7x30 inches) with hidden mitre dovetails. Carcass is 5/4 heart pine and dadoed shelves are 3/8". I am going to build drawers for the two lower 4" openings and I am wondering about design opinions for the doors. More specifically, should the doors be full height or just cover the upper 22" where the open shelving will be. Opinions?

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A shot of the corner.
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My apologies, for computer skills are at the Neanderthal level and cannot figure how to rotate photos.

[Rick Malakoff]

Hi Michael,
What kind of doors and will you be adding a face frame?
Rick

[Michael Todrin]

Rick,

i was not planning to build a face frame. As far as what type of doors I put on, that is dependent on whether I go full height or just the top 22". If full height I will probably build a door with some depth to it so as to allow tool storage on the door and to allow for door knobs. If only the upper 2/3 I will try to minimize door thickness so that it does not stick out too far from the plane of the drawers and that will be either frame and panel or a glue up.

Michael

[Rick Malakoff]

Michael,
I have something like that going on and it was a struggle to decide and went with raised panel doors but still not sure what the drawer front will look like right now its just a spacer so I can fit the doors. The bottom line was that I didn't want to open the doors to get to the drawers.

Rick

[Mike Henderson]

Nice job on the secret miter dovetails.

Mike

[Christopher Charles]

Ditto on the dovetails.

Is the cabinet for tools or other shop material? If for tools, cabinets never seem to be big enough in the long run, so more storage on the inside of the doors might be a good idea.

Look forward to seeing what you decide.

[Michael Todrin]

Thanks for the compliment Mike and Christopher. This was my first attempt at the secret mitre dovetail and I learned the hard way that one must cut pins first in order to transfer the layout. That corner is on the bottom of the cabinet.

I do do like the idea of the storage on the door, unfortunately I only thought of it after I rounded the edges over on the carcase and I am uncertain how the door will look intersecting that. And yes I know it is a little precious to worry about that in shop furniture, but I like to work on design as much as execute the design.

[Michael Todrin]

I understand the dilemma Rick. Any chance you can post a photo for inspiration?

[Brian Holcombe]

Nicely done!

[Rick Malakoff]

Michael, hope this helps this is in the trailer section of my abode and on top of the water heater, thinking about leaving the drawer front plain to look like part of the face frame to not draw any attention, kind of like, sorta a hidden space!
Rick

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[Michael Todrin]

Thanks Brian.

I like that Rick. With the crisp lines that drawer just disappears.

I cant go in that direction as I have already cut the drawer fronts to be flush with the carcase.

[Michael Todrin]

An idea just occurred to me for a more uniform look. What about small flush mount doors for each shelf. That way when closed the shelves and the drawers would be of a type and in plane. Thoughts? Ideas for hinges?

Thanks

Michael

[Mike Henderson]

Thanks for the compliment Mike and Christopher. This was my first attempt at the secret mitre dovetail and I learned the hard way that one must cut pins first in order to transfer the layout. That corner is on the bottom of the cabinet.

I think having to cut pins first is the real "secret" in those dovetails:). A lot of people get caught with that because most of us do tails first.

Mike

[You don't need it but I'll post a link here (http://www.mikes-woodwork.com/SecretDovetail.htm) to my tutorial on the secret miter dovetail.]

[Rick Malakoff]

An idea just occurred to me for a more uniform look. What about small flush mount doors for each shelf. That way when closed the shelves and the drawers would be of a type and in plane. Thoughts? Ideas for hinges?

Thanks

Michael

See thats my problem changing horses in mid stream, do it all the time because I'm the only one I have to please.
You could always leave the shelves open and drawers below, that was my original intention but in Ramona we only have 2 seasons,
dust and dust with heat and the doors will help with that.
Rick

[James Pallas]

Nice job on the dovetails Michael. Drawers behind doors on a shop cabinet is just another thing to fumble with in my opinion. It may be ok for decorative things like a spice cabinet but not so for the shop.
Jim

[Joe A Faulkner]

I'll preface this with - do whatever makes you happiest. Potentially, you will be living with this cabinet for years. What's most important to you?

For me, my first priority would be to not have to open cabinet doors to get to the drawers.
My next priority would be to have the drawer fronts and door fronts in the same plane.
If just getting the thing done was high on my list, I'd probably go with inset drawers, and overlay doors and be done with it - compromising on my second priority.
If I wasn't in a rush to knock out the project, I'd add 1 1/4" face frame around the outside with 3/4" rails for the bottom two shelves and go with two inset 5 piece doors and inset solid front drawers.

[Rick Malakoff]

360420Got the doors installed waiting for the weather to break the humidity has been high the last few days. Don't want to sand and finish until it gets down to 20%. Still don't know what I want to do with the drawer.
Rick

[Andrew Pitonyak]

But Michael, I don't see any dovetails :eek:

Giving those dovetails a try is something on my long list of things to try someday. I have a couple of carcasses where it might have looked better with that particular dovetail joint rather than the fully exposed dovetail joint that I used.

Your corners are very tight, good job!

[Michael Todrin]

Thank you all for your replies, comments and suggestions. Even after a week at the beach I was no closer to a decision, so I decided to hang it up and live with it for a little bit as is before I go any further.

So so here it is:

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[Rick Malakoff]

A most excellent idea!

[steven c newman]

Andrew: These aren't too bad to do, either..
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Though these are just finger joints...
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Not that hard to do...

[Michael Todrin]

Steven,

What did you use to fine tune the mitres?

i used a chisel with 45 degree blocks above and below as the pine, especially at the thin portion above the tails, threatened to tear out. Do you use a plane?

I find the the clean look of the mitre very pleasing and will be doing more of these after this first attempt turned out. I used some scrap reclaimed wood with nail holes and dings for this test so it will live in the shop. My lady liked it enough that a spice cabinet of similar design will be next.

Michael

[steven c newman]

I just free-hand a chisel. powered by my chin, as I look straight down.

Another trick would be to almost close the miters up, and use a fine saw to match then together.
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Box wasn't all that big..
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Glued up nicely, though....

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Andrew: These aren't too bad to do, either..

They are very well done!



Though these are just finger joints...



JUST? JUST? I was told that finger joints are even harder to do by hand and make them look good. Of course, yours are hidden there, but I vaguely remember seeing some nice looking finger joints that you did by hand.


Not that hard to do...

It still looks hard to me. I do intend to eventually try it. Do you think that it is easier to do the hidden dovetails or the hidden finger joints?

[steven c newman]

I find the finger ones easier to do...

As for the "exposed" hand cut finger/box joints..
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I might get the hang of them...someday...