Thought this might be of interest to some.
A small cabinet project has some trim molding at the top and bottom. It seemed blind nailing might be in order if it is to be stained or clear finished to show off the wood.
With no further ado here is one way (certainly not the only way) to hide the nails holding the molding.
I always do a few practice shaving liftings with a piece of scrap to get warmed up for the job. Then the molding piece is held in a vise and a shaving is lifted:
Lifting a Shaving.jpg
Note the shaving is made in the same direction as one would plane the piece to avoid lifting more than is wanted. There are also a few items placed next to the molding where the nails will be. This way there is not a pencil mark on the wood to remove later. Also not that this is started so the shavings are lifted left to right to avoid lifting a shaving with a shirt sleeve or forearm.
Next a pilot hole is drilled for the nail:
Drilling Pilot for Nail.jpg
A hand drill makes it less likely to catch the shaving. The nails are driven into the pilot holes but not through all the way. A slight point coming out of the hole may help in positioning, it can also hinder positioning if a heavy hand is used. There is a bead of glue on the back of the molding. When adjacent moldings are added, both end grain faces get a thin coat of glue. (Here the glue is Titebond II.)
The nails are driven home with a nail set:
Nail Set.jpg
Care must be taken to not catch the shaving with the head of the nail.
Sometimes a small brush is used to apply glue, but a scrap stick of wood whittled to a small flat can also work:
A Touch of Glue.jpg
After gluing any excess glue is carefully wiped away. Then some painter's tape is used to hold the shaving down while the glue sets:
Tape Hold.jpg
The end is folded over for ease of removal. The end to be lifted is at the end of the shaving that is still connected. I burnish down the tape with my thumb or fingernail.
When dry fitting this it was noticed the front piece had a few thousandths too much removed on the shooting board. My correction was to make very shallow rabbets on the edges:
Oops! Correction.jpg
This made the corners come together much better:
Corner Detail.jpg
A little bit of light sanding and this will look fine.
Tomorrow when the tape is removed some pictures of that will be posted.
jtk