- The bottom shelf would intersect the side of the cabinet at the very bottom edge of the cabinet.
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- To cut these grooves they returned to the cradle, this time using the dado saw and dado blade. In the middle of the side panel, Alex and Jeff cut grooves for the shelves, called dados.
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- After making a final set of rabbet cuts to receive the bottom shelf, the cutting was complete.
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4. Shelves
- Ron suggested using pegboard as a drilling template for the sides of the cabinet where they would need to cut a series of holes that were equally spaced. They would place pins in these holes for the shelf supports.
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- Alex used a portable drill press to drill a line of perfectly straight holes through the pegboard…
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- …and down the length of the side panels.
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- Ron pointed out that the shelves had an unattractive plywood edge. To conceal this edge and make it look like solid wood they covered it with edge banding.
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- The edge banding was actually made of real oak wood, which had been cut into extremely thin strips. An adhesive was then added to the back.
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- The adhesive was heat-activated, so they used an ordinary household iron to apply heat to the face of the edging and soften the adhesive.
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- Alex applied pressure by running a laminate roller over the banding. This forced the adhesive into contact with the edge to ensure a firm bond.
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- Once the banding was in place and Ron gave the edges a light sanding, it was difficult to tell that it was not a solid piece of wood.
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5. Dry fit
- After all the pieces were cut and the joints were complete, Ron suggested that they put the cabinet together without any glue, just to make sure that everything fit together properly. This is what is called a dry fit. Everything went together beautifully, so it was time to assemble it with glue.
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6. Permanent assembly
- Ron ran a narrow bead of glue down the rabbets they had cut.
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- They distributed the glue evenly with a brush.
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- They clamped the four major sections of the cabinet together and then allowed the glue to dry.
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- After the first glued pieces were dry, they applied more glue along the back top edges of the cabinet to attach the back panel.
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