How to Make a Curio Cabinet

For this segment of HouseCalls, Ron finds himself in Greece. Greece, New York, that is. In this small upstate New York town, John Lanzatella has been collecting cars and car memorabilia for about 30 years. It was getting just about impossible for John to keep all those cars clean and free of dust. He wanted to build a display case so he could enjoy his cars with a little less maintenance. Since John didn't have much experience with woodworking, he asked Ron for help.

Click Here For a list of what you will need in order to complete this project.

1. Design cabinet:

• John made a drawing with the dimensions of the cabinet that he wanted to make out of oak. He designed a nice wood framed cabinet with a glass door and a mirrored back.

2. Rough cut the lumber:

• Cut the lumber to lengths just a little larger than the dimensions required for your project.

• Crosscut all of the frame pieces to length and then rip each board to the same width. (A rip is a lengthwise cut going along the grain of the wood.)
• For the narrower cabinet doorframe, use a push stick to feed the wood through the saw, this way your fingers stay well away from the blade.

3. Detail cuts:

• Ron forms what is called a rabbet joint where the top piece of the cabinet will set into the cutout in the side. When this joint is glued into place, it provides 50% more glue surface and it also helps to align the two pieces when they are assembled together.
• To make the rabbet joint, set the height of the blade so that it only cuts through half of the board's thickness. Then make repeated passes through the saw until the notch is completely cut out.
• For each of the four sides, make another rabbet cut, which will hold the mirror in the back. To make sure that the rabbet cut in the back of the doorframe is deep enough to accommodate the glass, you should test it on a piece of scrap wood.

4. Drilling:

• To make sure the holes that you drill for the adjustable shelf supports are properly aligned and evenly spaced, Ron recommends making a drilling guide from a section of 2 x 3. You should also use a stop block on the drill bit, which will prevent the drill from penetrating too deeply into the cabinet side.

5. Dry fit:

• Assemble the sides and the top of the cabinet with a band clamp but without any glue, just to see if the mirror back is going to fit properly. Ron calls this a dry fit. This is the defining moment of the project because if it doesn't fit, you have to start over again from scratch.
• Mark and cut the piece for the back of the cabinet to size before gluing the cabinet together.

6. Glue cabinet:

• Use wood glue, sometimes called carpenter's glue to assemble the pieces of the cabinet together. Use a brush to thoroughly apply the glue to the joints. After applying glue to all four joints, assemble the four pieces together.
• Secure a band clamp around the whole assembly to make sure that everything stays flush while the cabinet is drying.
• For added strength, put two finish nails in each corner.

7. Door frame:

• Cut miters on both ends of each piece for the doorframe. The stop block for this one should be cut on an angle so that it matches the angle on the end of the frame. This provides a nice positive stop so the angles are perfect.
• Once again, glue and clamp the doorframe, just like you did with the case, and gently drop in the piece of glass.

8. Finish:

• For a finish, Ron recommends tung oil, which is very easy to apply, and gives the wood a nice soft luster.
• Apply the oil with very fine wet-or-dry sandpaper. This will form a slurry. of very fine sawdust and oil, which helps fill up the pores and gives you an incredibly smooth satiny finish.
• Once you've applied oil to the entire piece using the sandpaper, wipe off any excess with a lint free rag.

9. Final assembly:

• After the finish is applied, gently drop the mirror into place. You have done this once before, before you glued it, so it should fit.
• Secure the mirror and back with glaziers points
• Give the door a finish sanding.
• Fix the door glass in place by nailing in the keeper strips, which are small strips of wood that secure the glass into place. Ron chisels a mortise for the cabinet door hinge."
• Chisel mortises for the hinges. Attach hinges with screws and you are finished.

THE RESULTS:

With some careful craftsmanship and Ron's expert guidance, John Lanzatella has built a beautiful display case for some of the miniature cars that he has been collecting for 30 years! Hopefully his car-dusting days are over!