This HouseCall request took Ron to the Albuquerque home of Phil and Arlene Safier. The Safiers had a little problem in their guest bedroom that needed Ron's attention. Two rather unattractive closet doors broke up the wall and the Safier's hoped to replace these with doors that would double as display cases. The idea was both functional and very attractive and Ron was happy to help.
Click here for a list of what
you will need in order to complete this project.
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1. Drawings:
- Ron drew up a sketch for the project and went over it with Phil and Arlene. Basically, they would be building a case with shelves that would recess slightly into the doorway. The Safiers could choose to space the shelves anyway they would like them, depending on what they planned to use them for.
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- The shelving units they were planning to build would need to be the same size as the door opening. They would have to remove the old closet doors and then place the case they built into the opening on hinges so it would swing out. To make it more decorative and also to hide the joint on the sides, Ron suggested that they add decorative moldings with corner blocks on the top and bottom.
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2. Cut wood:
- Ron set up a temporary shop in the garage where they began cutting the strips of plywood that would be used to make up the sides, top, bottom and the shelves of the two units.
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- They decided to make each piece five and one half inches wide so that the shelves would recess neatly but not too deeply into the door opening.
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- The outside frame of the bookcases and the shelves were made from ¾ inch thick birch veneer plywood.
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- After measuring and marking the plywood, they attached a self-clamping straight edge.
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- They ran the base of the circular saw along the straight edge, which guaranteed a perfectly straight cut.
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- After cutting several strips of plywood to width, they moved on to the miter saw (or chop saw) to cut the pieces to length.
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- In almost any cabinet-making project, a number of pieces of wood need be cut to the same length. In this case, they needed to cut several shelving pieces to 21 ½ inches. Instead of measuring and marking each piece, which introduces a small margin of error, Ron recommended that they measure once and then cut a number of pieces without measuring again. To create these consistent cuts, Ron attached a wood block called a work stop 21 ½ inches from the saw blade. Each piece of wood was then slid firmly into contact with the work stop while Phil lowered the saw to cut each uniform piece.
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- Phil and Arlene took turns cutting the shelves and then moved on to cut the side panels to length.
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3. Assembly:
- With all of the pieces cut, it was time for assembly. To make the corner assembly easier, Ron stacked up several blocks, nailed them together and then nailed the block to the work surface.
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- When they were ready assemble the corners, this corner block would help them orient everything in the proper position.
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- Arlene began the assembly process by drilling pilot holes through the top panel of the display case.
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- Next, Phil ran a bead of glue over the pilot holes.
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