ListWise

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Rectangle Amoebas

I got the 4 drawer fronts assembled today. They came out pretty good and the size is good, but it would be better if they were an inch-wider. They ended up being 4.75X17 inches. Because I split the amoebae shaped burl slab I ended up with 2 pairs of book matched drawer fronts. Pretty cool.







As you may recall, I’m putting the tiled panel in an inset in the center. The tiles are 5.75-inches wide and the wood surrounding them will be about 2.5-inches on either side. I’ll loose a little in the tile width when they are set, so I’m looking at 10.5-inches of visible face for the panel section.

The over-all space for the cabinets is 99-inches wide. Subtract the 10.5 inches for the tile section and I’m left with 88.5-inches. Divide that by 2 and I get 2, 44.25-inch sections on either side of the tile panel. Two 17-inch wide drawers in one section makes 34-inches. Plus 2.75-inch stiles on either side, and one in the middle, makes another 8.25-inches. Thirty-four plus 8.25 makes 42.25-inches. That means I need to fill 2-inches for each section, or 4-inches over-all. That’s a lot.

Some of that will be taken up by gaps around the drawers. Four drawers with an eighth-inch gap on either side makes an inch. Also, the casing that will cover the gap between the wall and the cabinet needs to be in a fairly precise location because of the trim on the raised panel dado. There is about an inch on either side I can play with, but no more than that. Let’s say and inch and a half over-all – 3/4 of an inch on either side . An inch for the drawers, plus an inch and a half at the casing, make 2.5-inches. I still need to make up and inch and a half.

I think what I’ll do is make the 2 face frames for the section on either side of the tile panel and then re-evaluate the width. It would be nice if I could just make the outside stiles of the two face frames with 6-inch wide material and then trim the whole thing to fit once it is assembled. Because I’m using all of the curly redwood I milled out of the 2 big slabs I can’t do that. The widest pieces I’m going to end up with will be 3-inches, and most will be 2.75-inches.

Its going to be close.

5 comments:

Jayne said...

Wow, you about lost me with all that math. This is why I don't build cabinets--or anything else for that matter--because I'd never, ever be able to figure that out. That said, the drawer fronts are beautiful. Can't wait to see them with the tiled panel.

Greg said...

Jayne,

That did come off a little like one of those word problems in math class. It would make sense if you were standing in the room with a taper measure.

Just remember, in finish carpentry a quarter inch gap is huge. I learned that the hard way. You need to account for everything.

J Auclair said...

Beautiful.

Yeah, I skipped the math.

John said...

Beautiful. I can't wait to see this one come together.

Laikabear said...

Those are beautiful! Eagerly watching the progress...