The Russian Birch ply sides of the Hidden Lock Cabinets my
son and I are making for his LP Albums collection have inter-
esting light/dark contrasting straight vertical parallel lines
on the edges. Rather than face frame the edges to hide them,
he wants to use that feature as a design element
of the design to frame the front and rear birdseye maple
play front and back. But where the ply sides meet the
birdseye maple toe kick board he wants to interrupt these
vertical lines before they reach the floor. And he also
doesn't want to see the end grain of the toe kick board
on the sides. That meant a stopped mitered corner on the
sides and a regular mitered corner on the toe kick board .
Here are ASCII diagrams of what he has in mind
TOP VIEW
3/4
13 ply
plywood
| | | | |
| | | | | Stopped Miter corner
| | | | | on plywood sides
| | | | | Miter corner on
| | | | | Birdseye toe kick
| | | | |________
| | | / :
| |/ : 3/4 birdseye board
+----------------
FRONT VIEW
3/4
13 ply
plywood
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
+------------------
|
|
| 3/4 birdseye toe kick board
|
|
+-----------------
The problem was cutting the stopped miter on the bottom
of the ply sides. Since the ply sides are 15 inches wide,
a miter saw was out. Cutting a stopped miter that's only
2" long on the table saw is also awkward, especially
when the sides are 29 1/4" tall. A 45 degree chamfer
bit however could work - at least to cut enough of
the miter to make hand cutting the rest relatively easy
IF you have a fence you can move precisely AND a
zero clearance insert in the fence. The JoinTech
Cabinet Maker system I have has both. So the idea
could be done by a newbie like my son ( who, BTW
is 27, though I still call him The Kid).
Unfortunately, the chamfer bit I had would only do
up to 1/2" stock and the ply sides are 3/4".
Solution:
A great excuse to get a 3/4" chamfer bit!
Did a test joint today and it works! One cut with
a dovetail saw and some simple chisel work finishes
off the last half inch the round chamfer bit can't
cut. It will require some climb cuts but if he
goes in small increments and uses a feather board
to hold the stock against the fence it should be
something he can do.
I'm sure he doesn't realize that the harder part
will be cutting the toe kick board to precisely
the right length.
Wonder what he'll come up with next.
Fun this woodworking thing..
charlie b