#8 Gun Cabinet, top section assembly

It's time to put the top section together. This is quite large, so will be fun to accomplish this in my small work space. The first thing I did was rip the front and back edge of the bottom shelf @ 4 degrees. I want the bottom shelf to set at a 4 degree angle so this will automatically tip the weapons to the back of the cabinet. This will make more sense when I make the bottom divider for the gun stocks.

I pre-drilled the top and bottom shelves for the pocket screws like I did on the base unit. Once the shelves where mounted to the side panels I mounted the face frame. Glued, screws along the top and bottom and clamped along the side.

I left everything on clamps overnight. Once the clamps came off, I sanded the face frame to the side panels. I cut the crown molding and it was mounted with screws from inside the cabinet. Again, NO NAILS. If you haven't noticed by now..........I really don't like nails. The crown molding is mounted flush with the top of the cabinet and since it's made with 3 solid pieces of OAK, there is no void or open area between the top of the crown and the cabinet.(makes a solid flat top all the way to the front edge of the crown.

I measured, cut, sanded and mounted the backs for both the base and upper section.(the backs are also mounted with screws). I mounted the hinges on the doors and hung the doors. The next step will be to make the top for the base unit, between the base and upper unit and then it will be time to do the inside of the upper section. Making the upper strip for the barrels of the guns and make the base strip for the stocks. I have a unique idea about how I want to do the upper strip so this will take a little time working out the details.

I just put the two sections together, so lets scroll down and take a look.

Keep going!

Keep going!

Almost there.........

There it is.......... Whatcha think? Is it beginning to look like a gun cabinet?

The counter top on the base section will finish off the overall look and tie the two section together and the hardware will give it the finished look.

#7 Gun Cabinet assembly

For the past couple weeks I've been building components for the gun cabinet. I know this is taking a long time, but I'm also trying to stay on schedule with a few other projects, so I've had to divide my time.

I think it's time to start putting this bad boy together!

I'm going to start with the base unit. I cut the bottom shelf to exact size using 3/4" Quarter Sawn White Oak Plywood. I built a frame for the top of the base unit, since there will be a top between the base and the upper unit. Once they were sanded, I drilled the pocket holes with my Kreg pneumatic pocket hole machine on the bottom side of the bottom shelf and the frame.

If you click on the pictures, you can see how I drilled the ends of the shelf and frame and also along the front edge.

The holes on the ends will be used to fasten the shelf and frame to the end panels. The holes along the front edge of the shelf and frame will be used to attach the face frame once the sides are mounted.

Here I'm attaching the sides to the shelf and frame.

Now I can mount the face frame. Glue and screws will hold it all together. NO NAILS! While the face frame is on clamps, I went ahead and mounted the base board molding (again, done with screws from the back side, so no fastening is visible) Again NO NAILS. I've used over 50 screws so far just assembling the base.

Glue is dry, clamps come off and the base board molding is mounted. I then mounted the center divider, drilled for adjustable shelves and made two shelves. I mounted the doors, made the mounting stringers for the drawer slides and mounted the drawer slides. Installed the drawer boxes and mounted the drawer fronts.

The only thing left to do for the base is cut the back, mount hardware and locks. The base is about ready for the final sanding.

I'll start the assembly of the top unit next.

#6 Gun Cabinet Moldings

Wow, here it is Thursday evening already. This week has gotten away from me. Monday I finished up a cedar chest I was refinishing for a customer. (that's a whole story in itself, but I'm not going there!). Delivered it Wednesday and the customer loved it. Tuesday I went to Gibsonville, NC to pick up the last of the lumber I needed for the gun cabinet and lumber for the next two projects I'll be starting next week. Almost 5 hours each direction and a couple hours at the lumber store makes for a long day.

I've run all the stock for the moldings. The crown molding will be a 3 piece molding, which is my signature molding I use on a lot of my pieces. It has a traditional look, but definitely has a different profile than a regular store bought molding.

#5 Making the drawers for the gun cabinet.

I'm making the drawer boxes out of Maple. I ripped two boards (6 ft length) to 3 1/2" width and planed to 5/8" thickness. I ran a 1/4" daddo for the bottoms. (They're shown below, leaning against the faceframe).

Once that was done, I cut the pieces to the proper length for the sides, fronts and backs. I then laid the drawers out so I could mark them for dovetailing. Each piece is placed up side down and inside out and marked, so when I dovetail each corner it turns out right. I know that's confusing, but for me that comes natural (another words, it's easy for me to think backwards.) LOL.

See how I marked each corner. I do that so I can keep track of proper alignment for each corner when putting them in the dovetail jig.

I use the Porter Cable Omni Jig to do my dovetails. I leave one of my routers set up with the proper bit all the time to save on set up time. It's very critical to have the bit set exactly perfect to get a good dovetail. (that's why it's worth designating a router just for this function.) This router is left set up for dovetailing and never used for anything else.

Once all the pieces are dovetailed they are ready for assembly. Measure and cut the bottoms and glue the drawers together. I cleaned all the joints with a damp rag to remove any excess glue. I don't have to clamp the drawers, but I do check to make sure they are square and will leave them over night to dry. Tomorrow I will do the final sanding and notch the bottom back for the blum undermount slides I plan on using.

I didn't take any pictures, but when I took the doors off the clamps, I sanded them one more time to make sure all joints are flush. I rabbited the back of the top doors to allow for the glass.

I also ran the profile around the doors and cut the notches for the hinges. I'm using the Youngsdale #6 knife hinge.

Everything will be sanded one more time after the cabinet is assembled. ( actually it will be assembled, then taken apart again to be sanded before finishing).

It won't be long now before I start assembly and that's when all these pieces begin to make more sense. I probably build a little differently then most, but I like to take my time and build all the components before I actually assemble it.

#4 Making the doors for the Gun Cabinet

Yesterday I glued up the panels for the bottom doors. As you can see in the picture, I glued up one large panel and I'll cut the two panels from the one board so they match.

While my panel was on clamps, I took the end panels off their clamps and sanded them (they will be sanded again when the cabinet is assembled. The Face Frames are sanded, but again, they will be sanded again when everything is assembled.

Once all the stock was sized for the door frames, I ran them thru the door machine and sanded each piece. I took the panel off the clamps and cut the two panels to size and ran them thru the door machine. Sanded the panels and assembled the doors. The doors are on clamps now, so will leave them overnight.

It's about time to think about dovetailing a couple drawer boxes, but that's on tomorrows agenda.

While I'm working on the gun cabinet, I'm also building some shelves for one of my customers, refinishing a cedar chest for another customer and finishing up two bandsaw boxes for another. I have a couple kitchen cabinets to build, but I won't start them until the end of the week.

#3 Time to make the end panels (Gun Cabinet)

First things first, I always do a cut list for each phase of a project. Dimensions for the stiles, rails and panels. This helps me keep things straight because most of the parts are either a different width or length.

Once I did the cut list, I sized all the stock to the exact dimension (except for the panels, they are oversized by 1/4"). Now I'll run the stock on my door machine. This is a unique machine I purchased 15 years ago to do raised panel doors. This is usually done either by a stationary mounted router or a shaper. The only problem with those methods is all the set up time involved with each step. The door machine I use has all the cutters set up on seperate heads, driven by one motor. There is no set up time when doing a standard square raised panel.

I run the stiles on one cutter head, the rails on the second cutter and run the raised panel on the third cutter. Same machine with no set up......sweet!

After I run all the pieces, I'll sand each one before assembly. The panels will be sanded again when they come off the clamps.

Since I sized all the stock for the face frames when I was sizing for the panels, I decided to make the face frames before I glue up the side panels.

Now that I have the side panels on clamps, it's time to do the cut list and size the stock for the doors. I'll post those next time.

I have to deliver the Manhatten Project to my customer so it can be shipped to New York.

She loved her tables and chest and ready for me to design a couple of pieces of furniture for her home in Pawleys Island, SC.

#2 Sizing stock for the gun cabinet.

Now that I have the lumber selected and layed out, I'll go ahead and size all the stock for the paneled ends and face frames.

I've picked out the lumber I want to use for the panels, so since they are not wide enough, I'll have to glue up the panels to get the width I want. Wow! love the grain in those panels.

I hate for anyone to see my shop a mess, but then again, if I'm not making sawdust, I wouldn't be building anything!. lol. I can sure make a mess in a couple hours.

The only reason I'm showing the mess is because I have to clean up and work on the other project I've been working on. I'm in the finishing process, so I have to have the shop totally clean for that.

Same shop..........different project.............different process, I'll have to get back to the gun cabinet tomorow. The following picture is of my Manhatten Project. (Contemporary end table, coffee table, chest and mirror).

I'll post more pictures of this project later, but right now I have to do some spraying on the Manhatten Project. That's it for today for the gun cabinet, but will try to get the end panels and face frames built tomorrow.

A Very Special Gun Cabinet

I have the privilege to build a Custom Gun Cabinet for a very special couple I know in Pennsylvania. We won't get into a lot of details of how or why I'm building it, but only that I'm excited about having the chance to design and build it.......and of course deliver it to Pennsylvania when finished.

This blog is more dedicated to Joann, but hope everyone will follow along as I keep you posted on my progress during the building and finishing. First off, let's talk about the design. This is going to be a large cabinet (designed to hold 12 weapons). The base will have two drawers and two doors, the upper section will have glass doors and will hold 12 rifles/shotguns. All the doors and drawers will have locks and I plan on installing lights in the top section.

Quarter Sawn White Oak will be the wood used. All the end panels and doors will be done with Traditional Raised Panels. The drawers will be Solid Maple, Dovetailed, using the Blumotion Soft Close Full Extension Slides.

I made a trip to Gibsonville, NC last week to my favorite lumber store (The Hardwood Store)

to pick up my lumber for this project and lumber for a couple other projects I have on the books.

The great guys @ The Hardwood Store unbanded a brand new bundle of Quarter Sawn White Oak and allowed me to hand pick my order. I found some awesome Oak! (You'll see as I post some pictures).

The first thing I did when I got back was to plane the lumber to 3/4" thickness because I bought it in rough 4/4. I then layed out each piece for the end panels and face frames, selecting each board for the grain selection and color I wanted for each piece.

Now that I have all the pieces layed out, I will cut and glue up the panels for the ends. That's on tomorrows agenda. I'm also working on some Contemporary furniture made in Wenge and Cury Maple, that's headed to Manhatten, NY., so have to divide my time.

I will post some pictures of the Manhatten Project (little play on words) when I finish the Gun Cabinet.