Island painting

After a bit of sanding, I taped off the mortises and the tenons and sprayed primer and a first coat of paint on the all the parts that need to be painted.  Other than a bit of overspray, the under side and the interior of the cabinet won't be painted.

Parts drying while others wait to be painted.

Shiny

The wet paint in the photo above has some orange peel initially but will flow out and dry perfectly smooth.  I always reduce my oil-based paint with a bit of mineral spirits and add a cap full or so of Penetrol to help the paint flow out.  Before the glue up, I sanded all the parts lightly to prep them for the next coat of paint.

I didn't get any pics but I did the glue up in stages.  The ends of the cabinet had 10 mortise and tenon joints, five in each leg.  I added glue to the five in one leg then assembled with the other leg dry for clamping, constantly checking for square.  After the first glue was dry, I would glue up the other leg and clamp it again.  Everything was done in steps to try to avoid panic during glue up.  The only part that was a bit hectic was the vertical frame in the center with eight M&T joints and two sliding dovetails.  The dovetails got really tight once glue was added and I had to pound them home with some really heavy mallet blows.  For a minute, I didn't think I would get them in place.

All glued up.

I added holes in the panels for electrical outlets.

Paint stand

I built a stand to get the cabinet off of the ground for spraying.  I used an X configuration so I would be able to get the spray gun under the ends to spray the inside of the legs without any interference.  The stretchers are half-lapped in the center and mortised into the legs and held in place with a screw.

Leveled with outriggers added.

Knowing this arrangement would be top-heavy, I decided to add some outriggers to the bottom and shimmed under them so there was no play.  This made everything nice and stable.  I drilled a shallow 1/16" hole in the top of each leg.  I cut the head off of a finish nail then filed the tip extra sharp and dropped the blunt end into the hole leaving about 1/8" sticking up.  When we set the cabinet on top of the stand, I pressed the legs down onto these nails so the cabinet couldn't slip off of the stand.

On stand with a fresh coat of paint.

I sprayed a coat of paint today while the weather was in my favor.  If it passes inspection in the morning, it will be ready to move into the kitchen.  Otherwise, a light sanding and another coat of paint.  I'll be glad to get it out of the shop so I can move my workbench back to it's normal location.

Hopefully, I can pick up the lumber for the drawer boxes and drawer fronts this weekend and get it stickered in the shop to acclimate.

More Joinery

I continued cutting tenons for all of the mortises I did previously.  Additionally, I cut the dovetails for the upper web frame.  These seat into the top of each leg and into the upper rail on the short side of the carcase.

Dovetail tenons on the upper web frame.

Upper frame dovetailed into place.

Front of lower web frame.  Double mortise & tenon not fully seated.

This piece provided some excellent joinery practice.  There ended up being 48 mortise & tenon joints, 8 dovetail tenons, and two sliding dovetails.  There will probably be about 24 pocket screws added for good measure.

Sliding dovetail setup.

Thanks to treebangham's YouTube video on how he does sliding dovetails.  The flush-cut saw leaves an almost glassy finish on the walls of the dovetail socket.  I used some oil to keep the saw from binding in the cut.

Upper sliding dovetail.

I was able to get a respectable fit on the sliding dovetails.  I think they will go together about right when I add glue.

All interior framing in place.

 I used 1/2" Baltic birch plywood for the panels and rabbeted them on the table saw since the grooves in the frame were only 1/4".

With 1/2" Baltic birch panel (technically 12mm)

I used a router bit sized for 1/4" plywood to cut the grooves in the lower web frame to accept the bottom panels.  This plywood ended up being too thick to fit the grooves so I beveled the bottom slightly with a block plane to make it thinner around the edges.  Problem solved.

Bottom panels in place.

I still needed to figure out how to attach the brackets or corbels.  I ended up using lag screws with large diameter heads.  Poplar is fairly soft and I didn't want the heads to sink into the wood.

Spax screws.

Screws from inside the cabinet.

With corbels installed.

Now for lots of sanding.  This thing is too big for me to carry back and forth to my pop-up tent / paint booth, so I'll try to prime and paint as much as possible before final assembly.  Once it's assembled, I'll get someone to help me move it into the paint tent for the final coat of paint. 

To be continued ...