Cabinetry

A blog dedicated to all aspects of cabinetry... Articles about building your own cabinetry and tips on how to find a good cabinetmaker at a fair price. We'll be discussing many forms of cabinetry... from kitchen and bath cabinets to built-in cabinets, entertainment centers and more.



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Location: Southern California, United States

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Cabinetry

Welcome to my new blog on Cabinetry...

I'm a Professional Cabinetmaker and Finish Carpenter based in Southern California.
Please check back as I'll be posting articles and reviews relative to cabinetry real soon!

Thanks so much for visiting,
Kevin, aka "The Cabinet Guy Online"

posted by thecabinetguyonline | 4:44 PM

2 Comments:

Blogger Dan said...

In your issue on cabinet building you started out saying that putting a back on the cabinet boxes would add strength to the cabinet. From there you indicated that when you cut the rabbit to accept the back you made it wider and larger than the back itself. How can making such a sloppy fit increase the cabinet strength? It seems that a square back placed into a good fitting rabbit would both increase the cabinet strength and assure the cabinet was square. Can you explane? Thanks.....Dan

4:38 AM  
Blogger thecabinetguyonline said...

Hey Dan,

Thanks so much for the question, it's a great one! First off, let me say that I do not rout a "rabbet" but rather a "groove" into the interior of the carcass (cabinet box).

The back is completely trapped inside the groove during box assembly and is not glued (I sort of fogot to mention that).

I guess it's my definition of "sloppy" probably needs more explanation...

Since I routed the groove with a 9/32" bit rather than a 1/4" bit, there is about 1/32" of "slop" to allow the 1/4" thick back to insert nicely. Now, 1/32" is not a whole lot and many people would probably not even know it was there.

Also, I make the back about 1/8" less in width and height of the full depth of the groove. This allows about 1/16" of "slop" all the way around the back.

Most of this "slop", however, is removed when the nailers are glued and nailed tightly behind the back.

This system will allow the cabinet box to be nudged into perfect squareness before the face-frame is attached but after that the box is super-rigid.

Your methods will work provided everything is spot-on perfect but in my humble opinion, it's too much work. Assembly (glue-ups) are always one of the most stressful shop endeavors and I like to leave myself some "margain of ease."

Hope this helps,

Kevin

7:37 PM  

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