# First Major Project - Custom Closet Cabinets (Phase 1 of 3)



## riffin-rich (Feb 19, 2011)

Hello everyone. I've not logged on for some time as I've been busy with my build ... a custom cabinet base and upper for the closet in my office. It's a small closet (about 6' by 6' and with dormer ceilings) which really cuts back on my storage space, so I wanted to maximize use of the space and give it a custom look. It worked! The uppers give me lot's of shelves for now and I can remove the shelves and add clothes rods (for the people that buy the house when we move). It will be a fully usable clothes closet.

*The base*: is 48" wide, but only 18" deep. Red oak plywood, MDF top, poplar face-frame. The faceframe stiles are dado'd to accept the sides of the cabinet and the rails are biscuited to the cabinet front. I also used pocket screws to suck the faceframe to the sides of the cabinet. For the MDF countertop, it's just a single ply of MDF. I bull-nosed the front with a round over bit, flipped it over to do the other side, and then sanded the imperfection out--perfect! I smeared original Titebond glue across the front and with a wet acid brush (water), worked it into the open pores of the MDF to seal it. I think I did this two or three times, the latter times with a water/glue paint-like mix, and sanded it clean. Note to self: buy a bull-nose router bit and save a little time.

*Drawers*: poplar sides and 1/4" oak ply. I used a Locking Drawer Glue Joint router bit (Whiteside #3352) to assemble the drawers. I took some short-cuts and have a few lessons. (1) Common sense - sand all parts before gluing. I knew this but took a short-cut that I regret. (2) Round-over the tops of the drawer-sides before assembly. (3) use 3/8" oak for the drawer bottoms -- 1/4" is just a bit too flimsy without reinforcing support. (4) Block planes rock! It came in handy to clean-up the joints.

*Drawer fronts*: I used poplar ... ensured everything was straight on the jointer. Then, with a straight bit, took a 1/8" pass, 1" high, all the way around the face of the drawer. Next time, I'll do something closer to 3/16" depth with a bead on it and follow-up with a rabbet plane to get to 1/4". Anyway, when all fronts were done, I changed the bit to a round-over and ran all the fronts through again. Regrettable short-cut: I didn't fill the end grain, though between sanding and painting, it covered 90% ... but I should have been more careful and filled the end grain. I'm waiting for antique pewter birdcage pulls from Lee Valley to finish the drawers.

*The upper*: I switched to birch plywood given feedback about the added steps of finishing oak ... and there was surely a difference! The birch was much easier to deal with (and half the cost of the red oak). I made two 24" upper cabinets to fit the dormer ceiling, giving me 1" of relief at the ceiling, just in case the ceiling wasn't straight! I glued and screwed the two upper pieces together to form a single upper, and mounted them both to a 48" wide plywood bottom, since the face-frame needed relief on the bottom anyway. I surely could have done a single divider and build it all as one piece, but I didn't want to given I was shelf-pinning. Joinery here was tongue-and-dado for the sides to the tops/bottoms. I used a 3/4" rabbet for the back side (to accept the recessed 1/4" thick beader board, backed-up by 1/2" plywood). It's solid and square!

*Shelves*: I edged-banded with near-1/4" oak strips that I ripped. I glued them on and used a block-plane with a razor-sharp blade to make the plywood and the band indistinguishable. I finished as described below (without filling pores) ... a noticeable shortcut ... but it's just a closet. In retrospect, I should have spent an extra 2 hours to fill the pores and sand them flat.

*Finishing schedule*: I got my inspiration from Kerry (2BigFeet) and followed his lead with spackle (I actually used joint compound) to fill pores on the oak. A super-fast pass with 220-grit on the orbital sander. Then BIN alcohol-based sealer to seal everything. Jeff at Target Coatings recommended this. It's a non-grain-raising primer and does a wonderful job over red oak (to keep the red tannins from leaching through the paint). It also does wonderful over MDF--makes the white paint coats brighter/whiter. I used a small roller to put it on quickly but I could have easily sprayed it because it's pretty thin. I took another super fast pass with 220-grit on the orbital sander. Then, I used *Target Coatings EMTECH EM6500 Bright White Pastel Base Coat* (an amazing product) through an Apollo 1050VR 5-stage turbine (used a 1.3mm tip and thinned product such that my Zahn #2 strainer gave me 18 seconds ... or _about_ 15% water). By the time I finished spraying everything the first time, it was ready for the second coat in the same order. I sprayed two coats and did a super fast 320-grit sanding when it dried less than 2 hours later! I should have sanded with 220, as instructed on the can, but I thought I knew better. :no: After wiping everything down with wet paper towels to get any residual dust, I sprayed 2 coats of *Target Coatings SuperClear 9000 Polyurethane Semi-Gloss* (with a 1.0 mm tip, again thinned about _about_ 15%). I took another super-fast pass with 320-grit on the orbital sander followed by another wiping and final coat of SC9000. Done!

I can't say enough about Target Coatings. I spent 45 minutes on the phone with an engineer over two different calls while I was researching candidate products and finishing schedules. As I stated in my subject, this was my first major project and spray job ... and it was awesome. I can't imagine what you rockstars could do (or what you would think of the finishing schedule I employed).

In closing, I am open to all feedback--emphasis on constructive criticism. Where did I go wrong? What could I have done better? Thoughts? I'm asking because I want to get better as fast as possible! Thanks everyone!

Take care,
Rich


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## Scottey66 (Feb 1, 2012)

Rich

Really nice job, must have taken you a while, but worth it I bet

Cheers mike


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