Peters Garten - Der Schrank
Der Schrank
A new challenge: after taking my share of Cabrillo woodworking classes, I decided to build a wall-to-wall closet for Vienna. I built it in a friend's woodshop in Salinas, then took it apart, boxed it, put it on the boat, and hoped that the assembling would go as smooth as the disassembling.
Eine neue Herausforderung: einen Einbauschrank zu bauen, dann in die Einzelteile zu zerlegen und per Seefracht nach Wien zu schicken.
Step 1: milling and cutting all the face frame pieces. Butt joints with diagonal drill holes.
Step 2: The assembled face frame.
Step 3: Cutting the plywood at 24" width for shelves, walls, bottom, and top.
The tricky part: putting the walls together and keeping them square.
Almost there!
Slicing old growth redwood planks down to 1/2 inch boards.
Planing the door slats down to 3/8 inch.
The boards for the doors and some drawer sides are waiting for the next step.
Cutting tong and groove on the table saw.
Using the router to chamfer the slats. This hides uneven joints.
The final chamfer on the tongue and the groove side.
Cutting tongue and groove for the door frames.
This is the tricky part: fitting the slats into the frame and keeping it all in place for gluing.
The first doors are glued and clamped.
With the right jig, dovetail cutting is a piece of cake!
Even the jig still needs some skills.
In the end, one has some pretty strong joints.
Sanding the drawer front panels.
Cutting out the drawer handle.
The base is pretty simple. The only parts that count are the two sides.
Sanding the frame before applying the lacquer.
Packing the crate so no space is wasted.
The walls are made out of 2x6's. They had to be extended three times as we went along packing.
Mario, the shop owner and my mentor all along, ready to place the lid.
Ted does some forklift whizardry.
Arriving in San Francisco - ready for the overland trip to New York.
Two months later: arrival in Vienna.
500 pounds heavy, we had to disassemble the box on the sidewalk and carry it in pieces to the 4th floor.
Now the assembly begins: drawers, frame, walls, backing. Then the drawers need to be fitted and the doors installed.
The frame is laid out on the floor, glued and screwed together.
A nifty way to check a square: the diagonals need to be equal.
Next, the walls are alligned on top of the face frame, glued and screwed together.
Lastly, the base with kickboard gets glued, screwed together, and screwed underneath the schrank bottom board.
It was a worrisome moment: we hadn't accounted for the door frame, and the schrank fit with no millimeter to spare.
Finally, after chiseling out the wall corners, the schrank fit perfectly.
Installing the drawers. I used only plain boards as leveling jigs for the slides.
After a day and a half: all the drawers are working.
First layer for the final treatment: linseed oil.
After a light pass with steelwool we apply a beeswax balm.
A last buffing brings the frames to a satin shine.
The hinges get installed in the pre-drilled doors.
Thanks to contemporary hinges mechanics, the doors easily click into the mounting plates.
Time for the 60-year old predecessor to leave our place.
