WOODWORKING PROJECT. PART 4.

A few days ago I cut all the various panels to final dimensions. I then sprayed water on all the parts and left to dry overnight. This has the effect of raising the grain so when  sanded the timber has a very smooth finish which will not raise again when I apply the stain. After sanding I  routed all the  various grooves. 

This included a groove on the back edge of the top, bottom and end pieces to take the back panel while on the top and bottom parts I cut channels at the front edges for the sliding door track. These grooves can be clearly seen below. Also visible is the rounding over of the front edge of the bottom rail, just for decorative purposes.

The photo below shows the five feet together with mounting blocks. Due to the narrowness of the whole unit, it is not possible to have feet at every corner so I am mounting them in a line along the front edge so the unit will sit against the wall to which it will be attached. The mounting blocks are to raise the overall height of the unit so the bottom rail sits above the skirting board to avoid an unsightly gap and to keep the unit level.

 

Today I carried out the basic assembly of the display unit. As can be seen the central dividers sit back from the front edge to allow for the sliding door track.

The next two photos show small pieces of the door track located within the channels which I used to verify the channels were cut to the correct depths.

Having the track set into the top and bottom rails allows for the maximum use of the internal space and also just looks better too.

The photo below shows the feet mounted on the blocks. The blocks will be glued and pinned underneath the bottom rail later. It is easier to work on the unit without the feet as having a single row of feet makes the unit unstable during the finishing process. 

 

The next job will be some final sanding then application of stain and lacquer and fitting of the shelf supports and back panel.