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Making a Built-In Is Easy Once You Understand Scribing, Fitting Strips

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Making a Built-In Is Easy Once You Understand Scribing, Fitting Strips Wall 1/2" x 11/2"rabbet in sides of cabinet Back BUILT-IN Side Shelf BASICS Back Rabbet Detail Plan view aking built-in furniture ably noticed that your rooms aren’t isn’t tough. I’ve seen all square and your walls aren’t Mlots of first-time wood- all plumb. This is usually the Wall workers build bookshelves that result of your house settling. It’s fit in the nooks by their fireplace. also possible your framers or dry- But making built-ins that hug wallers were sloppy. the wall, sit level and are anchored Either way, don’t build your Side firmly to the house requires a lit- cabinets crooked to fit a catawum- tle more know-how. pus corner or sloping wall. Always Shelf Bevel build your projects square and add a couple features to allow them Making a built-in is easy to fit in an irregular space. There are two tricks to accommodating 3/4"x 1" fitting strip once you understand glued to side of cabinet out-of-whack walls: oversized back scribing, fitting strips and rabbets and fitting strips. Simple fitting strip Big Back Rabbets French cleats. Here’s a solid All cabinets should have a back Plan view that rests in rabbets in the sides lesson in all three. of the case. This ensure a tight fit between the back and sides. With Luckily, with a little planning freestanding furniture, if your back Wall 1 and a few modifications to the is ⁄2"-thick, then the rabbets for 1 plans of almost any cabinet, you that back should be ⁄2" wide. This can make it a built-in. After try- is not so with built-ins. Side 1" ing different systems for making You need to cut a rabbet that built-ins, this is the one that I is significantly wider. How wide? 1 prefer. It’s simple, rock-solid and I usually make it between 1 ⁄4" 1 Shelf Backing almost foolproof. and 1 ⁄2", depending on how out strip of kilter the wall is. Cabinets in a Crooked House What this large rabbet does is 11/2" If you’ve ever hung a cabinet or it creates two long tongues on the Biscuits press-fit built in a few shelves, you’ve prob- back of your cabinet that can into slots (no glue) to hold fitting strip by Christopher Schwarz Comments or questions? Contact Chris at 513-531-2690 ext. 1407 or Complex fitting strip [email protected]. Plan view 54 POPULAR WOODWORKING February 2003 WEEKEND BOOKCASE You can build the bookcase unit I’m installing on the left using just one 3 sheet of ⁄4" plywood and one-half 1 sheet of ⁄2" plywood. Best of all, you can build this unit in a weekend. I know, I know – you’ve heard this story before (“Chippendale Highboy in a Weekend!”) but it’s true. I built this bookcase in one day and finished it the next.We’ve included plans and a cut list later on in the article that show you exactly how to do it. Photos by Al Parrish Photos by be scribed to fit almost any wall. Fitting strips are attached to the What’s scribing? This is when cabinet sides and are cut to fit you cut the edge of the cabinet against a wall. Typically you cut so it matches the shape of your a 45° angle on the backside of the 3 wall and fits tightly against it. ⁄4" x 1" fitting strip so when you Scribing isn’t difficult, and I’ll scribe it there is a lot less mate- show you how I go about it later. rial to cut away. There are a va- riety of different ways to attach Fitting Strips, Scribe Stiles a fitting strip to a case. Whatever “Fitting strips” and “scribe stiles” method you use, avoid using metal are two other weapons in your ar- fasteners because they could get senal against the crooked wall. in the way when you scribe and They are a lot like the large rab- then trim the fitting strip to size. bets on the backside of your cab- If the case is small, you can inet, except they help fit the sides simply glue the fitting strip to the There are a wide variety of cabinet levelers you can buy, but they all basically work of your cabinet to a wall or to an- side of the case. If the case is large, the same way. Many of them are adjustable at both the foot and from above through an access hole you drill in the cabinet’s bottom.This feature is a huge other adjacent cabinet. you should come up with an al- convenience when leveling your cabinet on an uneven floor. If you are building and in- ternate plan. It’s no fun turning stalling a face frame cabinet, your a big case on its side, trimming a best bet is incorporating a scribe little more and then setting it Attaching it to the Wall cabinet to the wall. This is a com- stile into your design. With this back up over and over again. The other big issue when installing mon way to hang kitchen wall technique you make your face- One solution is to glue a back- a built-in is how you actually at- cabinets, but I’ve found it’s great frame stiles (the vertical pieces ing board to the cabinet behind tach it to the wall. There are a for hanging cabinets that go to of the frame) wider so they ex- the fitting strip that is a little nar- number of ways to do it. Some the floor, too. And I’ve come tend out over the sides of the cab- rower. Then you attach the fit- people simply run some long screws up with a method that makes it 3 inet by ⁄4". Cut a rabbet on the ting strip to the backing board through the back and into the easy to do. But before you can in- backside of the stiles, which makes using several biscuits but no glue. studs. This works, but the screw stall any cabinet, the first thing them easier to scribe to fit, and This allows you to set the cabi- heads are visible inside the cab- you have to do is get it sitting you then have a seamless way net against the wall, mark your inet, and you must use really long level on the floor. of attaching your cabinets to walls scribe, cut it and then put the screws to reach into the studs or to other cabinets. cabinet in place. Then you fine across your big back rabbet. A Word About Cabinet Bases If you are building a cabinet tune the fit by pulling the strip Another solution is to install When building large cabinets, it’s without a face frame then you out for more trimming. See the a hanging strip inside your cab- best to build a separate base from should turn to the fitting strip. drawing on the previous page. inet. The hanging strip is usual- the cabinet itself that is about 3" 3 ly a piece of ⁄4"-thick material to 4" in height. You can then set that is about 3" wide and is nailed the base in place and level it using or biscuited between the sides – wooden shims or leveler feet. Top right beneath the top. With this Leveler feet are a piece of hard- system, you attach the cabinet to ware that attaches to the inside Screw top the wall through the hanging strip corners of your base and have feet cleat to Wall using countersunk screws, which that screw up and down. You ad- cabinet you can then plug to hide them. just the feet until the base is level The system I prefer uses a and then set the cabinet on top French cleat. It sounds compli- of the base and move on to the Screw through cated at first, but once you get section on scribing. bottom cleat it straight in your head you’ll see With smaller cabinets, such into studs it has some advantages. as the bookcase shown here, you The French cleat uses two can skip the separate base and in- Side Back cleats, each with one long edge stall the leveler feet under the beveled at 45°. One of the cleats bottom shelf or use shims to level is screwed to the wall and the the entire cabinet. Either way, other is screwed to the back of you must get the cabinet level French cleat detail the cabinet. The two 45° an- left-to-right and front-to-back Profile view gles nest together, locking the before you proceed. 56 POPULAR WOODWORKING February 2003 To set your scrib- ing tool, use a ruler to find the biggest gap between the back edge of your cabinet side and the wall. Set your scribe to span this distance exactly. Now run the scribing tool up the back edge of your cabinet – being sure to maintain contact with both the wall Largest gap and cabinet.The between wall pencil will draw and cabinet your cut line on Once the cabinet is level front-to-back as well as left-to-right you can plug the holes the back edge of you drilled to access the leveler hardware. Many brands of levelers come with their the cabinet side. own plastic plugs, though a shop-made tapered wooden plug works just as well.
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