Photo 10- Use a handplane to shape the curve of the vertical spacers, after wasting away the bulk with a table or band saw. A block plane will do this job nicely.

The clean look of bare wood on this piece would be interrupted by hardware, so hidden hinges are best for the doors (photo 11). Barrel cylinder hinges are just right for this kind of situation, and are easy to install with a few well-located holes. To guarantee that the holes are well-located, use shop-made guides to bore them.

Photo 11- This is how the finished doors will be installed. The Soss cylinder hinges simply fit in holes bored in the components as shown, then a small tightening screw secures them. These hinges are very unforgiving of misplaced holes, so be quite sure of your hole locations.

Before you make your drilling guides, get your hinges and get a bit which makes the correct hole for your particular hinges. Then use this bit to bore a hole in a thicker piece of scrap, preferably with a drill press so you know it is well aligned. Attach this piece to scrap plywood as shown in photo 12, and you have a shop-made drilling guide. Align this guide to bore the holes right where you want them, and clamp it to the cabinet as shown.

Photo 12- Make a drilling guide as shown by first boring a hole in scrape stock at a drill press, or with a dowel jig. Attach it to a plywood base as shown, then test the guide on scrap until you know you can accurately locate holes. One way to refer this is to measure how far from the plywood the hole is, or better yet, locate the plywood from the hole at specific increments that are easy to measure and remember.

SHELVES AND DIVIDERS

Install the shelves and dividers in this order: first the central shelves; then the door dividers; lastly the drawer dividers, slider shelves and central shelf connector. If you tried to install the door dividers first you wouldn't be able to fit the central shelves over the door divider tenons because of the stopped grooves.

You don't need to glue these internal parts because the dovetails will hold them together. If any of the parts are a bit tough to assemble, they can be persuaded with clamps or a rubber mallet (photo 13).

Photo 13- Hopefully you won't have to cinch too hard on the parts to get them in. Note the blocks at top and bottom that the clamp contacts- don't put the clamp against bare wood. If the joint is not going to be glued, put some wax on it to help things along, but don't get any on bare exposed wood because it will inhibit the finish.

DOORS

The elliptical shape inside the doors adds a curved touch to the squareness of the rest of the cabinet. Make templates by scribing an ellipse onto plywood stock as in photo 14. First draw the outside rectangle of the door on the plywood, and scribe horizontal and vertical center lines inside. Then experiment with different nail locations and string lengths until you get an ellipse that is pleasing to your eye.

Photo 14- This technique draws a geometrically correct ellipse, that is, if the yarn doesn't stretch too much.

Cut out the ellipse with a scroll saw or hand coping saw, and sand it smooth. Cut out the template along the outside door dimensions that you drew in. Draw 45o miters from the template corners to the middle. From these lines you will be able to tell how wide your door frame parts must be.

Photo 15- Make numerous test cuts with such a setup to ensure that you have the angle set correctly.

Get out your door frame parts, and cut them to length. Set up on the table saw with your miter gauge as in photo 15 to cut the miters on the frame parts. Attach an extension fence to the miter gauge, and clamp a stop block to this fence to hold the parts in place as they are cut. Prevent tearout on the bottom of the cut by placing a backup piece below the cut.

Photo 16- Dry fit all the door pieces as shown before you glue them up to ensure that it all goes together with no gaps.

Cut a groove in the ends of these miter cuts for splines on the table saw. Make splines to fit the grooves. The grain of the splines should run perpendicular to the miter joints, not along them. Your frames should now appear as in photo 16. Glue them up, clamp together with bar clamps, then put C-clamps on the joints as in photo 17.