# Help with scribing...



## dance (19 Sep 2018)

Hello!

I am someone who can't think in 3D. It's a real pain. I use SketchUp to enable me to woodwork which I really enjoy, but I'm afraid I struggle visualising how things are going to come together and interoperate. 

I've built some cabinets for an alcove in our sitting room, and I now need to "build them in", which is going to involve scribing. I CANNOT for the life of me figure out how to do the scribing purely based on the written word. I've been all over YouTube looking for builds or tutorials which match my situation but can't find anything.

I need to do a flush infill piece between my cabinet and the wall (wall really tapers off towards the bottom) and I need to do a 'L' shape on the other side of my cabinet where the cabinet projects forward from the chimney breast.

If anyone could offer any help I'd be very grateful as I've kind of stalled now...

Cabinet pictured isn't mine, but it's essentially what I need to do/same situation.






THANK YOU


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## deema (19 Sep 2018)

Not exactly sure how you’ve made your cabinet. I normally leave an infill piece either as part of the cabinet or, that will attach to the cabinet. Depending on what it is and how visible it will be determines the approach. The easiest is to have an infill that attaches. If the cabinet is made from say 18mm MDF I cut an infill wider than I need, align one side with the inside edge of the cabinet, so that it’s pulled back from the wall 18mm or the thickness of the end panel. I then use a small piece of the end panel I.e, a cut off which I use to run along the wall and with a pencil mark the infill. This is exactly the right width to compensate for pulling the infill piece back. Cut the infill either just leaving the line or just taking the line (leaving the line makes it a tight fit, just taking the line makes leaves a slight hairline gap but makes for easier fitting) fit and caulk up. 
The infill piece I screw from inside the cabinet usually through / behind the hinges so the screws can’t be seen.

If the infill is part of the cabinet (Face frame for instance). I again use a small spacer block. Measure the width you need the cabinet to be at the widest point on the wall. The infill piece will be wider than I need. I pull the cabinet away from the wall so that I get the width after the thickness of the spacer block has been taken off. So that max width of cabinet plus width of spacer block. Make sure the cabinet is level. Now, just run the block and pencil down the infill. 

For tops that fit into a recess I make up a pattern from strips of hardboard or thin MDF that I hot glue together. Each piece is scribed to the wall as already described. Placed in their position and hot glued together. I then trace the pattern onto the top and cut out or rough cut and then user a follower bit in a router depending on what it is.

Im sure others will do it differently and probably better than me.


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## dance (19 Sep 2018)

Brilliant, deema, thank you - I'm now totally sorted (I think!!) with how to do my infill piece. 

You MIGHT also have armed me with the information for how to do the 'L' scribe to the wall as well. I'll have a mull on that one.

Thank you for your explanation.


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## deema (19 Sep 2018)

Have a look at Peter Millard (10 minute workshop) on uTube, he specialises in cabinet work and has lots of tips on fitting and how to make them. He operates out of a very small shop commercially. I like the way he presents his stuff. I came across his channel when I was investigating airless sprayers.


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## dance (20 Sep 2018)

Thanks - I did look at Peter's brilliant videos for this particular scenario but couldn't find anything that helped ME understand what I needed to do. The closest I came to finding something in his output was the stair landing bench with storage video. Love his videos, though!


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## petermillard (21 Sep 2018)

Thanks! Scribing’s one of those things that you only ever need to do during an install, so it’s always difficult to shoot video simply because of the time pressures; classic case in point was during the install of my earlier ‘big job’ I had a face-frame cabinet that would have been perfect for a video tutorial. A shallow cabinet fitting in an alcove beneath an existing floating shelf, neither wall was plumb, the shelf wasn’t quite level and the floor ran out by 12mm over 1150mm width! But it was a job and I had to get it done - I couldn’t afford the time to make a big tutorial on scribing, no matter how interesting it may have been.

I’ve covered the principal, and to some extent the practice in both the ‘TV unit’ series (starts video # 056) and the ‘Wardrobes’ series (starts video # 041).

And yes, Deema’s explanation is spot on!

Cheers, Peter


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## johnnyb (23 Sep 2018)

As the chaps have mentioned many and varied approaches to this. One I love for face frames is to biscuit the sides on but have 2 biscuit slots side by side with a say 15mm gap between them. Make a block 15mm. Put the side into the first biscuit slots, scribe with the block between the wall and your pencil. Cut the line and the side will fit perfectly in the second biscuit slot. Much of this can be done in the shop. Use slots in the frame and biscuits in the carcase. Also it aligns your frame squarely with the carcase which many techniques dont and can give you nailess faceframes. Not to mention a beautiful clear line to cut and fixing the carcase in place nice and early. I hate to have carcases flapping around at this late stage!


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