# Little Oak Cabinet



## woodbloke (3 Sep 2012)

The 'Mask Cabinet' has been put on the back burner for a mo' while I was making this little cabinet. The reason is that Derek Jones sent me a selection of LV knife hinges to evaluate for F&C and by a remarkable piece of timing :-" they're exactly what I need for the former job...so I made this to practice fitting a pair of offset knife hinges, closely following the instructions provided by LV and also of course the process will be fully documented in the mag. 

There's nothing fancy about this...just some scabby odds n'sods of European Oak, edge jointed and then through dovetailed together, with a couple of oak shelves housed in:







The door frame has been Domino'd with a raised and fielded panel. The beauty of the offset knife hinge is that when the door's open:






...it'll swing clear of the carcase. Derek wanted me to pay particular attention to the screw heads:






...which of course should be mirror polished and the slots should line up exactly. It's also critical that the thread is cut with the equivalent sized steel screw and that the correct size 'driver (freshly ground square as well) is used on the brass screw so that the slot doesn't get chewed up :evil: Finish on this little job is a couple of coats of matt Osmo-PolyX with a good application of teak wax over the top and then buffed. Comments welcome - Rob


----------



## Orcamesh (3 Sep 2012)

Well that's absolutely fab Rob! I followed the same principles with my hinges and brass screws, but obviously wasn't as careful as you! A few of my screw heads did get damaged unfortunately. Oh well, maybe next time will be easier...

Did you turn the door pull yourself?


----------



## Tierney (3 Sep 2012)

Very nice.

DT


----------



## Charlie Woody (3 Sep 2012)

Well you learn something new every day. Never heard of this type of hinge. Were they easier / harder to fit than butt hinges?


----------



## Tom K (3 Sep 2012)

Nice practice piece Mr Bloke where will it end up living and what will you put in this one? My practice pieces tend more towards scruffy offcuts.


----------



## Harbo (4 Sep 2012)

Nice work but the thing about those hinges is that the stick out when closed and can look a bit utilitarian?

Rod


----------



## MickCheese (4 Sep 2012)

Rob

I like that a lot and may try to copy it as I have a place in our bathroom it would fit perfectly.

Can I ask the size, look about 600mm tall by 250mm wide but it's difficult to get the scale with nothing to reference it from.

I love its simplicity but most of all it looks very well made with really crisp joints.

Mick


----------



## woodbloke (4 Sep 2012)

MickCheese":2t8an8pk said:


> Rob
> 
> I like that a lot and may try to copy it as I have a place in our bathroom it would fit perfectly.
> 
> ...


Size on this little cabinet is 400x250mm. There are pro's and con's with these hinges...point taken about the 'sticky out' bit Rod, but the object of the exercise was to evaluate the hinges, particularly the fitting instructions and not necessarily build a cabinet to do it. I could have used a few slabs of mdf but decided to do a proper job with this little cabinet. Perhaps the most worrying thing is that the carcase has to be knocked apart and re-assembled at least three times (if me maffs is correct :roll: ) and each time has to be identical, so jointing _has_ to be precise. Job now residing in the downstairs khazi :lol: 
These hinges will have to be used on the 'Mask Cabinet' as ordinary brass butts won't enable the door to be opened - Rob


----------



## MickCheese (4 Sep 2012)

Thanks Rob.

Must finish what I have in the workshop first then may try this.

Mick


----------



## Wouldchuk (4 Sep 2012)

Very nice indeed for a "few bits of scabby oak"! 

For the joints - were these handcut? The hinge fitting - again, by hand or using router then squaring off?

I like the 'feel' of knife hinges and don't mind sticky out bit, it's just part of the design. As you open them, is there a little bit of resistence to the action - meaning that the door doesnt swing about? Or are they completely free and loose? I would like to find something which works a bit like a laptop friction hinge, but not really sure where to look - I want to make a cupboard on our boat, which is often lopsided or rocking about, and friction hinges would stop the doors swinging around. I wonder where to get something which would do the job?


----------



## Paul Chapman (4 Sep 2012)

Those hinges look nice, Rob. I like the fielded panel - was that done in a similar way to the one you did for F&C a little while ago, with a little flat on it where it enters the grooves?

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


----------



## woodbloke (4 Sep 2012)

Paul Chapman":10p5e8xr said:


> Those hinges look nice, Rob. I like the fielded panel - was that done in a similar way to the one you did for F&C a little while ago, with a little flat on it where it enters the grooves?
> 
> Cheers :wink:
> 
> Paul


The one I did for F&C a while ago Paul, was entirely by hand, it was bl%*dy hard going...this was done with a few passes with mid sized Wealen cutter in the router table and was a lot, lot easier. The hinges are identical to the Brusso ones that CHT sells but they come with a full and comprehensive set of fitting instructions which is the thing that Derek wanted me to evaluate. Joint's are entirely hand cut and there's a full account of the fitting process in the Blog and of course it'll be more fully documented in the F&C article which I have to write tomorrow - Rob


----------



## UTMonkey (4 Sep 2012)

Sorry, did you actually say scabby odds and sods? Looks great


----------



## woodbloke (4 Sep 2012)

UTMonkey":386lia12 said:


> Sorry, did you actually say scabby odds and sods? Looks great


Yep...all sorts of scabby oddments salvaged from under the bench...look at the mis-match in the front panel and the sides are like that as well. The back (although you can't see it) is band sawn veneers from what was left over when the main bits of the carcase were made. No point in using prime grade oak for a simple little cabinet like this - Rob...parsimonious mode :mrgreen:


----------



## fraser (6 Sep 2012)

Can I ask what teak wax you used for this please?


----------



## woodbloke (6 Sep 2012)

fraser":yghqin05 said:


> Can I ask what teak wax you used for this please?


Alna Teak Wax....not made for a looooooooong time. I bought a few tins of the stuff at college in the late 70's when teak furniture was 'in vogue' and still haven't opened one of them. It's a really nice soft wax that's very easy to apply and polish off again - Rob


----------



## fraser (6 Sep 2012)

Can you recommend an alternative that is made now by any chance please? Is briwax any good do you know? Cheers


----------



## woodbloke (6 Sep 2012)

fraser":1f4aak72 said:


> Can you recommend an alternative that is made now by any chance please? Is briwax any good do you know? Cheers


I don't know of anything that's quite as good or as soft (only my opinion btw) as my favourite Alna...Briwax is certainly a lot harder to apply and polish off again - Rob


----------



## Jacob (8 Sep 2012)

woodbloke":1vbrvcid said:


> ...... The beauty of the offset knife hinge is that when the door's open:
> 
> .......
> ...it'll swing clear of the carcase. ... Comments welcome - Rob


It doesn't though does it? It swings back on to the carcase - works almost exactly the same as a butt hinge, depending on how you fit it. 
I don't see the point of those knife hinges - difficult to fit, expensive and pointless. Untidy looking with that bit of metal sticking out. Just another fashion thanks to St Jim Krenov and now LV.


----------



## woodbloke (8 Sep 2012)

Jacob":2dtyuazc said:


> woodbloke":2dtyuazc said:
> 
> 
> > ...... The beauty of the offset knife hinge is that when the door's open:
> ...


You can cast as much bait on the waters as you like Mr Butler, it won't have any effect now...if you kept up with your reading you will have seen that that i've done with UKW and all it's machinations, final and complete. I was only notified by someone else on another *far* more pleasant (where, thank God the likes of you are not tolerated) site that your stirring paddle was being wielded again.

So it's farewell and adios...for the second time - Rob


----------



## CHJ (8 Sep 2012)

woodbloke":3feowaar said:


> Jacob":3feowaar said:
> 
> 
> > woodbloke":3feowaar said:
> ...



I must say Rob that you do seem to be making a mountain out of a Mole Hill, and regardless of your disparaging comments elsewhere you can't resist in having another go on UKW.

I personally have to daily bite my tongue when I see comments and reactions that are made from a personal vision point of view rather than standing back and taking another look at what has been said.

If an outsider without any knowledge of previous personality clashes were to read the above exchange what conclusions do you think they would make if they look closely at your little cabinet.



1":3feowaar said:


> The beauty of the offset knife hinge is that when the door's open: .......
> ...it'll swing clear of the carcase. ... Comments welcome





2":3feowaar said:


> It doesn't though does it?



Which is a perfectly correct observation based on the simplistic first statement.
The external pivot point may well project the door or a lid clear of the front face of a cabinet or box, but in the case of a little cabinet such as the one in this thread it would be impossible to fit a full width internal draw as the door when opened is inset within the front opening of the cabinet by the width of the pivot arm.


----------



## marcus (9 Sep 2012)

Sorry to see you go Rob.

At the risk of wading in to turbid waters, I have to say that I quite like knife hinges. For me the main reason for using them is that they allow me to place the door with a lot more freedom in relation to the stile — ie you can place the door forward or back from the stile, which can add a really nice, subtle detail and gently break up a too-uniform surface when it's done right. It's for this sort of reason that JK recommends them as I recall. 

They also enable you to have cabinet sides that are too narrow for fitting butt hinges to, which can look very good in the right situation. And they _do_ allow a door to swing past a protruding stile in certain situations if that's what is needed. 

As to how they look, it's a matter of personal taste I suppose. To my eye when they're sized correctly they are subtle in a way that butt hinges are not. This is sometimes what I want, sometimes isn't.

Regarding the size, I think that the Brusso ones (and by the look of it the LV ones as well) are too chunky, and so sometimes stand out more than they should. This can be avoided (as can the cost) if you make your own out of thinner stock which is easy enough. They can be made very small and inconspicuous as they are quite strong and the screws are not liable to be stressed against the stile as they can be with butt hinges.

For me whether to use them or not is simply a function of the piece and what I am trying to achieve. Nothing to do with JK worship, although I'm glad I read his book which pointed out some of the uses of them.

None of these observations really apply to Rob's cabinet — as he said it was just a practice piece from offcuts to try them out for a review he was doing, not an attempt to explore all the subtleties.

Just my 2 cents.


----------



## kernowjoiner24 (13 Sep 2012)

Either way its a lovely little piece and well finished, i like it ! 8)


----------



## Jacob (21 Dec 2012)

woodbloke":2sz0wj6w said:


> ...........if you kept up with your reading you will have seen that that i've done with UKW and all it's machinations, final and complete. I was only notified by someone else on another *far* more pleasant (where, thank God the likes of you are not tolerated) site that your stirring paddle was being wielded again.
> 
> So it's farewell and adios...for the second time - Rob


So it's welcome back and buenas dias for the third time (over there) :lol: :lol: 
It's more than three though isn't it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzZHmHqEE7k


----------



## Harbo (21 Dec 2012)

Time somebody bought some reading glasses and checked the dates?


----------



## bugbear (22 Dec 2012)

woodbloke":8e126lm4 said:


> The 'Mask Cabinet' has been put on the back burner for a mo' while I was making this little cabinet. The reason is that Derek Jones sent me a selection of LV knife hinges to evaluate for F&C and by a remarkable piece of timing :-" they're exactly what I need for the former job...so I made this to practice fitting a pair of offset knife hinges, closely following the instructions provided by LV and also of course the process will be fully documented in the mag.
> 
> There's nothing fancy about this...just some scabby odds n'sods of European Oak, edge jointed and then through dovetailed together, with a couple of oak shelves housed in:



Very nIcely done, but it suffers (IMHO) from the classic problem of over generosity of material; I would prefer almost every piece of timber to be thinner - somewhere around 45-55 of the current thickness.

BugBear


----------



## Beachcricket (23 Dec 2012)

Only just starting my adventures in furniture, amongst other things and these are the kind of pieces that made me want to start woodworking more. Just looks fantastic.


----------



## dp341 (27 Dec 2012)

woodbloke":221kkjpq said:


> UTMonkey":221kkjpq said:
> 
> 
> > Sorry, did you actually say scabby odds and sods? Looks great
> ...



Crumbs, I wish I could turn my off-cuts into something as attractive and useful as that cabinet.


----------

