(upbeat country music) - Check this beautiful piece of art glass out.

Recycled from the 1920s, and it's going to become a beautiful wall cabinet today with special lighting, special shelving, what's not to love?

Stay with us.

- [Narrator] The American Woodshop with Scott Phillips is brought to you by; Woodcraft, since 1928.

(classical music) Providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen.

Woodcraft, helping you make wood work.

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- [Announcer] Woodcraft Magazine.

Projects, plans and web links designed to help you make wood work.

PS Wood, home of Timber Wolf Swedish silicon steel Band Saw blades and super sharp Scroll Saw blades.

(upbeat rock music) A bed to sleep on, a table to share meals, a house that feels like a home.

The Furniture Bank of Central Ohio, providing furniture to neighbors in need.

- A friend of mine was going down the road and saw a house that was being torn down and he knew that it had this piece of art glass in it and said, "Scott, get over there."

So I bought it.

And I built this custom frame for it.

And when I built the frame.

I'll be very careful about this, laying this down.

Okay, that's good.

The one thing that I did was I used Square drive screws and pockets, pocket screws here, to draw these mitered corners together to frame out this glass and make it strong.

And from that what I can do is replace this frame if it ever needed work done, recycle it.

I don't glue these miters, those screws are strong enough to hold it together.

And what really makes this work are, there we go.

These pocket hinges here.

And they're 35 millimeters in diameter and what it is, is a special bit.

You don't have to buy the jig but you do need a 35 millimeter bit, Forstner-style.

Mark the location and drill it.

You'll see more on that in a bit.

But this is designed, this type of hinge right here, is designed to hook onto a face frame.

And if you're making cabinets you need to understand what that is and so, let me show you.

This will be a wall-hung cabinet.

I'll have French cleats on the back of that.

That's the strongest way to hang cabinets like this.

And I've mocked this up out of birch, okay, that's been pre-finished.

That saves a lot of work.

And you can see the edges here need to be framed out with what is called a stile and rail assembly.

The flat piece is called a rail.

These long-running pieces are called stiles.

You always want good straight grain, in this case on the hard maple, to frame out that case.

And then the hinges actually hook onto this edge and screw in place.

And they're very adjustable and that's excellent.

Now let's go domino these face frame parts together.

Looking good.

Be sure to read, understand, and follow all the instructions that come with the tools and products you use in your wood shop.

This is called a Domino Cutter.

Now watch what happens with that cutter.

I turn it on.

(cutter whirring) Two things happen.

It comes out to make a pocket and it wobbles back and forth.

Now I'm going to lay this on my layout line.

Hold it flat, keep it square.

And it's on dust collection the whole while.

And that's important, this can't be used without dust collection.

And now watch what happens.

We take a domino.

And you don't wanna force it in.

And these are European red beech.

And makes it super strong.

Just take a little bit of sandpaper, sand it down just a little bit, dust it off and it will slide right in there.

And that's going to make a great joint.

There's just enough room in there for glue.

To do the end cut, slightly different, there's a corresponding mark.

And look at how straight this grain is.

when you're using thin pieces of wood, you don't want to see cathedral arch patterns because that's gonna warp.

This is straight grain, also called quarter sawn.

And it will be nice and strong.

So where that layout mark meets the other line, I could bring that out like so.

And there are two sizes of Domino Cutters.

I like the bigger one because I like to build bigger projects.

And the cursor's right here, it's like a rifle site.

You lay it right on that line right there.

Keep everything flush.

Take your time when you make the cut (cutter whirring) Turn it off.

And now let's see how everything mates together.

Like so.

Nice and tight, and boy, that's right on the mark.

That keeps it square.

And that is how I make all the domino cuts to build that frame assembly.

Now that you understand that, let's go work on the case.

(saw whirring) Okay, this Track Saw is one handy tool and that's the only tool I use to cut all the pieces to this project.

By using this track and that one multipurpose blade.

Take good care of it and it'll take good care of you.

Now that groove was made by making two passes, just the right depth, so that watch what happens with this case.

That groove just fits perfectly into that quarter inch sheet of plywood on the back and that frames out the case like that.

But right here, here, there, and there are mating marks left and right for biscuit cuts.

Now watch this.

We're going to bring this up.

This is on dust collection and we're going to make a cut right here and you'll see how this works.

We'll do two cuts in this piece right here, holding it flat and square (saw whirring) and it has to be set on the number 20 and it is.

There's one, there's two and we need to make corresponding cuts there, there and there.

We'll get the other end here, we'll get those cuts done and you'll see how this draws everything together.

(saw whirring) Okay, those cuts are made.

And now these biscuits go right in there like so.

And these are plywood and when they hit water-based glues, they expand.

So they can make waves in thin boards but if you have 'em dry to begin with before you put the glue on 'em, that makes a big difference.

Now let's do the test fit.

I'm not gonna put the plywood in but you have to make sure the groove matches up and it does.

Let's see how this draws everything tight together and all the marks line up and that's that.

And we'll put glue on that later.

But now let's head over to do a little bit of hinge work.

(screw whirring) This is called a pocket socket jig.

I just made that up, it could be.

It's a 35 millimeter bit and this is a frame assembly that positions it so when you drill this to this stop on that 35 millimeter shank, the pocket which is 35 millimeters in diameter, fits the 35 millimeter hinge and it just goes in there like that and you drive screws and pilot holes have been drilled.

You want to put wax on the screws in this hard maple because if you don't the heads could twist off.

And I'm going to mount this hinge.

And 35 millimeter hinges are my favorite hinges because they're just so strong.

And because this glass is heavy I'm putting four on the edge of this stile and screwing that in place, like so.

And now what we can do, I've taken some liberties so this becomes crystal clear.

I glued up that face frame that you saw earlier, okay, with the rails and the stile and I've pre-positioned the holes, the back of the face frame is up and you'll see how all this comes together in just a second.

And the hinges right here are screwed onto what will be the right edge of the face frame.

And this is the easiest way in the world to mount hardware.

Let me get this square drive.

Let's see.

So again, you want to wax these Square Drive Screws and you draw it nice and tight in that face frame assembly.

Do that for all four hinges and you'll see how this works.

Now all the screws are nice and tight, very easy to do.

So this is the back of the frame assembly.

And look at how this works right here.

I'll come around carefully holding the face frame and voila, that is going to be spectacular once that's put onto the plywood case right there.

And that's 35 millimeter hinges for you, A to Z, it doesn't have to be hard just get the jig and the world's your oyster.

Boy, look at that glass.

Now a lot of people say, "Scott, you use a lot of wood."

That's right, I do.

I'm a wood worker, but I'm also a forester.

Graduated in 1978 from Michigan State University and I take planting trees seriously, with a passion and you should too.

Now if you do plant trees, you have to take care of them.

I'm going to get my safety gear on and off to do timber stand improvement on the Phillips Wood lot.

(chainsaw buzzing) Timber!

Now what in the world am I doing?

(chainsaw buzzing) This is called a workout.

No, it's called timber stand improvement.

And you look at this and you go, what is this?

It's an invasive species, it's Tree of Heaven.

And boy, they need to go away because they robbed the natural environment of biodiversity that is indigenous.

So the cool thing about this, once this dries out, that'll make a good walking staff.

Now look over here.

This is now my woodlot that's overgrown and invaded by another species that has to go, Honeysuckle.

They just take over the understory and choke out all the herbs.

There's Ginseng in here, I gotta take care of it.

But once I cut out all of the invaders then this whole area will thrive again.

So, off to work I go.

And when you're using the chainsaw these are Kevlar chaps and full safety gear, hearing protection, that's important.

I'll thin this out, do a little bit of pruning, you'll get a look at this.

Gonna take out any of the climbing grape vine as well.

(chainsaw buzzing) (chainsaw buzzing) Okay, it's a dirty job but somebody's gotta do it and I'm just the one.

Wait until I get this cleaned out and you'll see why it's worth it.

Look at the way those branches on the wall of that trees down low self prune.

You don't have to saw 'em off, but in the fall go out and break 'em off.

Keep the bowl, or the bottom section of the tree, clear.

And that I planted in 2001.

It's 10 inches on the stump.

In 10 more years it's gonna be 15 inches on the stump and that's gonna be bored, so, plant your own trees.

This is my walnut grove, takes good soil.

I'm surrounded by walnut trees.

All I had to do was get rid of the invasive species to more than double their growth rate.

Get rid of Honeysuckle, it's no good, Tree of Heaven same deal.

And plant your own wood lot, whatever you do.

I'm a forester and I'm okay.

Now let's get back to that project inside.

Take care of the woods and they'll take care of you.

Woo.

Now back to making that beautiful display cabinet.

This back plywood panel is just a high grade pine veneer but it's got a really cool pattern in it that you cannot see right now and that's why we're using a gel stain, Golden Pine.

And whatever you do, do test samples before you do it on your finished work pieces.

Learned that from Bob Flexner when we went to Norman, Oklahoma to see his finishing tips and he said, blows his mind that people just don't do test samples.

Now the reason I like gel stains, it's really an easy way to get great results.

And the other thing is it's not running all over the place.

Notice I do not have drop cloths down here.

So what I'll do is wipe this out thoroughly and let it dry.

And then what we can do once it's dry is we can glue up this whole cabinet around it.

Can you imagine trying to do this with it installed in that plywood frame?

It'd be a royal mess.

So plan ahead and it will pay dividends in the long run.

That's looking really nice.

I've brushed out glue in all the mating portions for two double biscuits here, here, here, and here and the groove is down to accept this back panel.

That's top of the case, that's the bottom.

So now, when this comes up and into that groove, first thing with all the glue worked out I'm going to gently start to work those biscuits into those slots to hold the assembly properly.

And then what I can do, I'll swing this around, like that and, that's going to come crashing down, perfect, right there, that looks good.

And I don't need those now, that's brushed out.

And so here we go, up and in.

The best grain is pointing up to the top.

You'll see this in just a second.

I'm matching up the grooves all the way around and it's a perfect fit.

That's good.

Okay, and why do you use plywood in the back of a case like this?

Because it's dimensionally stable and it gives you a good pattern.

I'll swing this around, like so.

And now I'll work this plywood into that bottom groove.

There we go.

Now that clicked down and in to the groove, walking that all the way around and in and we have the glue brushed out and made it up with the biscuits.

We'll get that top piece on, the groove matches up.

Okay, now that plywood squares up the frame assembly.

I'm going to put that down like that.

And now, clamps on.

And these are excellent parallel jaw clamps that draw everything nice and tight, one on each end.

We'll let that cure out and once that's dry, then we can cut biscuits to put on the face frame.

That's looking really nice.

Now this is the top of the case, this is the top of the face frame.

I've unscrewed the door from this to be able to do the biscuit cuts.

Number twenties at those marks.

Now watch what happens here.

(cutter whirring) I'm just using the case.

I'm going to make three mated cuts here (cutter whirring) to act like a jig, to keep everything square and I make all the biscuit cuts that made up all the way around.

I have total of 12 biscuits, three per side and I've lined them up with the glue on those slots and I walk this home.

(hammer banging) Okay, biscuits all the way around.

Now I tap that home, put clamps on it, let it dry for an hour and then we can get on to assembling the shelves.

Looks nice.

Now enough time is transpired that the face frame is now a solid part of that case and everything's rock solid.

And these are the acrylic or polycarbonate shelves and that's almost a quarter inch thick and that's just T'd on there with a hundred percent silicone.

And that piece makes it rigid so that light passes through but it doesn't bow.

Now the shelf pin jig is used once the face frame is dry.

And if that pin gets stubborn just have some pliers handy.

And that pin locks into each successive hole that you have drilled and it gives you a great pattern this way.

And this is for a quarter inch shelf support with pad and I'll show you why it's with pad.

That's quarter inch post, that goes in.

Let's see, right there like that.

This is the bottom, like that.

Have mating pin holes on the other side and here is the polycarbonate shelf that will go up and on and with lights top and bottom it illuminates everything beautifully.

I'll get these holes drilled then I'll go ahead and do a little bit of sanding, some Danish Oil natural finish on this frame and then we'll put the rest of the parts together.

(sander humming) So what is it about wood that you have to touch it and when you touch it and you feel it, you just say, oh that wood feels so good.

Usually what you're feeling is the finish on the wood.

And so what we're doing right now is, after it's been cleaned, bringing up that hard maple color with natural Danish Oil, which is the finish, the Danish Oil finish is natural, it doesn't have any colorant to it per se.

So you're looking at the pure color of maple right there.

That blends very nicely with the birch sides.

Let's take a look at this other side over here too.

And man, I'm just loving this whole look.

And this wood really soaking it up so I'll have to wipe it on liberally.

The big thing is make sure you wipe off the excess.

All cotton rag and dispose of it safely outside.

Do not throw these into a trash bucket because they can spontaneously combust.

Always treat rags respectfully.

Take 'em outside, open them up away from animals and children and let them dry out until they're hard to be able to dispose of them safely.

Usually that takes a day or two.

So anyways, we'll let that dry.

Then we can pop the shelves in using those brackets and mount the door and we have ourselves a display cabinet.

Okay, those hinges are tightened in place on the right edge of the face frame and there is how that whole project comes together.

Magnetic latch here with a Petoskey pull.

You just can't beat it.

So that's it from the American Woodshop.

Hard maple display case with a upcycle piece of art glass.

Just can't beat it.

Now whatever you do, go out and create your own things for your own beautiful home.

See ya next week.

It's a beautiful garden chair, you won't want to miss it.

Thanks for being with us today.

(acoustic guitar music) Yeah, that works for me, wow.

- [Narrator] Woodcraft, since 1928, providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen.

Woodcraft, helping you make wood work.

(Dramatic drum music) Pro tools.

For tool pros.

(Dramatic drum music) RIKON tools - [Announcer] Woodcraft Magazine.

Projects, plans and web links designed to help you make wood work.

PS Wood, home of Timber Wolf Swedish, silicon steel Band Saw blades, and super sharp Scroll Saw blades.

- [Narrator] A bed to sleep on, a table to share meals.

A house that feels like a home.

The Furniture Bank of Central Ohio, providing furniture to neighbors in need.

- For more information on tips behind the American Woodshop and watch free episodes 24/7, check us out online and like us on Facebook.

(upbeat country music)