(upbeat music) - What do you do when you find a curved glass door that you just love, but it needs work?

Well, you work on it.

You turn it into a beautiful cabinet.

So that's what we're going to do today on "The American Woodshop," so stick around!

(scraping sound) - [Narrator] "The American Woodshop" with Scott Phillips is brought to you by... - [Spokesperson] Woodcraft, since 1928, providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen.

Woodcraft: helping you make wood work.

(exhilarating music) -Pro tools for tool pros.

(exhilarating music rises) RIKON Tools.

-"Woodcraft Magazine:" projects, plans, and web links designed to help you make wood work.

- PS Wood, home of Timber Wolf Swedish Silicone steel band saw blades and super-sharp scroll saw blades.

- 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.

- In my book, this glass door is a masterpiece.

That curved old glass is just priceless to me, and then this beveled glass up here is wonderful.

Now I'll show you how to bring back the finish that's on it, not strip it.

But right now, let me ease that out of the way, taking good care of that.

I'm going to use a track saw on a sheet of pre-finished, 3/4-inch thick plywood.

And this, we'll cut.

We'll make it exactly 48 inches long.

Now, whatever you do, be sure to read, understand, and follow all the instructions that come with the tools and products you use in your woodshop.

Work safely.

I need to move that back just a hair, squaring it up, getting it to my witness mark, and I'll trim this square.

Okay, here we go.

(track saw whirring) Now that I have this cut to that 48-inch length, I have the fence set for 16 1/2, then I'll reset it to cut two 10-inch strips, and then I need one 10 1/4.

And from here, it's over to the miter saw.

(saw humming) (saw whirring) (whirring continues) (boards scrape) We're going to need a top and a bottom, that are identical, for the case, and so, those are 16 1/2 inches long and 10 1/4 across, with two curves that we'll cut out with the band saw after we cut these to their finished lengths.

And I like to use that hold-down right there.

It keeps it tight against the fence and keeps everything square.

And I have to release this for a sliding cut right here.

Give that blade a chance to make a good, clean cut.

Take it nice and slow.

(miter saw whirring) (wood clatters) This looks like a crossbow, but it's a bow jig: different notches for different curves.

And I got the curve of the door, transferred it to my two work pieces.

Let me set this safely out of the way, because, man, that's irreplaceable.

I will break that down.

I don't want that taking off on me.

But I use double-sided tape to join those 16 1/2-inch long work piece, 10 1/4 wide.

And now what I can do, column's locked, is cut that curve in for the top and bottom of the case.

So, on we go.

(band saw whirring) And after this, after I make these cuts, I take it over to the benchtop belt sander to get it smoothed, and then we do some edge sanding.

(saw whirring) (sander buzzing) (wood clatters) The reason you use plywood when you build a cabinet, is it's stable.

By making all these different layers of veneer, that they cross-laminate, it makes it dimensionally sound.

But you've got that edge, and what do you do with it?

Well, you edge band it.

And so, what you do is you iron on a piece of edge banding.

You want the iron all the way up on high.

And it looks like that.

Lovely.

You do a little bit of sanding, though.

Let me show you how this goes on.

First off, you bring it up, and it has heat-activated glue on it, and you line it up so a little bit hangs over each edge and over the end.

And then, what I can do is tack it in by using an iron at the linen setting, all the way up.

I want it nice and hot.

And you keep it moving, otherwise it scorches, and you just hold that veneer tape in place, left and right, as you iron it down.

And it's easy enough to do.

It takes a little bit of practice That works nice.

I like to go back over a second time, just to make sure all the veneer is pressed down, solid, birch veneer.

It's nice and hot, and hot to the touch.

And now, what I can do at this far end, I crimp it, and I bend it back and forth, and it breaks right off.

And then, I'm checking for any gaps.

Looks like I've got a good bond all the way around.

Whoop, it bubbled up, right there, ever so slightly.

Temperature in the room where you're doing this, if it's warm like it is right now in here, in my woodshop, it doesn't bond as actively as if it's down around 60.

Okay, so now that's pressed in.

Still hot to the touch, but I'm making sure that that stays on there as it cools down.

I want a good, solid bond.

That looks good, no more gaps.

And the next thing I do, is I bring up a utility knife that's nice and sharp, and I use that wide part of the blade down, like a rudder on a ship, and I trim off the excess that's sticking out, just like that.

There's one more spot that bubbled up ever so slightly that I need to iron back in.

It's just being ornery today.

Sometimes that does happen.

Okay, that looks really good right there.

I like that.

And then, once it's cooled down enough that it's bonded, that looks good, you take a sanding block.

Normally I'd wear a dust mask for this, but you don't scuff up the finished area, you just break that edge.

(sander scraping) And that's how you do edge banding, left and right.

And on the very end, you can use a veneer saw, like so, to trim that off on the end.

And that will give you a crisp shoulder.

Bit of sanding... Now, this will butt up against sides of the cabinet, so that means this edge gets edge banded as well.

And I'll do that for the other side, and the top and bottom, and we're in business.

(wood clatters) And just like that, all the edge banding is done.

Now, there are eight pieces to this entire glass-front case.

This is number one, and there are seven other pieces.

We need a top trim pieces that's square, well, rectangular, and there's that curved piece.

And again, the edge-banded pieces are what is seen, so you'll see how all this comes together when we take this door off.

But first, I want to say, stop, set the hinge now.

It's a million times easier if you do that, because what you can do is balance the door on the back work piece, which is that 16 1/2-inch wide work piece, and you want to make sure there is a good 1/8 of an inch reveal down here.

Now, you can see I had to sand the door ever so slightly to give me the perfect fit.

That's fair game, that will never be seen.

Don't tell anyone, I'm not supposed to do things like that.

Modify an antique, for goodness' sake.

So look at what I did right there: I got the hinges, the marks, transferred with the square, there and there, and carried it on over, and I mounted these beautiful button extruded brass hinges, heavy-duty, that will carry the load, and I just used a vix bit and screwed those in place.

Now, setting that door once the entire case it put together is a breeze.

So, you live and you learn.

I'm going to gently set this out of the way.

So, look at how the case goes.

Number-one tip: Keep all your cuts square, except for those two curved top, and this is the top, and bottom work piece.

So this goes up, like that, and it's set on the back edge, right like that.

And that gets screwed in place.

This side comes up, just like that.

And this curve has to be inset an inch and 1/8 for the door to work.

I know that because I've done the test fit.

And now, what I can do is bring up this top.

And all of this gets counterbored and screwed in place.

And then, the outside pieces butt to this edge of the back, and that gets screwed in place.

So now, the bottom is done the same way.

I'll set this down, like that.

And the first thing I'll do is lay that down before it falls down, and show you the trick on doing all of these joints.

You get a good countersinking bit right here, one that will cut a nice, deep pocket.

And then, what you do is you bring it over to the edge, where you can do the assembly.

You line up all the edges, so it's flush and square, and just like that.

And now, you use (drill buzzing) the counterboring bit.

And you want to go in halfway down, just like that, for a reason.

And you'll see why this is important because we're using square drive double-threaded screws to draw that together.

And all of this plywood is 3/4 of an inch in thickness.

And the reason you do that is so you can counterbore that.

And then, once we have all of it screwed together, we plug it with pre-cut, tapered maple plugs, and we put a bit of finish on it, looks beautiful.

So I don't care how talented any woodworker is, you can't beat the simplicity of this style of construction on a cabinet, any day of the week.

This beats it 10 ways come Sunday.

So I'll get this all screwed (drill buzzing) and counterbored.

Not countersunk, countersunk just means you dimple it enough for the screw to go flush to the surface.

We want it to go all the way down.

And then, it's perfect alignment down here.

(drill whirring) And I'll do the same thing for the other side, and then you can see us put the top and bottom on.

And that's all there is to it.

It's very simple, if you can just remember where your drill is.

Now, I'll draw these tight.

(drill buzzes) (boards shuffle) (drill whirs) One more screw.

And whatever you do, don't over-tighten those screws.

So there are the sides, left and right.

And this is the top, that's the bottom.

That's important, because when you select what's called BC-grade plywood, one side will be good.

Now, you can buy AC-grade, but it's wicked expensive, and you don't need to spend that extra money, A, meaning primo veneer.

B-grade is nice.

And the C grade's going to be hidden when we put the top on.

And because all the cuts are square, when you line everything up and keep it flush, just like that, inset so that it's flush to this top edge, then you repeat this process, being careful to keep the edges lined up, (drill whirring) and counterbore it.

And I'm going to do two screws per side to hold this in.

(drill buzzes) And it's a great idea to hand-tighten it, so you get a perfect tension on that screw when you torque it in.

And that's flush, right there.

Everything looks just right.

I'll do the same thing here.

(drill whirring) And remember, these holes will get plugged (blows) with maple plugs, so you have to make those holes deep enough to make that happen.

So I'll fasten the other side, same way.

And then, I'll go to the bottom, repeat that for the bottom, and then I'll show you how to attach the trim pieces for the top and bottom.

Looking really nice.

So much fun, this is a beautiful cabinet.

(drill whirring) (drill buzzing) Let's draw that one in nice and tight.

Okay, looks good.

Just like that.

And the cool thing is, on this bottom, you see how that's flush.

And this squares up the case and makes it strong.

And now, I'll roll this up so that you can see.

Everything's shaping up.

That looks good, everything's nice and tight.

And now, on the very bottom, I'm going to put in, to make it strong, three screws (drill whirring) into that 3/4-inch bottom.

(drill whirring) And I'll do the same on the top.

And once that's done, (drill whirring) we can fix the trim pieces, top and bottom.

And this is shaping up just right.

(drill buzzing) Plenty for stout.

(wood clatters) On the top of the case, I'm going to put this cleat on.

This goes like that, even has a built-in bubble for level.

And this piece goes up on the wall, and so when that's screwed in and solid, and this piece is on the wall, it squares it up.

And that will carry 200 pounds of weight because it's rated for that.

So you'll see that when we go to assemble this, but for right now, what I need to do is join this and make this solid.

So the curve is out, like so.

Just like that.

And I've pre-drilled pilot holes, so I know exactly where those go.

I get five of these (drill buzzing) in this area.

And then, (drill buzzes) I'll put two more on in just a second, but I want to show you how I trim off the top now, once that cleat's in there, because it needs an accent to make it stand proud.

So there, we put that down like that, and I bring this trim piece up that's pre-drilled, like that.

And I butt this back edge on top of that cleat, and I measure in an inch and 1/2.

Needs to come this way, a 16th.

And that's just a 32nd off.

There you go, that's perfect.

And now, I can draw this tight to the top of the case.

And cabinets like this are easy to make, and you can use basic tools.

(drill whirs) The one thing you do have to have is the right-length screw, that's inch and 1/4, because inch and 1/2 would go all the way through and nib through, and that would be, well, that'd be amateur hour!

That'd be no good.

So get that on, (drill buzzes) top and bottom.

Looking good.

Hammer in the plugs, and then it will be on to finishing.

(boards shuffle) (drill buzzing) Now, before I do any finishing, I've one more step, and that is, I'm using that pegboard that's an inch on center, and it's marked, so that's my template to put in the acrylic 1/4-inch shelving, nice and strong.

You want to use the shelf-support pads with 1/4-inch post that have that rubber on it, so the shelves don't scooch around.

And the reason it has to be clear is for the LED light strips that are going to go in.

So I will get that drilled out before I put clear finish on this, on the veneer edge banding, wipe that on with a rag.

But earlier today, I said I'd show you how to restore this door by using the old finish.

And this is a product that restores finish.

And you want to have gloves on, all-cotton rags, and you want to mask off with painter's tape, the area that you're working on.

And the first thing that I'm going to do is get ready to stain this little pocket.

There used to be a lock set in there that no longer worked, so it was removed, and I filled that, and that's dry.

I save all the hardware I can, but sometimes it just wears out.

But for right now, what I'm going to do, working in a well-ventilated place, is charge this rag, and I just wipe it on.

And what happens is it starts to dissolve and clean the old finish so you really aren't changing the patina of the wood, and it picks up the color, and you can blend that into the stained area as well.

And I can darken that up after this dries, with a golden pine gel stain.

The reason I like gel stains is when you wipe it on, it stays where you put it.

And there are no brushes needed, you don't have to spray it, just all-cotton rag.

And that's the easiest way, right there, to really bring up a door.

So I'll get this wiped out, to really freshen it up, and then I'll drill those holes for the shelves and get that finish on there.

You drill the hole first, clean it up with a tack cloth, and then you use a pegboard to drill the rest of the shelf holes.

(wood clatters) So I'm just wiping out that gel excess.

Always get a little bit more than you want.

Always dispose of the rags outside safely, of any finish.

Open it up, let it dry, and then once it's hard, you can throw it away.

Otherwise, it can spontaneously combust.

Now, I have brackets in all the way up.

And what I'm doing is I'm using those to position the lighting strip.

This is LED, and it's got an adhesive back.

You wanna make sure you peel off the cover thoroughly.

And then, right behind the clips, you tape this in, all the way around the case.

And the shelf will fit very nicely in left and right of those light strips.

So I'll get this wired.

And I have to drill a hole in this corner to plug the cord into the wall.

But I'll get that done and the shelves in.

And then, we have to go over and secure the cleat onto the wall.

On the back side, at the top, you can see the cleat that is going to lock into the cleat that's on the wall.

And I'll stage this so that, one lift, up and in.

Alley-oop.

All the way up.

(cabinet rumbling) And now, make sure it's securely locked.

Boy, it has to hit that cleat.

And there, we're solid.

Now, it's there to stay.

Whew!

And look at that, that is beautiful.

Turn on the LEDs, crank it up... And I'll tell ya, all I have to do now is check for level.

And that needs to come towards the window, just a hair.

And now that's perfectly level.

And there's a stud right here.

I know that because I checked it with a stud-finder.

And that will get a screw and lock that into that cleat.

And then, I can start loading it up with my favorite things.

Well, that's it for this week.

Join us next week on "The American Woodshop."

We have some wonderful projects, and Suzy will join us.

Thanks for being with us!

Stay well, and go make beautiful things.

Let's see...

There we go.

(gentle guitar music fades) - Woodcraft, since 1928, providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen.

Woodcraft: helping you make wood work.

(exhilarating music) - Pro Tools for tool pros.

(exhilarating music rises) RIKON tools.

- "Woodcraft magazine:" projects, plans, and web links designed to help you make wood work.

- PS Wood, home of Timber Wolf Swedish Silicone steel band saw blades and super sharp scroll saw blades.

- 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 to watch free episodes 24/7, check us out online, and like us on Facebook.

(upbeat music)