Krenov Hanging Wall Cabinet 2 of 6

 With the carcass dovetailed together, I got to turn my attention creating housing dado's for the shelves and the back.  

For the groove into the back, I first assembled the piece so I could mark in pencil where to remove the material.  I was having a tough time visualizing the end bits as two of the four would be through cut and two of the four would essentially be stop cuts.  I didn't want to find out the hard way I did them wrong so easier to assemble and mark out.  Mostly chisel work followed by a router hand plane to remove the waste wood.   

I don't know why, but I really enjoy creating grooves for shelves.  I find it very relaxing.  Also, I like to strive for that self supporting fit of the joint.  Making these grooves is fairly straight forward, sort out the spacing between shelves, use a knife to establish the line, then chisel blows to deepen.  The width of the housing dado I make with a pencil line.  As I get two thirds of the way in hogging out the waste for the housing dado, I offer up the actual shelf and use a knife to mark the exact width.  I really enjoy using a router hand plane to clean up the bottom.  I could argue that since the bottom of the housing dado is unseen in the final piece, it doesn't matter what it looks like.  I like it to be neat and tidy.  This is 100% for selfish reasons.  Long after a piece is done, I recall all these little things I did that will go unnoticed that make me feel happy about how I made it.  In many respects, this is as important to me as is the finished product.  As I type this blog, I am working on a desk that a friend made for me where I was mostly acting as a shop apprentice and learning about woodworking.  I recall the build as if it were yesterday but it's been 20 years.  I can recall the errors in the build as well as where we spent extra attention.  These things fill me with joy.  Hence, I don't mind spending a bit more time making something the way I want to make it.  I have a day job where I am under pressure to get things done.  For woodworking I want it to be a relaxing hobby.  Not so relaxing that nothing gets done mind you but slowing down 10 to 15% to do it the way I want it to be done.

The housing dados for the shelves came out snug and self supporting and I was happy.  Amazing how many simple pleasures there are in woodworking - the sound of the hand plane removing fine shavings, scent of cherry in the air, a sharp chisel easily removing wood.  The last bit was to cut off the notches on the shelves.  I don't run the housing dados all the way to the end of the shelf.  If you do that, and the shelf shrinks, you will see a gap.  While it makes no functional difference, I don't like to see a gap.  As such, I cut the housing dados somewhere around 3/8" narrower than the shelves and notch out the shelves.  Was uneventful.  

Getting close to glue up but that will be for the next blog posting.  Till then, same Bat time, same Bat channel.