A Cabinet for the Shoppe: Part 1
The Lumber
Every project starts with a stack of lumber. This is the lumber I used for the cabinet construction. There are two 1x6x8' pine boards and some scrap pine pieces from other projects. This wasn't enough but it got me started since I already had it. I buy #2 pine from the home center but if you decide to follow this route, pick through the piles to find the straightest and clearest of the boards. I choose only those with a few pin knots and reject all the others. Believe it or not, the home center's pine prices (for #2 graded stock) are usually better than your hardwood supplier's pine prices, but you have to be picky to find the best pieces. The upside is, you can spend as much time picking through the stacks as you want.
Size the Case Parts
Here I'm measuring for the height of the cabinet sides. This measurement and the width of the case are really the only measurements I took for the whole project. Really, I didn't even need to take these measurements and would rather have gauged the height off of the items that were going to be placed into the cabinet, however, as I said earlier, I'm trying to stretch the lumber and didn't want to make the sides an inch or two too high, leaving me insufficient board length left to get the top and bottom pieces from the same board. I made the case a golden rectangle so the initial side height is important in order to leave enough board length left for the top and bottom. I also cut the boards for the left side, top, right side and bottom in order from the same board so that the grain is continuous and wraps around the case.
The First Cut
Square your measurements across the board with a knife or pencil and a try square. After marking, rough cut the case pieces to length. I'm using the full 5½" width of the 1x6 for the case depth so I won't be ripping these pieces. After rough cutting the case pieces to length, keep them in the order they were cut from the board to keep the grain continuous. Witness marks across the cut lines help to keep the correct order and orientation should the pieces get mixed up (which they do).
Reference Marks
Note the witness marks across the cut lines as well as the datum marks on the reference face of each board. There are also similar datum marks on the top edge of each of the cut boards. These datum marks note the reference face and edge of each board. These reference faces and edges are the only place that future marking and gauging will be done from. This ensures maximum accuracy.
Shoot the End Grain
After cutting the pieces to length, I shoot the ends to square them up. Here I'm using an old type 11 Stanley #6 but any plane can be made to shoot. I've used everything from a block plane to a #7. As long as the blade can be made square to the platform, it will work. After shooting the ends, they are nice and square.
Adjust the Length
Use the shooting board to adjust the length of the longer board of each pair. The two sides should be the exact same length and the top and bottom should be the exact same length. This ensures a square case. The exact length is not important (and I don't measure it) as long as the pairs are the same. Check by feel by stacking the two boards and running a finger over each end like I'm doing here (only one side is shown but I'm using the other hand on the other end of the pair of boards). Feel is the most accurate way to judge how equal the lengths are.
Dimensioned Case Parts
After adjusting the length, you have two pair of dimensioned case pieces. Don't get to hung up on exact lengths here. No one will notice if the case is 30" tall or 31" tall. What's important is that the sides are the same length and the top and bottom are the same length.
Reference Marks
I took this picture just to show the reference marks on the edge. In this case the reference faces are the outside faces of each board and the reference edges are the front edges, as viewed when the cabinet is assembled and hanging on the wall. Use whatever type of reference marks you like, but use them. It's way too easy to mix up the orientation of the parts without them and doing so can spell disaster later.