“Southwest Style Cabinet Doors cont.”
Anasazi pyramid cut with a dado blade.
At the end of the summer I got a call from a customer who wanted to put new Southwestern style doors on her solid oak kitchen cabinets. I took on the project and built 17 doors and 8 drawer to put a face lift on the original cabinets of her beautiful adobe home.
I picked out some nice pieces of 4/4 white oak and after I squared up the boards with the jointer and planner, I ripped all the rails and stiles to proper width at the table saw. Then I set up my miter guage on the table saw and cut all the rails and stiles to the proper length making sure to always keep the pieces to each door organized. There were several duplicate sizes, so I made piles labeling each with blue tap. Then I just cranked them out.
With everything cut to width and length, I set up a Freud frame and panel bit in my router table and cut all the rails and switched out the bits and cut the stiles. The dust collector was working overtime. After all the frames were cut and fit properly, I put the dado stake in the table saw and marked each door to cut the Anasazi style pyramid in the stiles. I found the center and began making my cuts flipping the board to cut both sides before moving the fence and raising the blade to make the next series of cuts. I put a backer board on the miter guage to help avoid chip out. Once I had all the centers marked and the distance for each level of cut, the process went pretty quickly, and the frames were ready. I put a 1/8” round over on all the edges. On the inside top and bottom, I put a chaffer for a hand hold to open the doors. I spent the next several hours sanding each piece to 220 grit.
I used 1/4” double sided oak plywood for the center panel. I started by breaking down the large sheet with a circular saw and a guide. Once it was in more manageable sizes, I ripped the pieces to size on the table saw. Then I started the gluing processes . I rotated about three or four doors through at a time, and in a few hours, they were all glued up. I gave them another quick pass with the random orbit sander.
Finally, for the finish…I wiped down the doors and drawers with mineral spirits to get all the sawdust off and then started in with the first of five coats of the FroggyBuilder wiping varnish mix—thin coats that dry quickly slowly creates a hard protective surface.
