Clamp City

I own 10 clamps and I could use about 20. I got both carcasses of wall cabinets together and I’m working on rails and stiles. I keep running out of clamps though so I can only do so much. Today I didn’t get as much done because I went to a friends house to teach some shingling. Actually it is my boss and he’s also a friend. He let me use his truck a few months back when I went to Placerville to pick up more flooring. I was going to give him some money to cover wear and tare on the truck but we worked out a deal where I would help him with some shingling in exchange. That was today.

But back to the rails and stiles. I work slow and for good reason. I’m in unexplored territory with cabinet making so I really have to think things through as I go. Also, working with salvage brings it’s own complications. For instance, today discovered that the rails and stiles I cut were 13/16 of an inch thick but the salvage doors I got are 15/16 of an inch thick. This is a difference of an 1/8 of an inch and that would be very noticeable. Fortunately I caught it before I nailed and glued the rails and stiles on to the carcasses. I had to cut some 1/8-inch shims that were 3-inches wide and 53-inches long. It took a couple of tries to get them right.

If all goes well I may get one of the doors hung tomorrow and have an almost complete cabinet. I will still need to trim it out. The question at this point is do I put all the trim on before I hang it or after. It would be easier to do it before but I think I will get a better finish if I do it afterwards. Still can’t decide which is better.

In other news I had some good luck today. First, the battery charger still works just none of the lights work. The red “charging” lights goes off and on while charging, and maybe if I left the battery in there long enough the green “ready” light would eventually come on. Regardless, the battery charges and that is the important thing. Second, when I got back from shingling there was a message on my machine from a friend. He told me he had 2 Eastlake doors for me if I wanted them. I called back and left him a message but have not seen them yet. I don’t know where he got them, what condition they are in, or how much they are. I’m sure I’ll take them regardless of condition or price.