DIY Network

Atlanta Victorian: Antique Leaded-Glass for Cabinet-Doors From "Restoration Realities" episode DRTR-108

	Richard Kuehndorf, owner of Rare Woods and Veneers in Atlanta, helps Bill Dougherty with selection of vintage maple hardwood for the kitchen-cabinet project.

In this episode, DIY's Restoration Realities, visits Atlanta, GA and the neighborhood of Grant Park where they help a young couple with a couple of projects in their 19th century Victorian.

In this third segment, work gets underway on the second of two projects: creating a kitchen dish-cabinet that incorporates antique leaded-glass panels that the owners had already purchased.

Tools and materials:

10" Table saw – contractor style or larger
10-12" sliding compound miter saw
12" thickness planer
Hand planer
Carbide Scraper
Chisel or small pry bar
Biscuit joiner
Hand-held router
8" dado set for table saw
1/2" shank rail and stile set for cabinet doors
1/2" shank beading bit
Air compressor 7 Hoses
Extension cords
Framing square
4' carpenter's level
Ratchet Strap
Measuring Tape
Clamps
Cordless Drill and Bits
Pneumatic nailer
Miro pin nailer
Orbital sander
Pad sander
Mallet Finish Hammer
Nail punch
Safety Glasses

Safety Alert: Always wear eye protection when working with power tools or pneumatic tools.

advertisement

Figure A

Wood Selection

Bill Dougherty and his wife Stuart purchased antique cabinet doors with leaded glass panels from an antique store. They purchased four of the door panels, and Bill has already drawn up plans for the cabinet design (figure A). Their existing kitchen cabinetry is maple, so the couple wants to use the period glass from the panels, but replace the wooden rails and stiles with maple.

Bill found the wood he was looking for at Rare Woods and Veneers in Atlanta, a wood store that specializes in decorative, unusual and even vintage wood stock. Bill opted for some 40-year-old plain maple to match the existing cabinetry in the kitchen and replace the oak that surrounds the antique glass panels in the existing doors

Note: Rare woods typically sell for $5 to $10 per square foot.

	Figure B
	Figure C

Building the Body of the Cabinet

Aside from replacing the wood on the antique doors, this project will involve building the body of the cabinet. Here are the basic steps:

• Working backwards -- i.e., working around the size of our antique doors -- first measure the existing cabinet door size (figure B). Measure the height and width of each, and add space for rails at the top, bottom and sides to give the overall dimensions of the cabinet.

• Based on the plans, determine the rail size and add the lower and upper cabinet frame for the total cabinet
  height.

• Rip the boards for the sides, top, bottom, and shelves to the length and depth you'll need. In cases like ours where the boards aren't wide enough to achieve the proper depth, biscuit joints can be used to join two boards together and achieve the necessary width.

• Use a power planer to plane the edges to a smooth surface (figure C).
  

  	Figure D
  	Figure E
  	Figure F

• Restoration Realities Factoid: Wood biscuits are thin wafers of wood, typically made from compressed beech shavings stamped into a oval pattern (figure D). When they are glued, the wood expands to help hold the joint securely.

• Using a biscuit joiner, cut biscuit-slots in the center of the board's edges where biscuits can be added to connect the boards (figure E). We cut biscuit slots 8 inches on-center

• Run a bead of glue along the edge of the board and inside the biscuit joint, place the biscuits inside and connect both pieces of wood.

• With the boards joined together, clamp the wood, flip and add more clamps to the other side (figure F).

• Allow four hours for the glue to dry.
  

• Remove the clamps and scrape off any glue that squeezed through the boards with a carbide scraper.

• Rip down the board to fit in the thickness planer (figure G) and plane each side of the boards to a thickness of 3/4" (figure H).

• Rip each board down again to the actual cabinet depth.
  
  
• Cut dados in the sides and bottom panel to support the shelves and backing.

  Figure G

  Figure H

  
  

• For the backing, we used boxcar siding, which fits together in a tongue-and-groove configuration. Cut each piece of boxcar siding to length. Sand down any rough edges on the wood.

• Now you can begin assembling the cabinet body according to the plans (figure I).

• Insert each shelf into a dado with wood glue and secure with finishing nails (figure J).

  Figure I

  Figure J

  
  

• The boxcar siding is placed inside the dado on the bottom panel, and then the entire cabinet is secured with a ratchet strap (figure K).

• Allow the glue to cure fully.

• Nail a top cap to the cabinet (figure L).

• Finish the cabinet as desired. We applied a coat of lacquer with a pneumatic sprayer.

  Figure K

  Figure L

  
  

  	Figure M
  	Figure N
  	Figure O

Here are the basic steps for creating the new wood frames for the antique glass panels.

• Using the selected wood, rip the boards down to the measurements needed using a table saw.

• Run the front of each piece through a router table with a raised panel bit, adding a beaded detail.

• Cut interlocking joints on the end of each frame piece so that the pieces fit together (figure M).

• With the elements all cut and routed, glue and assemble the frames.

• To ensure that they are square, measure the assembled frames diagonally from corner to corner, across both diagonals, to ensure that both measurements the same length.

• Once you're certain that the assembly is square, clamp securely (figure N), measure one more time and allow the glue to dry.
  

  	Figure P
  	Figure Q

• Remove the leaded glass panels from the existing frames. In our case, we used a pry-bar and chisel to carefully remove the glass-stop trim pieces (figure O).

• Carefully place antique glass panel into the new frames (figure P).

• Carefully nail on the glass stop to secure the glass in the frames (figure Q).

• Repeat the process for all of the doors.

• Finish to match the body of the cabinet.
  

  Figure R

To mount the cabinet to the wall, we installed a ledger strip to the wall, securing it to the studs. The cabinet rests on the wood strip and is screwed into the wall studs.