Synopsis: Part of the beauty of a frame-and-panel cabinet is all the steps between parts, which add shadows and detail to the piece. This small side cabinet employs frame-and-panels on all four sides and in the door, illustrating all the techniques required in a more complex case piece. Mortise-and-tenon joinery is used throughout, while the top rail connects to the legs with dovetails. This project also teaches a foolproof way to mortise for knife hinges.

I designed this cabinet to teach frameand-panel case construction to students at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. What I like about frame-and-panel work is all the offsets between parts, which add shadows and details. All of that detail requires a lot of parts, and this small piece will give you a feel for building a complex case piece. I’ll also show you a stress-free way to install knife hinges. Start by getting your stock prepped and milled.

Build the case frames

The first step is to cut the rail mortises in the legs. When that’s done, cut the tenons on the rails.

I cut tenon cheeks at the tablesaw with a tenoning jig that rides on the rip fence and a pair of dado blades spaced to the tenon thickness. Once the size is dialed in, I get perfectly fitted tenons right off the saw.

I cut the tenon shoulders at the tablesaw with a standard blade. But before doing that, I remove most of the waste at the bandsaw to prevent the offcuts from becoming projectiles. With the tenons all cut, I miter the tenons on the side and rear rails where they meet in the rear legs.

With the rails fitted to the legs, the next step is to cut grooves for the panels. I use a wing cutter in the router table. Start with the leg grooves, setting the height of the bit so that it’s centered in the mortises. Add a zero-clearance fence to control blowout. run grooves from mortise to mortise in each leg face.

To mark the side and back rail grooves, insert a rail into a leg and transfer the groove location to the rail with a knife. Then readjust the cutter height, add a fresh zero-clearance fence, and groove the rails.

With the leg joinery done, taper the feet at the bandsaw and clean up the saw marks with a hand plane. Now it’s time to focus on the connections at the front of the case.

Handling the rails

The front rails connect to the legs in two ways. The top rail is dovetailed into each leg and the lower two rails are double tenoned into the legs. The double-tenon joinery method I use was covered in “Float the Top”.

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