"You mention that the finger joints are easy to make and that they are very
strong. For the woodworking newbie that I am, how do you cut the fingers?
Either side of the finger is not a problem, but how do you get to the back
side to cut it out? Also, are the fingers and glue the only thing holding the
main frame of the cabinet together?"
I used only glue to hold the cabinet together. The idea behind the fingerjoints is that you increase the surface area of the joint. If you just butt two boards together you glue only 1 edge and only on 1 plane so the joint isn't very strong. By using fingerjoints you not only glue 3 times the surface area but you also glue on 3 different planes giving the joints their strength.
How do you make them you ask? Well there are dozens of ways to make them and several jigs available that you can buy. Here's how I did mine using a table saw, Dado blade and a homemade jig.
http://aardvark-mi.home.attbi.com/fingerjoints.htm P.S. I added this page to my site and I was a little tired when I wrote the page so I hope it makes sense!!!
Al Wagner