MOTM

I also have done some serious woodworking.  I would agree with the 
idea of trying to stay away from using solid walnut (or any other 
solid wood such as cherry) on long pieces.  I would use high quality 
walnut plywood with solid edging.  
I have a good friend who is a professional woodworker who grew up in 
Hungary and learned woodworking the old fashioned way.  He likes to 
make cabinets with walnut plywood.  He cuts edging material about 
1/8" thick on a table saw out of solid walnut and glues it on after 
making sure the edges are perfectly smooth by using a joiner.  He 
also always uses solid wood for trim, but uses plywood for any large 
or long pieces such as sides or tops.  
It can be done using solid pieces, but I'm not sure of the 
technique.  Something to do with gluing together several strips with 
grain running in opposite directions using biscuits.
I also would recommend using hardware which would allow easy 
knockdown and reassembly.  Almost any woodworking catalog has a 
number of fastening systems which can be used to simplify assembly, 
but still make an attractive cabinet.  Many of these systems use 
grooved pins and locking cams and can be entirely hidden from the 
outside of the cabinet.
One other thing to all group members, PLEASE be very careful if 
using a table saw.  I have personally seen people get hurt.  Cutting 
1/8" strips can be done safely, but too often these tools are used 
in a dangersous manner.  I will be the first to admit I have taken 
shortcuts myself on occasion at the expense of safety.
I know a lot of you have made your own cabinets as have I.
Please be careful!
BTW, I am most interested in seeing what Larry comes up with.  
Although I have built my own cabinet, I am outgrowing it and it is 
pretty unwieldy.  Although I might start over and build some more 
cabinest myself, I might also be interested in purchasing a cabinet 
kit.

I would imagine, though, that fabricating a walnut plywood would be quite a bit more expensive and timeconsuming...?

--PBr

-----Original Message-----
From: paulhaneberg [mailto:phaneber@...]
Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 9:00 AM
To: motm@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [motm] Re: More about Stooge Walnut Cabinets


I have a good friend who is a professional woodworker who grew up in 
Hungary and learned woodworking the old fashioned way.  He likes to 
make cabinets with walnut plywood.  He cuts edging material about 
1/8" thick on a table saw out of solid walnut and glues it on after 
making sure the edges are perfectly smooth by using a joiner.  He 
also always uses solid wood for trim, but uses plywood for any large 
or long pieces such as sides or tops.  
It can be done using solid pieces, but I'm not sure of the 
technique.  Something to do with gluing together several strips with 
grain running in opposite directions using biscuits.

? You buy walnut plywood, you don't make it. Well, you could buy
regular cheapo plywood and put walnut veneer on it, but why?

Hardwood plywood is much more expensive than regular plywood.
A 4'x8' sheet of regular ply might be $15, but the hardwood
kind will be $40-$50. But it's worth it. I haven't tried to
buy walnut ply, but I've used maple, oak, and birch.

Also, when you cut plywood, be conscious of which side of the
plywood will be visible in the final product. The thin veneers
have a tendency to tear out as the saw blade leaves the wood
during the cut. So arrange the cut so that the saw blade is
entering the wood on the visible side. And if both sides are
visible in the end, you should first cut a light scoring pass
along the kerf line before cutting. Why all this effort?
Because the solid wood edging needs to be flush to achieve
the illusion that the whole assembly is solid wood. If you
can look along the edging and see little tearouts, it looks
pretty amateurish.

-BobC

-----Original Message-----
From: Brousseau, Paul E (Paul) [mailto:noise@...]
Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 3:09 PM
To: motm@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [motm] Re: More about Stooge Walnut Cabinets


I would imagine, though, that fabricating a walnut plywood would be quite a
bit more expensive and timeconsuming...?

--PBr

-----Original Message-----
From: paulhaneberg [mailto:phaneber@...]
Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 9:00 AM
To: motm@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [motm] Re: More about Stooge Walnut Cabinets


I have a good friend who is a professional woodworker who grew up in
Hungary and learned woodworking the old fashioned way.  He likes to
make cabinets with walnut plywood.  He cuts edging material about
1/8" thick on a table saw out of solid walnut and glues it on after
making sure the edges are perfectly smooth by using a joiner.  He
also always uses solid wood for trim, but uses plywood for any large
or long pieces such as sides or tops.
It can be done using solid pieces, but I'm not sure of the
technique.  Something to do with gluing together several strips with
grain running in opposite directions using biscuits.



Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Actually, walnut plywood is cheaper than solid walnut.  It does 
require additional work to put the edges on.  It is much more stable 
dimensionally and finished exactly like solid walnut.  
In the past the walnut I have purchased came as rough boards about 
1" to 1 1/4" thick.  I had to first cut a straight edge on one side 
of the boards, then the other.  Then I had to plane them down to 
3/4", taking no more than 1/16" off on each pass.  Then its off to 
the joiner to smooth the edges.  
Plywood is much easier.

Ah!  Somehow I misread that you were suggesting that the woodworked make the plywood.  Yikes!  :)

My mistake.

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Colwell [mailto:bob.colwell@...]
Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 3:18 PM
To: motm@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [motm] Re: More about Stooge Walnut Cabinets


? You buy walnut plywood, you don't make it. Well, you could buy
regular cheapo plywood and put walnut veneer on it, but why?

No, just the opposite.
Comparing the same basic grade of solid wood to plywood veneer, the plywood will be cheaper. Only the outer plys would be walnut, maybe a 1/16" or so. The other plys would be something else,such as pine. 
Good cabinet grade plywood is readily available in walnut,oak,cherry,and maple,to name a few. 
   
Gary