Has anyone built a corner cupboard

Re: Has anyone built a corner cupboard

John in NM

I think there's one in a Gottshall book as well as some Carlyle Lynch plans. I remember there being an article about a Lynch version in one of the early FWW mags. I think its in one of the old black and white collection books...

I think the method was to avoid a long 45 miter and put those corners at the doors leaving the tricky joint at the ends of a couple rails. However, I don't know how the 45 rail joints were made, I'd have to go find the article. I bet the old school method would be to glue and nail them, or use some kind of dovetail that then gets covered with a molding. Traditionally, shelves are also not adjustable, and could provide some opportunity for reinforcement of the case, though I'm just speculating about that with these cupboards.

Norm did.....

roger lance

You can watch Norm build a corner cabinet on YouTube by looking up New Yankee Workshop Corner Cabinet.

Re: Has anyone built a corner cupboard

Barry Irby

I have a couple of Wallace Nutter's books on American antiques. I will look in those to see if they have pictures. There will not be any plans, but maybe it will offer some insight.

Re: Bill, check your email.

Re: Has anyone built a corner cupboard

Jim O'Connor

I made one about 35 or 40 years ago but I can't recall any details. I looked in my stash of old Fine Woodworking and issue 50, January Feb 1985 has an article and measured drawing by Carlyle Lynch, where you may get some help.

Re: Has anyone built a corner cupboard

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I have the Lynch article. This piece is not up to even my modest standards.

I have FWW up to 2009 and only the Hack article was of any help.

Re: Has anyone built a corner cupboard

Roy

Bill, check out Construction of American Furniture Treasures by Lester Margon, p.13.

Roy

Re: Has anyone built a corner cupboard

Dale Warder

Bill, I built one 40 or so years ago. I relied heavily on plans and description in a book by Franklin Gottshall. I cannot recall the title exactly, but it was something about making period futnature masterpieces. I no longer have the piece, it went to live with grandchildren, but it was a challenge for me then, and I was very proud of it.

Good luck and thanks for the memory.

Re: Has anyone built a corner cupboard

William Duffield

The Franklin Gottschall book is Masterpiece Furniture Making, Stackpole Books, 1979. Bill Hylton describes this "Shell-Top Corner Cupboard" thusly: Extensive drawings, a cutting list and some construction notes on an elaborate corner cupboard with broken pediment, flame finials, and a huge shell-carved interior.

In Country Pine, Bill Hylton has plans for a corner cupboard that he describes as "…almost the antithesis of the previous cupboard; a smaller, simpler piece presented in clear drawings, cutting list, and detailed step-by-step."

These descriptions, and drawings are in Hylton's Illustrated Cabinetmaking, along with an exploded diagram of another corner cupboard, with construction notes.

If you need more information on either of the two Hylton plans, let me know.

Re: Has anyone built a corner cupboard

Barry Irby

My bad, his name is Wallace Nutting, not Nutter. Furniture Treasury.

I can't find a date in Vol I & II, but Vol. III was published in about 1933. The first combined volume has about 5000 pictures of antiques. The third has lots of drawings and discussions of various elements. You might find it interesting. I recommend you get the third volume of Furniture Treasury if you can find it at a reasonable price. I think you will enjoy the drawings.

There are about 30 pictures of "cupboards" that appear to be corner cupboards. None of them struck my fancy, but you might not agree. Don't know a good way to convey them to you.

I Also looked on Youtube. I understand you have limited bandwidth but it might be worth your while to go to the library or someplace that has good access and do a little research. Lots of stuff there. Ranging from pretty good to pretty bad.

specific questions

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I don't need front view pictures of completed pieces. I pretty much know what I want it to look like. Framing is where the questions are focused. What joints hold one of these things together is the puzzle. Questions for anyone that has information on joinery.

"Back" These things don't end at a peak in the back. They will have a narrow back, 10" of so.

"Sides" The sides butt against the house wall. (1) What is joint between back and sides?

"Wings" The more refined pieces have a narrow piece called a wing in Hack's article. The wing joins the side and angles out 45 degrees for about 4 inches. (2) What is the wing to side joint?

"Face frame" Wings join a face frame with a 45 degree miter, I suppose.

(3)What are details of making this joint?

"Top and Bottom" (4)What is the joint between top and bottom, and what ever it joins to- sides, back, wings, face frame?[blue]

If I know what kind of joint is used I can tell from the joint in a well made piece which of these parts are structural and which are filler on the structure frame.

A big thanks to anyone that has seen one of these in person or plans that can answer any of these questions.

Re: specific questions

Don Stephan

My first thought is that your "sides" would be rabbeted to receive the back, but that could make very thin sides to the rabbet if the "sides" are only 3/4" thick. Second thought, a full length stop glued to the inside back edges, inset slightly, and the back bradded or screwed to the stops. Of course, the stops would be visible from the inside, unless hidden behind a false back. But there may not be a need for two backs in which case the outer one could be eliminated.

Re: specific questions

Josko catipovic

There's a corner cupboard plan in Thomas Moser's book. The mitre joint is splined, otherwise same as Hack's.

I've built 6 over the decades

Dick Coers

Here is a page from Early American Furniture-Making Handbook.

Re: specific questions

Roy

According to Margon, the joints are as follows:

1. Miter with spline

2. Rabbet

3. Miter with spline

4. Rabbet

Franklin Gottshall in his book Masterpiece Furniture Making agrees with Margon except his top and bottom are attached to the sides with dovetails.

Roy G

2nd drawing

Dick Coers

From American Country Furniture by David T. Smith

Re: Has anyone built a corner cupboard

William Duffield

There is one more important design/construction detail about this furniture form: The back does not extend all the way to the corner of the room for two reasons. The first (as I noted in my response to the other post) is to enable assembly, by first attaching the spine to the shelves. The second reason is more important. If the back corner were not truncated it could be very difficult, if not impossible, to move the cupboard through doorways, navigate through hallways, and especially up and down stairways.

Re: specific questions

Jim O'Connor

I think I used a Gottshall plan. The wings to the side are a 90 degree joint. The wing to the face frame was a 45, and I used two 22 1/2 with a spline. I had to make cauls to be able to glue it and they came in handy when gluing the wing/face frame assembly to the sides.

Whoops

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

thanks, that is a factor I wasn't considering

question

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

will you describe the details of the cauls you used. They sound like the secret to reliable assembly but I can not picture what they looked like or how they were employed.

Got it on the other joints. thanks

question

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

According to Margon, the joints are as follows:

1. Miter with spline face frame to wing joint?



2. Rabbet wing to side?

3. Miter with spline

4. Rabbet

I don't know what joints 3 and 4 are. Will you describe what parts they join? All that is left is side to back joint, which is? For a six sided structure there are only 3 kinds of joints.

I like the idea of dovetail top but have not figured out what gets dovetailed to what. I think someone is bringing a hard copy of this print Friday. If so it will explain this part.

Franklin Gottshall in his book Masterpiece Furniture Making agrees with Margon except his top and bottom are attached to the sides with dovetails.

Re: Whoops

William Duffield

I had a very difficult customer once who wanted a cabinet of a certain size built for an upstairs room. We tried to explain to her that it wouldn't fit up her stairs and we would need to make modifications to the design. She wouldn't compromise. To resolve the problem, we built a mock-up out of 1/4" ply and assembled it with drywall screws on the sidewalk in front of her townhouse, and proceeded to try unsuccessfully to get it inside and up the stairs. She was finally convinced that it was physically impossible.

The full size physical model is a good tool if you are not sure you can get it in. If you bring a cordless jigsaw with you, you can even experiment with the size and shape specifications. Assembling the model on-site also might save you from the additional futility of renting a box truck, driving it into center city and finding a place to park it.

And it's done in 30 minutes

Re: Whoops

John in NM

We had one that wouldn't fit down a hallway and around a corner into another hallway inside the master bedroom. No problem, just inch it along upright.

Trouble was the customer had tiled the floor with thick Saltillo tile that was all the rage in the 1980's Southwest, which made the doorways about 1.25" shorter.

We ended up taking a window out and getting 4 more guys up from the shop to lift the armoire through the window. Luckily, windows were very easy to remove in those post 1960's Southwest homes!