A year ago in the spring of ’25, while I, Kale, was still an apprentice, I ventured to Vermont to build a settee with George Sawyer at his workshop in Woodbury. This is the love child birthed from my time there. This settee takes inspiration from the “Rod Back Chair,” a chair originally designed by Dave Sawyer, that was then modified by George. This class was George’s first attempt at converting the Rod Back Chair into a settee. Built over the course of eight days, this compact settee offers loads of comfort and style.
For the first time ever, I’ll be selling a seating piece via silent auction; the details are below. The bidding price includes crating and shipping to anywhere in the continental U.S. But first, some details on the settee.
From the ground to the top of the comb, this settee is 47″ tall and about 4′ wide. The carved seat sits 16 1/2″ off the ground and is 14-1/2″ deep. Overall, the settee is made from a combination of cherry, white oak, pine and maple.
The legs, stretchers, hand and back posts are turned, while the sticks (short and long,) comb and seat are shaped by hand. Because this settee is handmade, the occasional tool mark and inconsistency may be present. The comb and sticks in particular have a true handmade feel and look, as they were riven then shaped on a shave horse.
The hand features a rounded “knuckle,” which was a personal decision. I love the flair and playfulness it adds.
Although this settee has a slight tilt, the flexible back sticks and sculptured seat invite you to lounge. Comfortable and wildly stylish, the drama of this settee never goes unnoticed.
The settee was assembled with animal glue, making any future repairs a breeze. It is finished with two coats of General Finishes “lamp black” Milk Paint (actually, an acrylic).
How to Buy the Chair
I’m selling this chair via a silent auction with a minimum bid of $800. The winning bid includes the settee, and crating and shipping to anywhere in the lower 48. If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to [email protected] before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 13th. Please use the subject line: “Settee.” In the email please include:
Your bid
U.S. shipping address
Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)
If you are the highest bidder, the chair will be shipped to your door. The price includes the crate and all shipping charges. There are no additional charges. Alternatively, the chair can be picked up at our storefront. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.)
My kitchen renovation is nowhere near complete, but I’m glad the space is at least semi-functional.
I’ve been at home this week (and possibly will be next) staring on and off at my not-yet-finished kitchen – on which I cannot currently work – every time I go to refresh my ice pack and drink more fluids. (I’m recovering from minor but uncomfortable surgery, and am under doctor’s orders to do no physically taxing work and to lift no more than 10 pounds for at least two weeks.)
This gives me plenty of time to second-guess my decisions. Maybe I should have built a lazy Susan cabinet in the corner…. Perhaps a smaller refrigerator tucked into the pantry would have been a better use of space… Should I have done inset toe kicks after all… Why did I even start this project ….
But start it I did, the day after Thanksgiving last year. And I’ve been thinking about it since the day I closed on the house in 2016. The first thing I built was the pantry storage, so that I’d have a place to store stuff – and it turns out that the pantry holds about 70 percent of my dishes, cookware, food stocks, etc. Not in any terribly organized or convenient setup, mind you – but at least I don’t have everything piled on my dining room table.
The pantry is also not done, but it’s almost completely functional (blue-tape drawer pulls for the win!). All that’s missing for full functionality is the ladder, which will also be used in the kitchen proper to reach the not-yet-begun upper cabinets there.
I moved my refrigerator into the dining room for a few months while I tore everything out and had the floors sanded and refinished. Going down to the basement to do dishes sucked enough that I got the sink base done quickly and hooked up the disposal and dishwasher with as little delay as possible.
And, my stove is now in place and hooked up. It taught me an expensive lesson: Do not replace a gas stove with a dual-fuel stove (or an all electric range, I suppose) without first making sure you have enough space on your electric panel to run that new stove. (I had to have a new panel put in…there went the budget!)
I built the cabinets just like Nancy Hiller teaches in “Kitchen Think” – except I use loose tenons where she used biscuits, because we have a Domino but no biscuit joiner. I did build one cabinet without loose tenons – screws only – and that was a mistake. The tenons (or biscuits) make it a heck of a lot easier to keep things in alignment as you drive screws. Always listen to Nancy.
I sure wish she were around to help me – or to at least weigh in on my choices. Or to simply share dinner with. (But I think she’d be proud I decided against a corner cabinet.)
Here’s how Nancy usually built kitchen cabinets (and how I do, too).
– Fitz
The method I use most often for built-in cabinetry combines simplicity and strength for the basic casework with materials and techniques for doors, drawers and finished panels that owe more to the world of furniture than that of contemporary commercial cabinetmaking. The technique that follows is a hybrid, drawing on what I learned at the different shops where I’ve worked. I have chosen materials and methods that make sense for my business, given my clientele and the styles in which I specialize.
Basic types of toe kick seen from the cabinet’s left end. The base cabinet at left has a flush kick. The one at right has a recessed kick.
I have worked on kitchen remodels managed by general contractors, but more often I’m working directly for clients. This is at least partly because installing the type of cabinets I most often build for kitchens is more labor-intensive and finicky than a lot of contractors want to bother with. They want to get their job done and return the kitchen to their clients as quickly as they can while doing high-quality work.
I get it. Before my husband and I were romantically involved, we were acquainted as tradespersons in the town we’d both made our home. The first job on which we collaborated was a wall of built-in bookcases. The clients had contracted with me to design and build them; Mark and his crew were going to do the installation. When we discussed the job initially, I asked about scribe rails for the sides where the bookcase face frames would meet the walls. “Life’s too short,” Mark commented. I was happy to be let off the hook and have him install the casework with applied trim, as he saw fit.
As time went on and we worked together on several kitchens, his attitude shifted. He still prefers not to scribe cabinets to their surroundings – it’s fiddly work that involves a fair amount of heavy lifting. As you get older, it hurts. But despite the aches, Mark has become expert at installing this type of cabinetry. A couple of years ago he even said he’d come to appreciate why I design and build kitchen cabinetry the way I do – it’s far more truly handmade than the majority of custom cabinetry. It allows the cabinetmaker (in this case, Mark’s wife) to use materials and techniques that are no longer common in this line of work, which translates to opportunities for the kind of satisfaction John Ruskin argued was every worker’s birthright.6 And in my experience, it’s clear that many clients appreciate the extra attention to detail, along with the awareness of history and craft that underlies it.
This is not to suggest that building and installing cabinets according to the following methods will be for everyone. It obviously isn’t. But considering how much flak I’ve had for my approach from fellow professionals over the years, it’s worth pointing out that a growing number of craftspersons and clients value this way of working.
The cabinet in the following example was designed for the kitchen of a 1912 house. I planned to scribe it to the floor and to the wall at its left; that’s why the face frame protrudes beyond the cabinet’s left side.
Unless you’re running a production facility where you build things in multiples to standard sizes, you should take the building work in stages instead of cutting all your parts at the start, based on a cutting list taken off drawings. That way you’ll have a chance to adjust the different parts to fit what you’ve made so far, instead of finding that your face frame is 1/16″ too narrow or you cut the recess for your kick 1/4″ too high.
Some people start with face frames, then build their carcases to fit. I work the other way around: Once the basic cases have been assembled, I move on to face frames. Then come doors and drawers.
Get Going
Now you have your scale elevations at hand and have made a cutting list based on them. My typical material for kitchen casework is 3/4″ maple-faced veneer-core plywood, prefinished on one side. The prefinished side goes to the cabinet interior; it saves a lot of time, which helps make my work affordable. That said, some jobs call for painted interiors or other finish treatments, so I always choose the sheet material to suit the job.
The next step is to cut your basic parts (sides, tops and cabinet floors) to size. Because I’m building each job to genuinely custom dimensions, some base cabinets may not be designed to end up 24″ deep or 34-3/4″ high. (For example, I love a 38″-high counter. It should go without saying that the carcase height must be adjusted to allow for the thickness of whichever counter material you’ll be using.) And even if most of the uppers in a kitchen job will be 12″ deep, one may be a 5″-deep spice cabinet, while another may be 16″ deep.
Rip all of the sides and floors to width. The edges and corners of sheet goods may not be square, and they often have minor damage, so it’s ideal to make the first rip slightly overwidth, then turn it around and rip the other edge to the size you require. That way you’ll have two square, clean edges for joinery.
Keep in mind how parts relate. Plan view of cabinet sides and back with face frame overhang (top). Front elevation showing face frame, door and drawer (bottom).
After ripping, cut the parts to length. There are various ways to do this. Aside from cutting each part accurately to length, it’s important to cut the ends square. You can do this with a track saw if you have one. Alternatively you can use a straightedge and a pattern cutting bit to rout one end square, then crosscut on a table saw, running that end along the fence. (The same technique will work with a radial arm saw for the second cut, which trims the piece to length.) My current method is to crosscut one end of each piece using a slider on my table saw, then cut it to length using the fence. Be sure you mark each part clearly as you cut it.
My method for joining cabinet floors to sides may not be refined, but it’s quick, simple and strong. I use a spacer made from scrap 3/4″ plywood to position the floor and support it. Twin-thread screws run in through the cabinet sides will fasten the whole thing together.
Your elevations will determine how high the kick needs to be and whether it will be flush or recessed. Calculate the height of the space that will be be neath the cabinet floor and rip spacers from scrap plywood to this width, then cut them to length. If your kick will be flush, the spacer should be a hair under the width of the cabinet sides in length; if the kick will be recessed, the spacer should be a hair under the width of the cutout portion at the bottom of each cabinet side.
Next, drill for the screws that will tie the sides together with the floor.
Most base cabinets do not need a solid plywood top. A strip several inches wide at the front and back offers plenty of material to tie the sides together and support a counter, and using less material lightens the weight of these substantial cabinets while minimizing waste. Sink bases in particular do not need a solid top; the vast majority of a sink base’s top will be cut out to accommodate the sink. For narrow cabinets (those 18″ or less wide) it’s usually quicker to go ahead and make a solid plywood top, following the same directions as those for a strip top.
The strips for a particular cabinet will be the same length as the floor for that cabinet, so cut them to length at the same time. The sides of the cabinet will be joined to these strips with twin-thread screws, but I also use biscuit joints, for increased strength as well as a positive means of locating the parts during assembly. Mark each strip with the cabinet name or number and “front” or “back,” so you’ll be able to identify quickly which end is right and left, and which long edge faces forward. It’s a good idea to have at least two biscuits in each strip to help prevent the strips from twisting during assembly.
If you have ever found yourself on hands and knees, searching for that custard pan in the very back of a base cabinet, you’ll understand why most cabinets today are made with drawers or pull-out trays on full-extension mechanical slides instead of with shelves concealed by doors. I rarely put shelves in base cabinets, but I do use them in upper cabinets and in shallow base units such as bookshelves.
When a cabinet will have adjustable shelves, I usually use 1/4″ pin-style supports, which are unobtrusive, extremely strong (I have used them to store large shelves of LPs) and fast. Now is the time to drill shelf support holes, because you can clamp the cabinet sides together and mark them at the same time. Lay out the positions with a long square.
Safety first. Drill shelf support holes close to the front and back of the shelf, where they will give the necessary support.
Shelf spacing may seem like a no-brainer, but even here it’s worth paying attention to a few considerations:
There is no point putting shelf support holes too close to the cabinet floor or top (or, in cases where there will be drawers above the shelf compartment, too close to the drawers) where there would not be enough room to store anything on the shelves. Think about what the shelves will need to hold and plan their spacing accordingly. If the bottom of the cabinet will be holding flower vases that are 12″ tall, there may not be any point putting shelf support holes lower than about 13″ above the cabinet floor.
Holes at the back of the cabinet should be about 1″ forward from the back edge to allow enough space for fingers when inserting and removing supports.
Holes near the front of the cabinet should be positioned close enough to the front edge of the shelves that they prevent the shelves from tipping when someone is putting an object away or taking it out. At the same time, take any lipping at the front edge of the shelf into account. In general it’s a good idea to center the front shelf support holes about 5/8″ on center behind the back face of a shelf lipping that hangs below the underside of the shelf.
Consider how much adjustability is really necessary for the shelves in a given cabinet. For cabinets that will store shorter items such as juice glasses and dishware, closer spacing may be warranted; I often lay these out at 1-1/4″ on center. For cabinets storing large items such as tall jars of dry goods, 2″ on center may be more practical. The point is to allow as much versatility in positioning the shelves as may be needed while avoiding the visual busy-ness of too many holes.
A typical upper unit. The top shows a plan view; at bottom is an elevation.
Assembly Time
With the basic carcase joints cut and shelf support holes drilled, you’re ready to glue up the cabinets. Run a bead of glue along the top edge of each floor spacer, then stand the sides on the floor, front edge facing up. (You can lean each side against a workbench, stationary machine or sturdy trash can to hold it temporarily.)
Set the cabinet floor in place between the sides, and clamp loosely. Depending on the size of the assembly and whether you have a helper, it may be more practical to hold the floor and sides together by clamping the floor to the bottom spacers instead of clamping across the cabinet’s width. At this point the clamp is just to hold the parts together while you insert the top (or top strips); there will be time to adjust the fit and get things square.
Now apply glue to the biscuit slots for the top (or top strips), insert the biscuits, and set the top in place. Apply a couple of clamps to hold the assembly together while you adjust the fit.
After squaring the cabinet, sight across the top edges to check for winding. Shim at the bottom as necessary to remove twist, then drill and screw. Let the cabinet sit until the glue has set, per the glue manufacturer’s instructions.
Vertical Dividers Plywood that’s prefinished on both sides comes into its own for vertical dividers. I measure for dividers at this point and fasten them in place with screws.
Instead of using a tape measure, I cut a couple of pieces of scrap plywood (one for the bottom, the other for the top) to the distance between the divider and the nearest cabinet side. Clamp the scrap in place and you have an instant way to drill the pilot holes, 3/8″ on center from the edge of the scrap. This method also makes locating the divider a snap when you’re ready to screw it in place.
Of course, you can’t insert that divider until you’ve cut it. Don’t precut dividers to size; cut them to fit. Otherwise you may find that your divider is too small. The most accurate way to determine a divider’s length is by setting one end in place and marking the other.
Wide cabinets should have support feet below or near vertical dividers to prevent sag. Make these from strips of 3/4″ plywood cut to the same height as the spacers supporting the cabinet sides. Screw a batten on each side of the foot through which you can fasten to the underside of the cabinet floor.
Excerpted from Nancy R, Hiller’s “Kitchen Think” – which I cannot recommend highly enough if you’re considering a kitchen renovation. And doubly so if you’re considering a sympathetic renovation for an older home
Join the Lost Art Press gang, along with four score of the world’s best hand tool makers and teachers, and 5,000 or so of your closest woodworking friends for the hand tool event of the year:
Roy Underhill, entertaining the Saturday morning crowd in 2023.
Admission to the event is free (though donations at the door will be much appreciated by the organizers) – but do register in advance on the Handworks website. That way, you’ll be eligible for some fabulous door prizes donated by the vendors.
On Saturday morning, Christopher Schwarz and Mike Siemsen will kick things off at 10 a.m. with what I am sure will be a slightly unhinged and thoroughly entertaining presentation. (Doors will open at 9 a.m. that morning to allow folks to find a spot.)
This is the fifth Handworks, and while I didn’t think it possible, it grows more amazing every time. It truly is a not-to-be-missed event.
A fuzzy shot from 2017 (I hope it’s similarly temperate this year; last year was a scorcher!). Who’s that young man?!
Good news – we’re adding Tuesday hours to the storefront. Starting on March 24, the Lost Art Press store (407 Madison Ave., Covington, Ky., 40411) will be open from 10 a.m.-2 pm. every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
Kara Gebhart Uhl, author of “Cadi & the Cursed Oak” and Lost Art Press copy editor (among other things), will be there on Tuesdays to help with all your LAP book-, apparel- and tool-related needs.
Apologies for the fuzzy shot; my model wasn’t cooperating.
This four-piece dovetailed step stool is a weekend class I sometimes teach – but unlike for most of my classes, it’s not a project I, er, borrowed from Chris or wrote about myself for a magazine article or book. It’s an excellent beginner’s dovetailing project, and you end up with a nice little stool that’s perfect to help a kid reach the sink or a cat reach a window. So I give it to you here.
I usually make these in cherry. It’s a good-looking wood – especially with a soft wax finish and a few years on it. But most important to me, it grows near where I live, and it’s easy to get in wide widths for a decent price. We usually buy from C.R. Muterspaw Lumber, where 5/4 wide cherry is currently listed at $5.85 per board foot. One step stool takes about 3 board feet (bf). I do my best to get 12″-wide (or slightly wider) boards, because that makes the prep easy – though you can slightly adjust the thickness, width and length as needed to fit your available stock. And you can use just about any wood – but if these are your first dovetails, I’d go with something that has a decent “mash factor,” which is to say you can get away with forcing too-tight joints together. Sometimes. (Pine, poplar, basswood/linden are great choices, and cherry and walnut are good, too, if a little less forgiving).
First, surface the stock by hand or machine, then crosscut the parts to size. I typically start with 5/4 stock and plane it until it’s flat – whether that’s 1″ or 7/8″ – and call it done. Then I rip a ~2″ piece off one edge, and cut the parts to length.
For a stool that will get a clear finish, I sometimes get a little more persnickety with the prep so as to end up with a continuous grain pattern on the legs and top. Before ripping, I’ll crosscut the overall board to 32-1/4″, square on both ends, then rip ~2″ from an edge. I cut one leg off each end, and the remaining middle becomes the top. Cut the stretcher from the 2″-wide piece to perfectly match the length of the top.
Put marriage marks on the top and sides, ideally with the heart sides of the boards facing out, so your nice, tight dovetails will counteract any cupping.
The tails go on the legs; I like five per side, so I end up with a chunky look (to my eye, that seems right for a step stool). If you don’t know how to lay out dovetails, see this video for my preferred method.
Cut the tails, then lay out the curve at the bottom of each leg. Or lay out the curves, then cut the tails. You can also wait until the joints are fully cut on the legs and top to lay out the curve. Doesn’t matter. But I like to lay out that curve before laying out and cutting the sockets on the back of the legs for the stretcher. The closer that stretcher is to the floor, the more stable the finished stool. But I don’t like for the stretcher to be below the cutout – there’s too much chance of splitting off a foot as you chop out the waste. Plus, it would look weird. I typically align the stretcher’s lower edge with the top of the curve, which puts the dovetail’s socket at each end about 1/4″ above the top of the arc.
I like the feet to be about 1-1/2″ wide, so I measure in from each edge and mark that for each foot. Mark a centerline on both legs. Butt together the bottom ends, aligned to each other side to side. Then place the stabby end of the compass about 1-1/4″ to 1-1/2″ up the centerline of one leg, and set the tool to hit your 1-1/2″ mark as you swing the arc. If you don’t like the curve, move the stabby end up or down the centerline as you like, reset the compass, then try again. Make yourself happy. But you don’t want to remove too much material from the legs; that will weaken them. And look weird.
You can see on the right-hand leg that I scribed an earlier arc. I didn’t like it. Try, try again.
If you haven’t already, smooth plane the top and legs. The pin board has to be planed before you transfer the tails…but on this project, the top and legs are both pin boards, because the stretcher gets a tail at each end; the sockets get cut in the back edge of the legs. Go ahead and cut a tail on both stretcher ends.
Measure from the top of the legs to lay out the location for the stretcher – or do a full dry-fit on the top and legs, and you can simply set the stretcher across the back, lining up the baseline on the stretcher to the legs. Transfer the tails, mark the socket baseline on the legs, then cut the sockets. The only semi-tricky thing is to not tear out at the baseline, which is easy to do when cutting it with the grain as you must here. So scribe that socket baseline as deep as you can with your marking gauge; deepen it with a knife if needed. And use a sharp chisel and tiny bites as you remove the waste.
Now remove the waste on the bottom of the legs with a coping saw or band saw, and fair the curves with rasps and sandpaper, or a spindle sander if you have one. (You could instead of a curve lay out and cut a bootjack – a V-shape that’s easy to cut with a saw and a lot easier to clean up than curves.)
Put glue in the sockets on the top. (I use liquid hide glue for this project – it has a little more open time than PVA, but not as much as fish glue. You don’t need a lot of open time for four pieces, but I prefer to not use the plastic glue.) Fully assemble the legs and top, knocking the joints home. Put glue in the stretcher sockets on the back of the legs and knock the stretcher in place. Use clamps as needed to pull things together.
After the piece comes out the clamps (I prefer to leave things clamped overnight, no matter the glue), it’s time for “make pretty.” Then apply your finish of choice, put felt pads on the bottom of the feet to protect the floor, and you’re done.
p.s. If you need instruction on cutting through-dovetails, there’s lots of info online…but there’s also an exhaustive dovetails chapter in my book “Dutch Tool Chests” … and every book sold contributes to treats for my spoiled cats (they deserve it).
