Shopsmith Forums

I'm refacing our kitchen cabinets with shop ripped 1/4" thick walnut veneer. I had to cut an opening for the breadboard in one of the stiles. The only way I could think to do it was with a coping saw and wood rasps. It worked well enough but the cut s not as straight as I'd like. It's not all that noticeable but it took a long time and I may have to do this again...is there a better way?

A router & jig then a corner cutter to cut them square. Or you could rip the strips then carefully edge glue and blend in the cut lines on each end. If you have many to do router is your best bet.

Maybe route the slot using a fence on a router table, and then square up the ends with a sharp chisel. You could still true that slot up one side at a time, if it isn't already too wide. The SS could also do this is router mode.

Or if you have a SS jigsaw or scroll saw, I suspect that you could cut it pretty straight with an improvised clamp-on fence.

There may be a good hand-tool technique as well, but I'm certainly no expert. Perhaps score it accurately with a marking knife, and use a sharp wide chisel for a final (light) cut on the score mark.

+1 on all the above.

Re: hand-tool technique. You can lay a reference board above your intended interior-edge. The reference-board then can guide a Chisel to a very straight action.

Jig saw with clamped board fence and blade mounted sideways. Drill the 4 corners. Scroll saw if not too long, or cut from each end to the middle.

Thanks guys, great ideas all around. Now that you mention it, on closer inspection there is evidence of a template or jig being nailed or screwed to the face frame when the cabinets were built in 1978.

I'm intrigued by the chisel idea nuhobby. I don't own any chisels yet but I'm looking forward to getting a set and keeping them sharp. I've never seen a chisel worked with the grain along the ace of a board like that. I'll have to give it a try.

I would use a 1" or 1 1/2" wide chisel to do this but I would first scribe the cut with a very sharp knife using a straight edge. This is much the same approach as simply using the straight edge to position the chisel.

I would not use the coping saw or the scroll saw simply BECAUSE I cannot cut a straight line with either of those.

Yes, I haven't really done it myself, but I saw it on a Roy Underhill episode where he and Christopher Schwarz were building their shop-made trying squares. They cut a very straight edge between some decoration curlicues on that square's leg(s).

Here's a trick I learned when fitting a drawer into a panel and wanted to match the grain of the drawer to the front of the case. It would work for cutting out such a slot for a breadboard.

Take your slightly over sized panel and rip it into three pieces with the height of the slot between the two rips. Now cross cut the length of the slot from the center piece. After a slight jointing, glue the two larger halves back together matching the grain. Then cut the over sized panel to size.

The saw kerf between the halves will not show.



P.S. Oh Yeah! Use a bandsaw for the ripping.

You can do this using the Shopsmith in vertical mode as a router. You can see the results as you make the cut.