Shopsmith Forums

This Fall I was invited to join the 119th Fighter Wing WSO (Weapons Systems Officer) Tontine Committee. My Wing, the 119th - The Happy Hooligans flew numerous two seat fighters for 40 years, the last before we got F16s being the F4. We also flew T33s. As the Wing Chaplain I took my share of rides, especially in the T33 "Shooting Star".
Throughout the years over 75 WSOs have served in the Wing before the F16 eliminated the position. Of those, 17 have passed away. The committee wanted a tontine cabinet to hold a rare bottle of Cognac and engraved shot glasses for all members including the Chaplain and Flight Surgeon. The cabinet will be dedicated and hung in the Air Base Club this summer - The Auger Inn - and used during annual reunions in May.

As the committee looked at commercially available cabinets I realized that this was something that would have to be custom made and volunteered my services. I came up with a plan using Sketch-up. From Sketch-up I drew full size plans on brown butcher paper then went to work. I began by milling some really nice Aspine. I wanted a white wood for the interior cubby holes. Cut to finished lengths in 3/4" it was then resawed on the bandsaw. After resawing the Aspine was brought to its final 1/4" final thickness using the SS planer. Finished wood. I set-up my SS Mark 5 with a 1/4" Dado blade and jig to cut the slots to create 4" cubby holes. I found that 4" gave the shot glass a nice amount of finger room. It also allowed for 77 cubby holes plus a drawer. It didn't take long to put the cubby holes together. It is important on a project like this to begin with the interior and build the cabinet around it. I decided to place a door over the Cognac compartment with a glass etched with the The Happy Hooligan moniker (which had it origin during WWII with members who flew F51s in Europe). I did the etching and was pleased with the outcome. I molded the stiles and rails and fitted the corners with dowels to support the weight of the glass. Using 1/2" thick MDF I biscuit joined the seam to get the size I needed which was 28-3/4" x 48-1/2". This size allows for 3/8" dados in the oak cabinet top, bottom and sides. Hit my limit on pictures. More in Part 2.

I noticed you indicated that you molded the door stile and rails. Did you use the Shopsmith molder head for this operation or another brand?

I have a SS shaper with a speed increaser tool. I also have a stand alone Grizzly 1/2" wood shaper. For all of the styles and rails I used the Grizzly. I have a better vacuum pick-up on the Grizzly. One of my complaints about the SS is that it throws a lot of cuttings down and the overhead fixture doesn't suck them up. The SS w/o the speed increaser in overhead shaper mode and vac plugged into the hole insert does a nice job. I have two Mk 500, so maybe the new ones do a better job on dust pick-up in shaper mode.