Sellers Home Mirror Frame: Episode 1
In this opening episode, Paul repurposes a discarded wardrobe door to upcycle it into a mirror frame.
In this opening episode, Paul repurposes a discarded wardrobe door to upcycle it into a mirror frame.
Paul designed mirror and picture frames that rely on more than the nails, special fixings and machined mitres used in industry. On the outside, the frames look like mitred frames, but inside, the facing composition are mortise and tenon joints to each corner which defy the concept of cheap disposability.
Adding an upstand to the back of the cabinet top prevents items from slipping off the cabinet. It’s quick, attractive and functional. From the upstand we have shaping for the handles of the drawer pull and door.
After fitting the door to cover the opening and the sides, it’s time to align and set the hinges. Recessing them gives slip-proof locating and ensures that the hinges last throughout the piece’s lifetime.
We have drawer supports and guides to cut, fit and install; as well as new and old methods for installing drawer bottoms. We also have the cabinet top to build up as a laminated top and handles to make ready.
We walk through the dovetailing and fitting, step by step and end with the drawer support rails, which have their idiosyncrasies.
In this episode, we cut and fit the dovetails to the cabinet, and we think it is important to adopt good work practices to ensure the shoulder lines are all identical…
The dovetails for the top rails of the cabinet have unusual nuances that you may not have seen before, in that, when finished, they look like full-depth half-lap dovetails. In fact, they are only half-depth and have three shoulders rather than the usual two.
With our main panels made, we can now move on to the cross rails that tie the two sides together. For this, we require five rails, with dovetails combined with mortise and tenon joints to unite them with one another.
From the frame joinery, we create the unusual tambour styling in mixed woods, and fit and join the tambour edges ready for fitting and installation.