Hand Tool Woodworking Cupboard Build - Part 14

In **Part 14 of this hand tool woodworking cupboard build**, I finish the last mortise and tenon joint for the door frame, dry assemble the door, check for square, and begin preparing the wooden slats for the door panel. Most of the mortise and tenon joints are already complete, with just one joint left to finish. I wrap up the final fitting, checking that the tenon slides in properly and that the joint seats fully. It gets a little tighter toward the end, which is expected because of friction, but after a small amount of cleanup the joint closes nicely with no major gaps. Once the last joint fits, I do a full dry assembly of the door frame. The joints pull the frame together well, and the door checks out square. This is one of the benefits of working accurately to the knife lines: if the mortises, tenons, shoulders, and reference faces are all prepared carefully, the frame usually comes together close to square without needing much correction. Next, I move on to the door panel decision. I consider a plywood panel or a raised panel, but for this indoor cupboard I decide to use wooden slats. A raised panel may be stronger for an exterior-style door or something that needs more resistance, but this is an indoor cabinet door, so slats should be more than strong enough and will give the cupboard a look I like. For the slats, I use leftover offcuts from earlier in the cupboard build. These are scraps from bandsaw work that I saved instead of throwing away. The door opening is roughly *21 1/4 inches**, so I rough target around **22 inches* for the slat blanks and plan to trim them to final length later. I start by planing one reference face on each strip, then move between the hand plane and bandsaw to resaw and rough dimension the slats. I estimate I will need about **26 slats**, roughly 13 for each door. By the end, I have 26 pieces rough cut and partially dimensioned, ready for individual hand planing and final cutting to length. In this video: Finishing the last mortise and tenon joint Cleaning up a tight tenon fit Checking for gaps at the shoulders Fully seating the joint Dry assembling the cupboard door Checking the frame for square Choosing slats instead of a plywood or raised panel Discussing raised panels vs indoor cabinet slats Using saved offcuts for the door slats Measuring the door opening Rough cutting slat blanks Planing one reference face Resawing at the bandsaw Preparing 26 slats Talking about the bandsaw as a useful hand-tool companion Getting ready for detailed slat dimensioning This is *Part 14* of the ongoing cupboard build series. In the next part, I’ll continue hand planing and dimensioning the slats, then cut them to length and prepare them for the door assembly. #woodworking #handtoolwoodworking #cupboardbuild #cupboarddoors #mortiseandtenon #doorframe #woodenslats #slatdoor #bandsaw #handplanes #handtools #traditionalwoodworking #cabinetmaking #paulsellers #diyfurniture #furniturebuild #woodworkingproject #finewoodworking #woodworker Suggested chapters: 00:00 Finishing the remaining door joint 00:10 Preparing for panel and glue-up work 00:29 Enjoying mortise and tenon joinery 03:56 Continuing the final joint fitting 10:20 Tenon starts going in well 10:47 Checking for gaps 10:53 Shoulder holding off slightly 10:58 Small cleanup needed 11:20 Joint fully seated 11:35 Dry assembly and measurements 11:41 Choosing the door panel style 11:48 Plywood panel or raised panel option 11:57 Choosing wooden slats 12:08 Why raised panels are stronger 12:17 Indoor cupboard does not need that strength 12:47 Door frame dry assembled 13:14 Checking the frame for square 13:20 Accurate knife lines help alignment 13:37 Moving on to slats 13:47 Saved offcuts from the main cabinet 13:59 Using scraps for slats 14:09 Measuring the door opening 14:21 Checking slat thickness 14:31 Planning before resawing 14:42 Planing one face first 15:01 Creating a reference face 16:48 Slats rough prepared 16:58 Using offcuts to measure later 17:04 Estimating the number of slats 17:17 Around 13 slats per door 17:23 Need about 26 slats total 17:50 Bandsaw and hand plane workflow 18:10 26 slats rough cut 18:26 Next step: hand plane every slat 18:42 Bandsaw work and hand-tool workflow 18:58 It can be done fully by hand 19:14 Bandsaw as a key hand-tool helper 19:30 Bandsaw finish still needs hand planing 19:53 Preparing for tedious but enjoyable work 20:01 Slats coming next