Mother's $10-Per-Square-Foot (or Less!) Earth Sheltered House: Part IV

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The cabinets were finished in tung oil, which enhances rather than covers the grain. Though this method is commonly used with oak furniture, it lent a pleasant effect even to the poplar, which, as it turned out, had a heart of gold!

.. . AND ONE QUICK

Right off the bat, we're going to surprise you by confessing that our easily constructed "proletariat pantry" is probably going to cost more to build than the fancy version we've just described. The reason is, of course, that the inexperienced carpenters among us will be forced to buy (rather than make) many of the cabinet's components.

This simply designed floor cupboard was built to complement the kitchen of "My MOTHER's House" and consists exclusively of yellow pine and plywood. Instead of utilizing attractive but patience-trying mortise and tenon joints, it gets by fine with butt and rabbet joints, screws, and finishing nails.

Equally important (to the cupboard-lacking novice woodcrafter, at least), this version doesn't demand a whole lot of fancy power tools . . . and, in fact, could be built entirely with a crosscut saw, a hand drill, a level, a sharp wood chisel set, a mallet, a steel hammer, a nail set, a measuring tape, a square, screwdrivers, a coping saw, and a—block sander (though a table saw or at least a circular saw—would be very welcome).

The first task involved cutting the 1 X 4 standards that make up the front and rear face framing. The uprights should be mated to the horizontal facers with dado joints, but in a pinch, small plywood bridges, glue, and finishing nails can be used to hold those parts together. Once those two structural components were completed, they were tied together at the ends and in the center with 2 X 2 web framing and 2 X 6 spacer standards, the length of which dictated the depth of the finished cabinet. At the same time, the plywood cupboard shelves were fastened in place on 3/4" X-1" support rails and faced with 1/2" trim molding.

The drawers were, like the framing pieces, fabricated from one-by stock and joined with a basic butt joint. Small countersunk wood screws threaded into the end grain keep those compartments together. We didn't bother to build runners for them but purchased metal glides, instead. These were fastened, one unit to each side, between the drawers and the spacer standards running the depth of the cabinet. (Each unit consists of two parts, the socket rail being fastened to the spacer and the roller bar to the drawer side.)

At this point, the 1/2" plywood doors were cut. These slabs overlaid the openings and were hung with half-hidden hinges, and all the pulls were hardware store fare.

The toeboards in this version are of the standard 3-1/2" height and so were made out of 2 X 4's. Once the cabinet was nailed to its pedestal, the 1 X 6 tongue and groove end sheathing could be fastened with finishing nails to the side framing and butted to the upright facers.

Our simple counter's work surface consists merely of 1 X 4 tongue and groove pine boards butted tightly together and joined with cross braces at the underside. Instead of using a true overhang, we chose to add a 3/4" X 1 1/2" trim molding all around the top's exposed edge, building up beneath it with scraps as needed. The edging's corner joints were mitered, nailed, and the heads sunk. These nail holes, like all the other necessary blemishes in the cabinet, were filled and sanded after the wood was finished, and the flaws blended with touch-up crayon.

To protect the pine, we used several coats of varnish on the counter surface. The rest of the cabinet could easily be stained, varnished, or selectively painted. No matter how the cupboard's dressed, it should turn out to be a functional and pleasing piece of furniture, especially for someone's "first try".

As this issue goes to press, MOTHER's Eco-Village staffers are diligently preparing for the busy summer season ahead. But some are carving out time to put the finishing touches on our low-cost home's interior, as well as getting neck-deep in our chicken coop/ greenhouse project, which is part of the model homestead's "master plan" for independence. Nope, we won't promise you that we'll have a full report by next issue, but we will keep you up to date as things develop.

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