I finally finished the cane insert cabinet door and I am reasonably pleased with the result.
Observations:
1. I used a reed spline and followed the directions for the groove. But the 1/4" x 1/4" groove was a little tight and the reed stands a little proud of the surface. If I were doing this again, I would use 5/16" x 5/16" groove.
2. I used a Craftsman miter cutting snips. But the indicator line is so wide that it took several tries to get accurate miters.
3. I used cane wedges to hold the sheet in place until the spline was installed. But I only had 10 pieces and I probably needed more. I ended up with a slight bias at the top, but the vertical lines were pretty close.
4. Not perfect, but near enough that I am going to use it as is.
Future conclusions.
1. I will try this again. I like the look.
2. I have ordered additional wedges, so I think I will be able to do a better job on alignment.
3. I was under pressure to rush before the cane sheet dried (I soaked it for 30 minutes in warm water per instructions). But I needn't have rushed. I spent about 20 minutes on this and I would be OK to spend twice that amount of time. The cane sheet dried very slowly.
4. I will never do this on a painted door frame again. The paint got scarred from handling and I had to brush on additional paint to cover those scars. In the future I will use natural wood and poly which is a lot tougher than the dark color Advance I sprayed out.
5. I usually build cabinet doors using rails and stiles and stub tenons. But for this cabinet I did not want to see an empty groove when I opened the door where the panel would normally be. So, instead I used dowel construction and butt ends. I believe it will be easier all around if I used a miter construction with dowels. It would allow me to cut the grooves on the table saw prior to construction. Cutting the grooves with the rails and stiles with a router was a headache. So this would be easier.
6. With the mitered construction I can either tape the reed into the groove prior to cutting the miters thus assuring nice tight miters, or I can use the mitered ends as a "shooting board" and trim using a sharp chisel.
7. I followed directions and soaked the reed too. That was a mistake for this project (but necessary for chairs where the reed has to follow radii). The reed that I accurately mitered prior to soaking ended up swelling and had to be trimmed. The Craftsman clippers cut through the reed like butter.
8. I watched the Rockler installation video, and as expected the production values were good, but not as expected, the instructions were inadequate. If you try this, I recommend that you watch several additional videos.
9. And I also got a resin molded carpet tucking tool which should work faster and easier to press in the cane than the 3/4" wide wedges (which were small and difficult to handle when tapping in with a hammer. The tool was too sharp when it arrived the other day. I ground down the edge to mimic the edges on the wedges.
Observations:
1. I used a reed spline and followed the directions for the groove. But the 1/4" x 1/4" groove was a little tight and the reed stands a little proud of the surface. If I were doing this again, I would use 5/16" x 5/16" groove.
2. I used a Craftsman miter cutting snips. But the indicator line is so wide that it took several tries to get accurate miters.
3. I used cane wedges to hold the sheet in place until the spline was installed. But I only had 10 pieces and I probably needed more. I ended up with a slight bias at the top, but the vertical lines were pretty close.
4. Not perfect, but near enough that I am going to use it as is.
Future conclusions.
1. I will try this again. I like the look.
2. I have ordered additional wedges, so I think I will be able to do a better job on alignment.
3. I was under pressure to rush before the cane sheet dried (I soaked it for 30 minutes in warm water per instructions). But I needn't have rushed. I spent about 20 minutes on this and I would be OK to spend twice that amount of time. The cane sheet dried very slowly.
4. I will never do this on a painted door frame again. The paint got scarred from handling and I had to brush on additional paint to cover those scars. In the future I will use natural wood and poly which is a lot tougher than the dark color Advance I sprayed out.
5. I usually build cabinet doors using rails and stiles and stub tenons. But for this cabinet I did not want to see an empty groove when I opened the door where the panel would normally be. So, instead I used dowel construction and butt ends. I believe it will be easier all around if I used a miter construction with dowels. It would allow me to cut the grooves on the table saw prior to construction. Cutting the grooves with the rails and stiles with a router was a headache. So this would be easier.
6. With the mitered construction I can either tape the reed into the groove prior to cutting the miters thus assuring nice tight miters, or I can use the mitered ends as a "shooting board" and trim using a sharp chisel.
7. I followed directions and soaked the reed too. That was a mistake for this project (but necessary for chairs where the reed has to follow radii). The reed that I accurately mitered prior to soaking ended up swelling and had to be trimmed. The Craftsman clippers cut through the reed like butter.
8. I watched the Rockler installation video, and as expected the production values were good, but not as expected, the instructions were inadequate. If you try this, I recommend that you watch several additional videos.
9. And I also got a resin molded carpet tucking tool which should work faster and easier to press in the cane than the 3/4" wide wedges (which were small and difficult to handle when tapping in with a hammer. The tool was too sharp when it arrived the other day. I ground down the edge to mimic the edges on the wedges.
