Cutting the Glass

Melissa and I went back to Armstrong Glass in Kennesaw, GA and picked out some neat glass with swirls of green, white, and brown. We picked colors to match the room, which we will paint dark brown, and the rest of the house, which has earthly colors.

Getting the 3/8" glass sheets home without breaking was the first challenge. The second was cutting it. I used my T-square, clamps, and an oil-filled glass cutter. Cutting glass is scary. It's as if some instinct holds you back, telling you not to attempt to break the glass. But even though my hands would not stop shaking, I managed to cut 5 perfect glass panels for my cabinet doors.

Later, after priming, painting, wood filling, and lots of sanding, I added the hardware and 3/8 square dowels using my brad nailer. Without the brad nailer it would have been impossible to nail the 3/8 square dowels without splitting them or breaking the glass.

Starting the Cabinet Doors

I built the 5 cabinet doors using 1 X 3 poplar frames joined using half-laps. On my last project, I embedded a glass panel in a slot within the frame. Brek suggested building the door more like a picture frame so the glass could be replaced if broken, without rebuilding the entire frame. His advice on holding the glass in the frame was to use square dowels. I managed to find some 3/8" poplar square dowels at Lowes so I decided to use Brek's suggestions.

Finding a way to glue up the cabinet door frames and keep the door perfectly flat is always a challenge for me. The flattest thing I could find was an extra 3/4 plywood sheet I plan to return. I used sheets of paper as protection against glue attaching itself to the plywood. To hold the frame pieces flat I used my boat battery on some scrap wood (see photo above). The end result was excellent, my best yet!