 Oak Mail Sorter |
This oak mail sorter recalls a time when letters were sorted by hand and everyone knew their letter carrier by name. You can personalize the slots and cubbies to suit your needs and make your own labels to keep track of magazines, catalogs and bills. The shelves and the lower dividers will accommodate almost any size mail you’ll get.This cabinet is made of plain-sawn oak plywood with a few pieces of solid oak to provide support and protect the edges. The special label hardware that helps define the old-fashioned look is available as a kit that you buy through the mail. You can get the rest of the materials at the lumberyard and hardware store.
Before You Start
At your home center or lumberyard, try to find 3/4-in. plywood that has similar grain patterns on both sides because both sides will show.
Finding 1/2-in. oak plywood at a home center or lumberyard isn’t always easy. If you can’t find it, we recommend gluing two pieces of
1/4-in. plywood together for each divider. The 1/4-in. plywood is usually available with only one nice-looking side, so glue the bad sides together to make 1/2-in. material. Pick your solid lumber to match the grain and color of your plywood.
Gather all the tools shown in the Tool List plus your standard layout and carpentry tools.
Stack Laminating
The technique called “stack laminating” is like making a tall sandwich of plywood and glue. Glue and clamp the 1/4-in. thick plywood bottom divider pieces (M) together in pairs to make the 7/16-in. thick bottom dividers.
Use yellow carpenter’s glue and a disposable paint roller to help you apply the glue quickly. Apply glue to both bad faces of each lamination. Use a 3/4-in. thick piece of plywood on the top and on the bottom of the sandwich to distribute the clamp pressure evenly. Align the plywood edges as you clamp the pieces together. Allow the glue to dry overnight, then remove the clamps, separate the pieces, and cut them to their finished dimensions of 9-1/2 x 12-1/2 in.
Setting the Dado Width
A quality job requires precise layout and cutting of the dado grooves. Closely follow the dimensions given in Fig. A. To ensure that you don’t make any mistakes, double-check all of your layouts, and test your dado-cutting setups on scrap wood before making the final cuts. The test setups are important because “nominal” 3/4-in. plywood is a bit thinner than 3/4 in. (it’s about 23/32 in. thick). Likewise, the lower plywood dividers made by gluing together 1/4-in. pieces will be slightly less than 1/2 in. thick.
To ensure a smooth cut in plywood, we recommend a stacking-type dado blade. Use the shims provided for an exact fit. You’ll know it’s right when the plywood pieces go into the dadoes easily and without any play.
Cutting the Parts and Making Dadoes
When cutting the pieces to size, use a sharp, high-quality, smooth-cutting blade. We recommend a 7-1/4 in. blade with 40 cutting teeth and a 10-in. blade with 60 cutting teeth. Cut all the pieces A through M to the dimensions given in the Cutting List on p. 81.
Lay out and cut the dadoes for the dividers (K and M) onto the shelves and bottom (H and G) as shown in Fig. A. To reduce the tear-out caused by the dado blade, you can make a shallow dado cut before the final 1/4-in. deep dado cut.
 Reader's Digest Cutting the parts and making dadoes. |
Attaching the Solid Edge Pieces
Glue and attach the edge strips (C and D) to the front edges of the plywood shelves and dividers (G, H, K and M). The two edge strips (C) that remain will be attached to the sides later. Use masking tape to hold the edge strips in place as the glue dries.
 Reader's Digest Attaching the solid edge pieces. |
