Morley Wall Cabinet

Philip Morley

A functional piece of furniture that displays artwork tastefully and yet is also a beautiful and compelling work in its own right. This cabinet is handcrafted of ash with the door and back panel made from figured pear. As with all of my furniture, traditional joinery techniques are utilized throughout the piece.

17 lessons

360 min

$99.00

Here's what you'll learn how to build:

Here's what we'll cover:

Intro and Case Parts

Welcome to the Morley Wall Cabinet Build!! This is one of my signature pieces that was recently on the front cover of Fine Woodworking. I am really excited to be able to offer it as a class. In this video, we will do an overview of the cabinet and get into picking out your case parts. […]
Case Sides

We will now create our sides for the wall cabinet. in this video, we will make the poplar core and use the saw kerf method to bend the sides onto our form. We will also make the 1/8″ veneers for the sides. We will also take our sides to final width and apply our face […]
Dowel Joinery

We will now begin laying out our dowel joinery using our spacers and drill-guide blocks. It is very important to watch the video and understand the layout and the importance of marking the blocks clearly. We will start with drilling the dowel holes in the top and bottom, using the correct guide blocks. You will […]
Dividers and Shelf

With the case dry fit, we can now focus on cutting fixed shelf and drawer/door dividers to final width and then sneak up on the final length working off of the actual cabinet (NOT the drawing). With the parts fitted snuggly inside the case, you can now continue drilling the dowel holes in the drawer […]
Edge Profiles and Pre-Finish Case

Now that the dry fit looks good, we can edge profile and final sand our parts. The top and bottom will get a nice finger nail edge on the sides and front at the router table. Then we will finish out all the edges with A LOT of sanding. Once the edges are sanded to […]
Glue-Up Case and Rabbet Back

You are ready to glue up the carcass. As with any glue-up, you need to be methodical and have a clear plan. I like to glue the dowels in first to all the verticals. I will use my calipers to double check the length of the dowels to their corresponding hole to make sure that […]
Door and Drawer Parts

Now we are ready for picking out and roughing out door and drawer parts. Be sure to refer to the drawings provided. Once the parts have had a chance to sit, we will take them to their final dimensions. Note that the top and bottom rail are still long at this point and in the […]
Door Joinery

With our stiles cut to final and our top and bottom rail cut to nominal size, we can begin laying out the joinery and cutting the mortises for the slip tenons. Once the mortises are cut, we can then shape the left stile by using the template and flush trim bit.
Door Panel

We will now make the door panel that is constructed out of plywood core with shop sawn veneer. Ideally this would be 1/4″ thick plywood with 1/8″ veneer (front and back), giving a finished 1/2″ panel. As you will notice in the video, I had to go a bit of a different route. With this […]
Door Grooves, Loose Tenons, and Final Size

We will now begin laying out and cutting grooves in the stiles and rails. We will also make our tenon stock using 3/16″ round over bit at the router table. With our loose tenons cut to the appropriate size, we can start doing a dry fit of the left side of the door. With the […]
Panel Details and Door Glue-Up

We can now measure the opening with the door stiles and rails dry fit to figure out our panel size. Once we have determined the size, we can cut our panel to final size. We will use the curved template to create the curved side of the panel and cut it using the band saw […]
Door Fitting and Adding Hinges

Carefully fit the door to the opening and make sure you have a nice consistent reveal before you start installing the hinges. Now we can do our final sanding on the door and install the hinges using a 1/2″ diameter pattern bit in the router and a simple hinge jig. It is a good idea […]
Dovetail Drawers

Now we can focus on making the dovetail drawers. First, you need to take the stock down to final thickness and width. Next, you can take it down to final length measuring off of the actual cabinet for these measurements. With the parts to their final length, we will lay out our dovetails. To create […]
Drawer Fit and Finish

In this segment, we will carefully sneak up on the drawer fit for the cabinets. I do this by simply hand planing and checking as I go (Take your time with this stage! You do not want a sloppily fitted drawer!) The outer drawers we will scribe the curve onto the outer drawer side and […]
Cabinet Back and French Cleat

We are making the ship-lap back panel in this segment. For this, I chose some beautiful pear wood. Once the parts are to their final width and thickness, we will rabbet them at the router table using a rabbeting bit. Now we can take it to the final length measuring off of the actual cabinet. […]
Custom Pulls

To make the pulls for the cabinet, we will be using a 3/4″ diameter forstner bit on the drill press and a 3/8″ brad point bit to attach the dowels that will connect the pulls to the cabinet. There are a lot of little steps involved in making these pulls. It is important that you […]
Project Jigs

In this video, we will walk through the jigs you will need to create the cabinet. We will go over each jig in depth so that you can create them in your shop. It is a good idea to do this before you start on anything else on the cabinet to get it out of […]

What will I receive?

Detailed cut list and plans including a PDF and a SketchUp file (Metric and Imperial).
Hours of detailed video instruction showing every step of the Morley Wall Cabinet build.
All videos and plans are digital and will be available for download upon purchase.

What will I learn?

Rip and flip to create beautiful straight grain and very stable panels.
Mortise and tenon joinery.
Dowel construction done right.
Make a simple dowel jig.
Frame and panel door.
Shiplap back.
Make your own shop-sawn veneer.
Smooth drawer construction without use of hardware.
Make your own wooden drawer pulls.
Install butt hinges.
How to cut dovetails-hybrid method.
Saw kerfing bending technique using vacuum bag
making and using of forms in conjunction with a vacuum bag
Edge profiling by hand
Using templates for patting routing.
Simple but elegant shellac/wax finish.
Sanding to perfection.
The importance of layout and reference faces.

What will I need?

General Tools:

Table Saw, Bandsaw, Jointer, Planer, Drill Press, Chop Saw, Vacuum Bag (optional)Drill, Random Orbit Sander, Plunge Router with fence, Router Table, Hand Drill, Festool Domino (DF-500)

Wood:

23 BF 8/4 Ash
9 BF 8/4 Poplar
2 BF 4/4 Pear Wood (For Shop Sawn Veneer Panels)
18” x 13” piece of ¼” Baltic Birch

Hardware:

Brusso hinges. https://www.brusso.com/cb-407-butt-hinge/
Brusso ball catch. https://www.brusso.com/bc-275-ball-catch/

Bits:

3/8” brad point drill bit for drilling dowel jigs https://amzn.to/3pZbpCP
3/8″ twist bit for drilling dowel holes https://amzn.to/3AEhF7Q
Rabbiting bit https://amzn.to/3yQLRwQ
3/8 up cut spiral route a bit. https://amzn.to/3uwnFxd
Fingernail Bit https://amzn.to/3Q5wA0A
3/8 x 1.5” dowel https://amzn.to/3nNQJfO
Drill stop https://amzn.to/3aoBBTd
1/4” up cut router bit https://amzn.to/3ap21UC
Slot cutting bit https://amzn.to/3pZqkN8
Template bit/pattern bit. https://amzn.to/3RpfM6k
Flush trim bit. https://amzn.to/3at4lds
3/16” R/O router bit. https://amzn.to/3Ph7hZq
1/2″ Core Box Router Bit https://amzn.to/3ADIPx2
7/16″ Brad Point Bit for ball catch https://amzn.to/3xa35nN
Countersink Bit https://amzn.to/3TshGV3

Stuff You Might Find Useful:

Low angle block plane
Dovetail Saw
#4 Smoothing Plane
Coping Saw
Marking knife
Sanding drum for pulls https://amzn.to/3qkTKWp
Sandpaper for drum https://amzn.to/3AEE70z
Marking Gauge
Card Scraper
Sled for Table Saw
Good sanding blocks (duroblocks, prepping weapon)
Double Sided Tape https://amzn.to/3KzPGuB
1/4 – 1/2″ Chisel
Gray scotch brite
I recommend a ¾” 3 tpi bandsaw blade
Gulf was for drawer slides https://amzn.to/3TvZEBh
¾” diameter forstner bit
Shellac https://amzn.to/3KF9Djq
Titebond Original
Purchase a CNC File here.

About Your Instructor:

Philip Morley was born in London, England. After a rough academic start, struggling with dyslexia, he found his true passion in trade school where he studied for four years to become a joiner under the City and Guilds program. Once graduated, Philip worked as joiner doing restoration work on various prestigious historical buildings in central London. After moving to the US, he studied with furniture designer Richard Chillcott in Ruskin, Florida for three years before moving to Texas where he apprenticed with Michael Colca for 7 years. He is now a contributing author to Fine Woodworking Magazine and has been published in Woodworker West and Woodskills Magazine. He has taught at Austin Community College, Marc Adams School of Woodworking and Austin School of Furniture and Design. Phil continues to build one-of-a-kind pieces in his small studio located on his property where he can be close to his family.

Morley Wall Cabinet

Here's what you'll learn how to build:

Here's what we'll cover:

Intro and Case Parts

Case Sides

Dowel Joinery

Dividers and Shelf

Edge Profiles and Pre-Finish Case

Glue-Up Case and Rabbet Back

Door and Drawer Parts

Door Joinery

Door Panel

Door Grooves, Loose Tenons, and Final Size

Panel Details and Door Glue-Up

Door Fitting and Adding Hinges

Dovetail Drawers

Drawer Fit and Finish

Cabinet Back and French Cleat

Custom Pulls

Project Jigs

What will I receive?

What will I learn?

What will I need?

Reviews:

About Your Instructor:

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