Stained the other side of the bar towers and stained the first side to the wine rack dividers and am letting those dry. I'm hoping it will be dry enough to flip tonight before bed to stain the other side of the wine rack dividers. Once it has dried I can start nailing the wine rack holders to the boards. One step closer to final assembly.
Once I stained the sides I went to work on the toe kick. I was going to build it entirely out of 2x4s but I decided I will use some of my left over 3/4" MDF for the front and make the sides of 2x4s.
I went out to the garage to cut the 2x4 into 9" pieces and I quickly learned that the miter saw, if left in the cold, will cause the trigger to stick. This will leave it in the on position until the strength of the switch can force itself in the on position. The saw is thawing in the kitchen.
Pocket Holes
While the saw is thawing I decided to drill the pocket holes into the top and bottom parts of the towers.
I love pocket holes. I will go out of my way to use pocket holes and even make building decisions to accomodate pocket holes. They are strong, versatile, durable and I paid 40 bucks for a jig.
Their are 2 large makers of the pocket hole jig, Kreg and Wolfcraft. Kreg is one of th leaders in pocket hole jig and carpentry tools. With that leadership comes a price. Wolfcraft also makes the pocket hole jig. I purchased the Wolfcraft jig after doing some lengthy research. My results were that Wolfcraft makes a quality product and also sells their jig in a kit that included: jig, special drill bit, stopper, driver bit and a handful of screws and plugs. The whole kit cost 40 bucks. The cheapest Kreg kit was 60. That included everything except the screws but included a clamp. I could also buy everything ala carte for Kreg for the same price, but Wolfcraft comes with a case to hold everything. Mendards carries both and Lowes carries Kreg in their stores. You can buy all of Kreg stuff from the Lowes website. I'm starting to see them show up at Home Depot now too. On another side note. I was at Menards the other day getting the veneer banding and stopped by the pocket jig ailse, Kreg now has a kit including everything the Wolfcraft kit. Infact, it is in an identical case, just with the Kreg blue instead of the Wolfcraft green.
The jig and bit lets you drill an hole on an angle allowing the screw to have a tight grip on the opposing board, but remain hidden. I applied 1 in each corner of the top and bottom board. These pocket holes will be facing the very top and the very bottom of the cabinet so that you won't be able to see it.
