Cabinetry Hack Complete (almost)

After several delays, I finally finished up the job of hiding the ductwork that's part of my active air recirculation system. 

As you may remember, I installed a Panasonic Whisper Fan in the kitchen/dining area to move warm air by the wood stove into the rooms on the other side of the house.  The ductwork took away a small corner of the master bedroom. I decided to hide it by enclosing it in a little cabinet that can be a place for a plant or a handbag or books, whatever.

Making the cabinet was a challenge to my meager finish carpentry skills but it all came out okay.  One thing I ran into was trying to make a mitered corner on a piece of wood that was too large to cross-cut on my table saw.  I used a hand-held circular saw but that didn't do a great job, just good enough.

I got a chance to use my new Makita belt sander, though.  This was handy for planing down the top and sides that were constructed of pine boards glued together.  It also served to round the edges of the top nicely.

It took me a while to get the hang of using the belt sander in a way that didn't leave grooves in the soft pine. A slow and slight back and forth motion, perpendicular to the direction of belt worked best.

The picture reveals that I still have work to do with getting trim installed around the closet door frame.  And the vent box also needs a few coats of polyurethane before I can really call it done.

handyman