And speaking of firsts…

“There’s always a first time” is one of those old sayings that applies to everything, especially woodworking.

After working with wood and tools for as many decades as we all have, it always seems to come as a surprise when a task arises that we haven’t done before. I’ve talked about this in earlier blogs, but the latest instance was a drill press cabinet project I recently completed for a how-to article.

The idea of the cabinet was straightforward enough: A basic unit with storage, folding wings, a door and drawer, plus an internal pullout shelf. The whole thing is sized to utilize a mobile base, essentially converting a benchtop drill press into a rolling floor model.

But what I’d never done before was build inset European-style doors. I’ve assembled cabinets like that in the past, installed them, moved them, refinished them, replaced hardware, etc. But never have I ever actually built one from scratch.

The learning process was easy – everything you already know about making cabinets comes into play – but there was a small learning curve on installing Euro hinges, something I found to be a lot of fun. And why not? It was something I was doing for the first time, I was using new tools and processes, and I was learning something new. It’s unfortunate that this doesn’t happen more often at my age.