The wife has been fixing up the kitchen. The latest project involved buying an unfinished cabinet and counter top. Of course I got tasked with putting it together. I got the top cut and mounted without any trouble. Then there was this thing called an endcap kit. It consists of spacer boards on the sides and back. Once you have them glued and nailed in place you apply a thin L shaped sheet to make the sides match the top. It sticks on with heat activated glue (you use an iron). It is made slightly oversize so when it was all stuck in place I needed to cut it down to size.
The instructions said to either cut it or sand it. I went and got a utility knife. It wouldnt even go through the stuff so I opened it up and put in a new blade. It still would only cut with a lot of pressure. I was slowly making a cut and thinking about how I had to keep my right thumb away from the cutting area (Im right handed). About 30 seconds later the knife came flying out of the cut and gouged a big hunk out of my left thumb. Ouch. Time out to apply two band-aids. The wife decided to sand it by hand. That seemed crazy to me so I went and got the power sander. The problem with it is that the sharp top edge kept cutting the sandpaper. I was forced to quit using that. Kathy kept hand sanding. I went to look at various tools and saw my coping saw. Very thin blade held at both ends. Seemed like a good idea. About one minute later I had a big gouge taken out of the side of the cabinet. It seems the teeth were just too coarse. Besides the teeth, the other problem was the back and forth motion. It was making the side laminate pull right away from the glue. The wife informed me that she no longer wanted my help. (At least that seemed to be the gist of all the screaming and pointing at the damage I had done so far.) What I needed was either some type of file or maybe a two handed pull knife like you use to skin logs for a log building. But of course! A khuk has a bend in the middle and could be used with both hands.
The wife was a little skeptical when I told her that what I really needed was a bigger knife. She seemed to think I would just make a bigger hole in the cabinet or a bigger hole in myself. I went and sorted through the khuks and decided my 19 inch Gelbu Special was just the ticket. It just seemed like it was about the right size and it is very sharp. I went and got a chair so I could sit down next to the edge of the cabinet. It worked! One hand on the handle and one behind the tip and pull through the edging. The two hands gave me control. I originally thought the bend point of the edge would be my cutting point but I guess it wasnt as sharp there. I ended up working it around various points of the edge. The stuff was very hard but I could slowly pull the knife right along the edge. The wife remained a skeptic to the end but was eventually forced to concede that the knife worked like it was custom made for the job. Nepal Ho!
The instructions said to either cut it or sand it. I went and got a utility knife. It wouldnt even go through the stuff so I opened it up and put in a new blade. It still would only cut with a lot of pressure. I was slowly making a cut and thinking about how I had to keep my right thumb away from the cutting area (Im right handed). About 30 seconds later the knife came flying out of the cut and gouged a big hunk out of my left thumb. Ouch. Time out to apply two band-aids. The wife decided to sand it by hand. That seemed crazy to me so I went and got the power sander. The problem with it is that the sharp top edge kept cutting the sandpaper. I was forced to quit using that. Kathy kept hand sanding. I went to look at various tools and saw my coping saw. Very thin blade held at both ends. Seemed like a good idea. About one minute later I had a big gouge taken out of the side of the cabinet. It seems the teeth were just too coarse. Besides the teeth, the other problem was the back and forth motion. It was making the side laminate pull right away from the glue. The wife informed me that she no longer wanted my help. (At least that seemed to be the gist of all the screaming and pointing at the damage I had done so far.) What I needed was either some type of file or maybe a two handed pull knife like you use to skin logs for a log building. But of course! A khuk has a bend in the middle and could be used with both hands.
The wife was a little skeptical when I told her that what I really needed was a bigger knife. She seemed to think I would just make a bigger hole in the cabinet or a bigger hole in myself. I went and sorted through the khuks and decided my 19 inch Gelbu Special was just the ticket. It just seemed like it was about the right size and it is very sharp. I went and got a chair so I could sit down next to the edge of the cabinet. It worked! One hand on the handle and one behind the tip and pull through the edging. The two hands gave me control. I originally thought the bend point of the edge would be my cutting point but I guess it wasnt as sharp there. I ended up working it around various points of the edge. The stuff was very hard but I could slowly pull the knife right along the edge. The wife remained a skeptic to the end but was eventually forced to concede that the knife worked like it was custom made for the job. Nepal Ho!
