At this point the question of hardware arises, because these doors must have hinges and some sort of a fastening. Hinges are of two main types-the kind that is fastened to the surface of both jamb and door, and the butt hinge. The butt hinge is a little more difficult to apply, but generally considered neater and more workmanlike.

By choice you would use all brass hardware, which is better made and never plagues you by getting rusty while you aren't looking. For real dire economy there are, of course, various grades of japanned iron hardware, which isn't as well made and doesn't look as well. For any cupboard that is going to be seen, brass hardware is incomparable in every way, unless you are aiming at one of those "olde quainte" effects, and want real or imitation wrought iron.

Surface hinges, in both brass and iron, come plain or fancy. "You pays your money and takes your choice." An excellently practical surface hinge, for strength, is either the long strap hinge, or the old Colonial angle hinge.

The butt hinge exposes only the pinions of its two plates, and the knobs (if any) of the butt that holds the pinions together, and on which the door swings. To set butt hinges, you must use a chisel. First you mark the height of the hinge plates on the edges of the door and of the jamb, exactly corresponding. Then you chip out a shallow indentation, as nearly as possible equal in depth to the thickness of the hinge plate. If you cut it too deep a few small pieces of thin cardboard may be put in under the hinge plate to level it up. The hinge is then put on, with the flat-head screws which are supplied with it, and the fun of building a hinged door (or two) is almost over. First of all, does the door fit? Does it open and close without coaxing, and without any cracks? Let's hope it does. If every stage of the work was done carefully, it will. All it needs now is some sort of a fastening. The simplest form is a turn-button, with a handle or a knob. The combination knob and spring latch is simple, easily applied, and neat, especially in brass. The latch pulls back on a spring, and, released, shoots the latch home-a simple device and the simplest thing imaginable to install. Or, if the door is slammed shut, the pressure pushes the latch open, to immediately snap home with the action of the spring behind it. Where there are two doors to a cupboard, it is virtually necessary to equip the door with one of those wretched little gadgets that holds it shut so that the door bearing the latch will have something stable to latch to. Sometimes a small hook and screw-eye are used in place of the gadget, and either one annoys us incredibly when we want to open both the doors in a hurry, but they serve a purpose.

Well-if you can build and fit one cupboard door successfully, you are out of the carpentry kindergarten, and in line for more daring exploits. Moreover, if you can build and fit one door, you can build and fit any cupboard door, because the technique is the same. There's the whole spread, of course, between a door that will just barely work, reluctantly and with coaxing, and the door that fits and works so accurately that you can hardly resist showing it to all your friends. Perhaps you can't resist. Then your friends will have to see it, test it and like it-and express awe at your wizardry.

But now, in case there's a danger you might think that carpentry lay vanquished at your feet, you could have a try at something a little more difficult than building a cupboard in a wall-recess, with the structure of the whole house to help hold it up. How about a standing cupboard-in fact, a piece of furniture? Here is a piece of carpentered artifice that must stand on its own, must have some of the strength associated with architecture-in short, must have structure.

The fitting of the doors presents no aspect in any way different from the few hours of clean fun we had fitting the doors to our built-in cupboard-but there is a frame to build, and it needs to be reasonably strong.

The framing of panels, as performed by carpenters and cabinetmakers is done with a mortise-and-tenon joint, which you or I aren't in any position to make, lacking both the tools and the skill. We will be wiser not to attempt even a mitered corner, which is difficult to cut true, and not very strong unless it is professionally made.

The simplest substitute for a cabinet-maker's panel frame is cut and nailed as shown, with plywood or masonite nailed to the inside, which not only fills the panel opening, but also provides a strong unit for the sides of the cabinet. 3/4"x 3" stock will make a strong frame, though the 2" width may be used for smaller and lighter cabinets. If, however, your cabinet or cupboard is as shallow as 8", or even 10", you will more likely use a clear pine board of the desired width.

Now your fabricated panel exposes its construction with an unsightly edge of the piece of masonite or plywood, so you cover this with a 3/4"x 2" side-strip (A-B), on which you are going to hang the door or doors. Meanwhile, your cupboard or cabinet has no top, back or floor-in other words, you would need a certain amount of imagination to call it a cupboard or cabinet at all.