The Hokkaido Sideboard in issue 274 begins with the top and bottom of the case, which contain a series of dadoes and a long groove to house the joinery for the other case pieces. While these joints aren’t anything too special, they do need to be made identically on the top and bottom for the case to come together correctly. To do that, I used a router, a 1⁄4" straight bit, and an edge guide, along with a guide bushing and a few templates for the dadoes.
Back Groove. I began the joinery with the grooves that will accept the back panel assembly (Figure 1a). An edge guide will keep the router in place — after attaching it at the right location for your router base, all you need to do is know where to start and where to stop. After that, simply clean up the corners with a chisel.
Ends & Dividers. To rout the dadoes for the case ends and dividers, I used the patterns you see below to create a pair of templates. You’ll notice that the patterns here are oversized. I used a 1⁄2" guide bushing with a 1⁄4" straight bit and sized accordingly; if you use a different size bushing, be sure to account for the differences.
After making the templates and sticking them down to the top or bottom with double-sided tape, it was time to rout (Figure 2a). I used the same straight bit here, creating each joint in two passes. Once that was done, I peeled off the templates and squared the corners to complete the joint.
