overall idea:
I have made some pretty standard cabinets for my wife's office (plywood, face frame, drawer slides, etc.) as practical storage once her job shifted home-based at the beginning of the pandemic. It was meant to be quick and practical.
for my office however, I was not interested in that. I find the wide face frames to be fine for a kitchen but clunky in furniture. So i settled on a hybrid approach to add a furniture look but some of the time saving advantages of cabinet construction. I wanted maximum storage so the cabinet is a full 8 feet tall with a 4 foot upper and lower section.
Wood Choice:
I really like Ash, the ruggedness of oak, a slightly less coarse grain but a brightness in color. Ash plywood was super expensive and i have a bandsaw and small drum sander so i decided on veneering, at least for the sides of the cabinet. I ended up only edge banding the shelves.
Veneering:
The board I choose would require two seams for a ~12 inch deep cabinet.
-so i edge banded all 4 edges of the sides and then veneered the faces
-my vac bag wasn't big enough to handle the 4' so i had plywood cauls and a ton of clamps
-the veneer was thick enough that i could hand plane and scrape to clean it up
Joinery:
I used my dado stack to cut dados that show thru on the finished product. they came out nice and clean.
-i saw a tip on youtube on sizing the stack, the guy cut dados in a scrap for all the combos (2 blades, 2 blades plus a chipper, plus two chippers, etc)
-he did this will all the main parts of the stack, then you have a real world size example that you can add the smaller spacers to in order to achieve thicknesses
- Door Joinery was a miter that has a floating tenon in it. This matches the miter at the base and then decorative element in the TV section
-one place i saved time is by using overlay doors and drawers - i never do this, i love fitting doors and drawers
Hardware:
-As i mentioned i was trying a hybrid project so i used mortise-less hinges (see above) and ball bearing drawer slides
-the knobs are cast iron with a rustic texture
>if I dont make the knobs, I tend to find something cast iron online, i love the heft and feel
-i had to paint the hinges matte black to match
-the glass was ordered online and is a european river glass - also a rustic texture and haziness
I have made some pretty standard cabinets for my wife's office (plywood, face frame, drawer slides, etc.) as practical storage once her job shifted home-based at the beginning of the pandemic. It was meant to be quick and practical.
for my office however, I was not interested in that. I find the wide face frames to be fine for a kitchen but clunky in furniture. So i settled on a hybrid approach to add a furniture look but some of the time saving advantages of cabinet construction. I wanted maximum storage so the cabinet is a full 8 feet tall with a 4 foot upper and lower section.
Wood Choice:
I really like Ash, the ruggedness of oak, a slightly less coarse grain but a brightness in color. Ash plywood was super expensive and i have a bandsaw and small drum sander so i decided on veneering, at least for the sides of the cabinet. I ended up only edge banding the shelves.
Veneering:
The board I choose would require two seams for a ~12 inch deep cabinet.
-so i edge banded all 4 edges of the sides and then veneered the faces
-my vac bag wasn't big enough to handle the 4' so i had plywood cauls and a ton of clamps
-the veneer was thick enough that i could hand plane and scrape to clean it up
Joinery:
I used my dado stack to cut dados that show thru on the finished product. they came out nice and clean.
-i saw a tip on youtube on sizing the stack, the guy cut dados in a scrap for all the combos (2 blades, 2 blades plus a chipper, plus two chippers, etc)
-he did this will all the main parts of the stack, then you have a real world size example that you can add the smaller spacers to in order to achieve thicknesses
- Door Joinery was a miter that has a floating tenon in it. This matches the miter at the base and then decorative element in the TV section
-one place i saved time is by using overlay doors and drawers - i never do this, i love fitting doors and drawers
Hardware:
-As i mentioned i was trying a hybrid project so i used mortise-less hinges (see above) and ball bearing drawer slides
-the knobs are cast iron with a rustic texture
>if I dont make the knobs, I tend to find something cast iron online, i love the heft and feel
-i had to paint the hinges matte black to match
-the glass was ordered online and is a european river glass - also a rustic texture and haziness
