Cherry cabinet w/ moldings

[bluedawg76]

So here's the art cabinet I've been working on -finally finished. It was a long time in the making (~10 months) due to not enough shop time. The cabinet is mostly cherry except the shelves (sorry forgot to photo) which are maple and the back is ship-lapped poplar (no photo either but will if interested). Lots of hand tool work in this one -moldings, sliding DTs for the shelf, frame and panel doors, etc. The finish is padded on shellac, rubbed out w/ steel wool and waxed.

​

​

​

Since I always seem to forget to take WIP photos, I figured I'd include a quick how-to for making moldings. I'd highly recommend Matt Bickford's book Mouldings in Practice for anyone interested in this process.
First here are the tools I used -skew rabbet plane, 1/2" round, 1/4" hollow, scraper. The rabbet and round are from ebay -each needed some work; the hollow is from LV -I don't care for it much so I wouldn't recommend it, but since I had it, I used it.

​

Here's a blank (pine)-Note the lines are scribed w/ a gauge and indicate the stops for the rabbets. The rabbets are critical in the process b/c 1) it allows fast stock removal and 2) defines the placement of the coves and roundovers. Note that no fence is needed for the rabbet -just fingers; not too hard, just takes some practice. Once the rabbet wall is defined, it's quick work.

​

​

After the rabbet plane has done it's job, now on to the hollow and round. The ledges of the bottom rabbet guide the round to make the cove. The chamfer helps guide the hollow to make the roundover. The additional rabbet will remain as a fillet.

​

Now standing up the molding, this was the process for making the bottom ledge on the cabinet. A similar process was used to make the top moldings as well as shape the feet. The cool thing about this method is that you can make number of distinct moldings w/ just a few tools.

Thanks for looking!
Sam
​

 

[CrealBilly]

So here's the art cabinet I've been working on -finally finished. It was a long time in the making (~10 months) due to not enough shop time. The cabinet is mostly cherry except the shelves (sorry forgot to photo) which are maple and the back is ship-lapped poplar (no photo either but will if interested). Lots of hand tool work in this one -moldings, sliding DTs for the shelf, frame and panel doors, etc. The finish is padded on shellac, rubbed out w/ steel wool and waxed.

​

​

​

Since I always seem to forget to take WIP photos, I figured I'd include a quick how-to for making moldings. I'd highly recommend Matt Bickford's book Mouldings in Practice for anyone interested in this process.
First here are the tools I used -skew rabbet plane, 1/2" round, 1/4" hollow, scraper. The rabbet and round are from ebay -each needed some work; the hollow is from LV -I don't care for it much so I wouldn't recommend it, but since I had it, I used it.

​

Here's a blank (pine)-Note the lines are scribed w/ a gauge and indicate the stops for the rabbets. The rabbets are critical in the process b/c 1) it allows fast stock removal and 2) defines the placement of the coves and roundovers. Note that no fence is needed for the rabbet -just fingers; not too hard, just takes some practice. Once the rabbet wall is defined, it's quick work.

​

​

After the rabbet plane has done it's job, now on to the hollow and round. The ledges of the bottom rabbet guide the round to make the cove. The chamfer helps guide the hollow to make the roundover. The additional rabbet will remain as a fillet.

​

Now standing up the molding, this was the process for making the bottom ledge on the cabinet. A similar process was used to make the top moldings as well as shape the feet. The cool thing about this method is that you can make number of distinct moldings w/ just a few tools.

Thanks for looking!
Sam
​

Man thats nice

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke

 

[Stuart Kent]

that is very nice work indeed. all that hand planing takes me back to my apprenticeship - it is a great way to learn (although I have to admit I am very partial to my shapers these days). Congratulations on a job well done! I would like to see the inside.

by the way, do you mind explaining what you mean by 'art' cabinet?

thanks for sharing.

 

[bluedawg76]

that is very nice work indeed. all that hand planing takes me back to my apprenticeship - it is a great way to learn (although I have to admit I am very partial to my shapers these days). Congratulations on a job well done! I would like to see the inside.

by the way, do you mind explaining what you mean by 'art' cabinet?


thanks for sharing.

thanks for the kind remarks. It will house my (7yo) daughter's ever expanding arts and craft supplies. I try to post some more photos later today.

 

[Stuart Kent]

got it, thanks. I look forward to seeing the shots you post

 

[DaveT]

Very nice cabinet. I like the feet details

 

[Jeff]

That's really nicely done, Sam. I like the arched f&p doors with the knife hinges. The moulding description detail is a good one-lots of planning and attention to detail. There's no instant gratification in that work. Kudos to you for doing such an heirloom for your daughter!

 

[MarkE]

Beautiful piece.

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

Looks great. I have never used knife hinges before. Did the hinge installation give you any trouble?

 

[scsmith42]

Sweet!


Scott

 

[bluedawg76]

Here's photo of the inside maple shelves. (Note that the top isn't curved -it's just a camera effect). You can see the poplar back as well.

The knife hinges require some careful measurements b/c of the strict tolerance for the fit -the gap has to be equal to the spacers between hinges -no more, no less -and there's no adjusting after the fact. I built the doors slightly oversized and planed to fit. For the hinges, just mark and chisel out the mortises -not too bad, though in the future , i would do the mortises before the cabinet is assembled rather than after (just like the instructions say!)

​

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Very nice piece, Sam. I really like the grain in the door panels.

 

[redknife]

I agree with Bill, the door panel figure is really striking. The fit of the piece looks very precise and the moldings are great.Ten months is not slow for a piece of this quality in a part time shop, IMO.
great job.

 

[HBFlyer.com]

It's a work of art. Congrats on a job very well done.