Thread: WIP. It's a cabinet. Or two. I think?

I don't know what to call these things. I guess a small cabinet and a sideboard of some kind?

The unofficial name is 'dovetail overload' since nearly all of it is dovetailed in some form or another.

Anyway...

First pic is the raised panel doors I made. Nothing flashy, but they work and look ok. I might still remake them since I am not 100% happy with them. Loose tenons to hold them together, panels pinned in place to hold them centre.

Second pic is a pic of some of the drawers. The large drawer is for records, the other two for other things.

Deliberately got the grain to flow across the entire face, and after fitting some of the drawers in the last few days, it seems that I got the grain matched very nicely.

Third pic is that larger drawer. Machine cut dovetails, zero play, not too tight. I don't own a dovetail jig of any kind. That might be worth explaining... later...

Fourth pic is the carcass halfway through slapping it all together. I now wish I had paid more attention to things, but it's fairly close. Overall it's 1350mm long. Slightly off square, but I can't work out exactly where since it all measures up perfect.

The other bit is 500mm wide, and has the doors in it. That's bang on perfect it is. Really happy with it, save the doors are not as perfect as the carcass...

Fifth pic is a couple of the knobs I tunred up for the silly thing. I am no great turning guru, but I think the knobs will work fine. Not all identical, but fairly close.


It's all cherry, finish will be oil (local oil, some flower based stuff. Dries fast, little smell, food additive) with water based poly wiped on over the top. Solid drawer bottoms, shiplapped back, etc, etc. I would like to use ply, but the shiplap for the back will use up all the thin bits of cherry left over and looks interesting.


Very few goofs so far. The back pieces don't quite match all the front pieces. Only a mm here and there, but enough to be annoying. A little plane work (and skinned knuckles) fixes it, but something to pay attention to in the future. One of the drawers is about 0.5mm too narrow, giving it a larger gap than I would like. Not sure how to cure it without making it look tacky. Maybe make them all match and slip in some slippery tape to help it all slide nicely. Not sure if that's kosher, but it's not supposed to be comepletely old school, just so long as it works well.

Critiques welcome, but I may not listen very well.


So that's about it for now. Should have some better pics of it finished in a week or three.


Oh yes, if you have the chance to use cherry, do it. Wonderful stuff to work with. Not too hard, not too soft, good colour, tight grain, finishes slicker than snot and plenty interesting all in the bargain. Cheap enough too.