Silky oak antique collectors cabinet

**Dengue** · 12th March 2020, 03:55 PM

After 12 months of intermittent effort, this collectors cabinet is finally finished. Made mostly of Northern Silky Oak, the drawer fronts are all cut from a single 4” x 4” post, resawn into 16mm thick quartersawn boards to get the medullary rays to be highlighted, and arranged to get the grain flowing together across the boards as much as possible.

The 10 drawers are lined with double woollen felt, and the knobs are polished solid brass.

The cabinet measures 455H x 430W x250D. The drawer sides amd runners are Tasmanian Oak (hardwood). Each drawer is 400W x 45H x 230D

There are small gaps between each drawer front, and between each drawer and the carcase sides to allow for expansion and contraction with seasonal variation of moisture in the air.

The cabinet and drawers are finished with 2 coats of FW Tung Oil which took a week to dry.

Many thanks to all the Forum members who contributed ideas and suggestions on how to build this, my first collectors cabinet, and who helped me overcome some difficult problems and decisions with it e.g., best timbers for runners, expansion gap sizes, tung oil finishes etc

I have put this thread in the box making section, because in reality this is just an item consisting of 11 simple open ended boxes stacked together

P1020572 Large.jpg P1020589 Large.jpg P1020592 Large.JPG

**double.d** · 12th March 2020, 04:39 PM

That is a beautiful piece, well done.

**AlexS** · 12th March 2020, 05:37 PM

Great result Joe. You've really made the most of the grain on the drawer fronts. There's no alternative to leaving a little space between the drawers. If you don't they'll jam.

**lyricnz** · 12th March 2020, 05:40 PM

Nice!

**Dengue** · 12th March 2020, 06:01 PM

There's no alternative to leaving a little space between the drawers. If you don't they'll jam.

Thanks Alex, I was actually aiming for a piston fit, and made the rear of the drawers lower than the other 3 sides, but found the drawers in the centre all jammed tight overnight. The 455mm high vertical sides of the carcase actually bowed inwards slightly with change in moisture in the air. I was expecting the timber expansion to be vertical across the grain of the drawer fronts, and left a gap of 0.4mm which seems to work well for the 45mm wide drawer fronts

**Chief Tiff** · 12th March 2020, 08:10 PM

I’m really impressed with the way you arranged the drawer fronts to get the grain flowing so well across them.

**Dengue** · 12th March 2020, 08:14 PM

Thanks Chief, but there is a bit of luck involved too, especially when you are trying to bookmatch the outer surfaces of boards that were 32mm apart in the original 4x4 post. The grain can change a lot inside that width. Turned out better than I thought

**KeithP** · 12th March 2020, 10:29 PM

In a word, FANTASTIC.

Regards
Keith

**John.G** · 12th March 2020, 11:13 PM

Beautiful work mate. I'm stealing photos of this one for my collection.

**Dengue** · 12th March 2020, 11:27 PM

You are most welcome to do that, John

**homey** · 12th March 2020, 11:43 PM

Hi Joe,

Wow! That is really beautiful work. Tough enough to get one drawer to work well but TEN! It is a spectacular result and a great credit to you. I can see that the rest of us are going to have to pull our socks up! I think you said you were building this for someone else - it would be very hard to let it go.

Congratulations,

Brian

**Dengue** · 12th March 2020, 11:49 PM

Thanks for your initial encouragement and support, Brian, you definitely helped make it happen.Yes, I made it for a friend who used to work for me back in the 1980s, and who has always collected little antiques and furniture etc. It will be put to good use.

I was talking to an Engineer with a Ph.D I used to work with and asked him how he felt about his thesis after working on it for 5 years. He told me that by the end of it all, he just wanted to drive past the Uni and throw it in to his Supervisor, he was sick of it.

There were times over the past 12 months when I felt the same

if I damaged one drawer front in any way, then I would have lost a big part of the beauty of the cabinet. No pressure !

**China** · 13th March 2020, 12:44 AM

Really nice, the signs of true craftsman, I am quite partial to Silky Oak 12 months is pretty good, I am making a Tasi Blackwood occasional table for a mate as wedding present
(Oh and by the way he got married in 1985)

**Dengue** · 13th March 2020, 05:27 AM

(Oh and by the way he got married in 1985)

Classic !!

**Alkahestic** · 13th March 2020, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by China

(Oh and by the way he got married in 1985)

Sounds on time, have it done by 2025 and you can hand it over as the surprise 40th anniversary present!

Dengy- the grain pattern on the drawers is absolutely fabulous.

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