Refinish old cabinet.

**Wood Worm** · 12th February 2008, 05:56 PM

I was cleaning out the junk from my father's garage and ws going to throw an old rickety storage cabinet out. It was caked in all sorts of muck and grease and looked like it was made of ply. My wife suggested that I might be able to use it to store tools. I reluctantly put it in the back of the ute and brought it home.

It sat under the verandah for weeks until I finally decided to clean it to see if it was worth saving. After hours of scraping and cleaning, i discovered that it wasn't ply and that it was well made. The carcase was dovetailed together and all of the shelves and partitions were checked in.

I'm now in the process of sanding the whole cabinet back. I don't intend to repair the damage done to it. A couple of the shelves are split and there are bad grease stains on the top and on the first couple of shelves. Some of the joints hIt has had a hard life in a workshop so I'll keep its history. I'll merely put a new finish on it to extend its life.

I intend to make boxes for storage to fit into each of the alcoves, using different techniques. This will give me practice at my various methods of jointing (which I need). Only the face of the box will be seen so the casual observer won't notice.

**RufflyRustic** · 13th February 2008, 09:37 AM

Hi Wood Worm,

What a beautiful piece!

I'm glad you are going to restore it just a little, enough to be able to use it.

Great idea building drawers/boxes for it too, maybe just not every partition as I reckon you might find a small open shelf very useful.

Cheers
Wendy

**astrid** · 13th February 2008, 12:52 PM

From one dedicated recycler to another

Astrid

**Wood Worm** · 13th February 2008, 06:41 PM

Just noticed that every shelf, including the bottom, has a drop from front to back of about 1cm. Makes me wonder what it was originally designed for. The top is level so it is not the cabinet out of plumb.

**rhancock** · 13th February 2008, 10:15 PM

I thought it might be a shop cabinet of some sort. Nice piece in any case.

**Wood Worm** · 2nd March 2008, 06:06 PM

I've finished cleaning the cabinet and coated it with clear estapol, to give a durable finish, and it came up better than I thought it would. Almost too good for the tools.

**RufflyRustic** · 3rd March 2008, 10:29 AM

Very Nicely Finished! While it may be too good for the tools, it's just right for the shed. Why shouldn't you have a decent piece in there that has such great memories attached to it.

cheers
Wendy

**artme** · 6th March 2008, 05:37 PM

That looks tremendous!

In the words of Jack Gibson "Played strong, done fine."

**old_picker** · 6th March 2008, 06:26 PM

Originally Posted by Wood Worm

Just noticed that every shelf, including the bottom, has a drop from front to back of about 1cm. Makes me wonder what it was originally designed for. The top is level so it is not the cabinet out of plumb.

records??

**Wood Worm** · 6th March 2008, 07:27 PM

The height of the shelves would only allow singles. Probably more for stationery or even sorting mail?

Looking at it again, I was wondering if it was set as a project for an apprentice to practice joints. One side has a dress strip (about 5mm) down its front edge to make it level with the other side. It is so well done that you have to look hard to notice it.

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