Thread: Mid-century Modern sideboard build

Originally Posted by IanW

Good to see someone else has trouble with deadlines - I'm still going on the renovations that I estimated would take less than half the time I've spent so far. I'd forgotten how many miles of architraving there can be in a house, & how utterly tedious it is to sand & paint!

reminds one of a quote from Douglas Adams
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.."

Good looking unit you have there!!

About 45 yars ago my first wife insisted on making a sideboard at TAFE. I was roped in to help out. The result was pretty good
but in the long run the fact that veneered particle board was the choice for the carcass meant some structural prolems showed up.
Still, it was a good exercise and I learnt much from the making thereof.

Originally Posted by IanW

I've used recycled SO for a couple of pieces around my house & apart from the price being right, it was good to work with & has remained exceptionally stable. I think what I used is mostly Cardwellia, but can't be sure with older stuff, some of it could be old-growth Grevillea.

Most of it came from a couple of those old monster wardrobes that had been 'flat-packed', some from an old shop cabinet, and the rest from a couple of rather rough old bed-heads. Worst part of the job was cleaning off that thick stain/varnish that was liberally applied to most of it.

Cheers,

Yes, I believe that the vast majority of the silky oak that we see is Cardwellia sublimis from North Queensland, though I haven't bothered to formally identify it. I must send some to my wood technologist friend, John Ford, to confirm it.

These boards also apparently came from old wardrobes (so Flindersia, from whom I purchased them, tells me) but, fortunately the finish was simply shellac with maybe a little stain.

I am making the front panels from some superb wide, thin boards of Queensland Maple (also purchased from the appropriately named Flindersia). I purchased 3 such panels along with some other QM. The panels are old, maybe also recycled - not sure, but they had very consistent figure across them. As they were only 11 mm thick I needed to make a sub-frame for some strength and support - also from QM. 3 panels are an awkward number. The boards are wide enough to make it in two, but two hinged doors 350 high and nearly 700 wide would be pushing it for sustainability, especially with young adults! So, I decided to have the central panel sliding and the two side panels hinged. These photos show the back of the central panel with sub-frame and the UHMW polyethylene runners I designed for it.

Frame and top runner at back of central panel.JPG Sub-frame and the continuous UHMW poly top runner to fit inside the top Al channel
Frame and lower runners rear of central panel.JPGSub-frame and two UHMW poly lower runners to sit on the Al track.

I forgot to mention that the sub-frame is joined with Dominos at the corners and glued together and to the panel with Titebond. Next step is finishing this panel. I will use brown button shellac with a fine natural hair brush for the back of the panels and Hard Shellac French Polish (with a rubber) for the fronts. Then, on to the two side panels. Very slow progress as I double check everything and have to cart the doors 60 m to the house (where the sideboard is) from my workshop to amke sure it fits properly. I do not have any more of these panels so I cannot afford to make a mess of this.

Originally Posted by Xanthorrhoeas

....... I do not have any more of these panels so I cannot afford to make a mess of this.....

I hate being in that situation - the more nervous I am and the more I keep checking, the more likely I am to cut on the wrong side of a line,or something equally idiotic, and wreck that last piece of whatever it is I'm being sooo careful with!
Having a spare piece or two doesn't guarantee a mistake-free build, but it certainly makes me less nervous, but then I finish the job and I'm left with a lovely piece of X, and no idea what to do with it. So ya can't win....

Cheers,

Absolutely. I have managed to cut the door panels correctly - difficult because they are trapezoids - the top board of the cabinet bows up in the middle and the lower board bows down. However, I then sanded off my 'face' marks and proceeded to mark up the location of the subframe on the FRONT of one of them. To make it worse I thought I would be "smart" and use a marking knife instead of a pencil! Thankfully I marked lightly so I was able to sand the lines out and do it correctly on the rear of the panel.

BTW, in case anyone is wondering about why I used brown button shellac on the back and Hard Shellac on the front, it is because I needed a quick finish on the rear so I could move on to the French polishing and I never apply Hard Shellac with a brush since I do not to want risk ruining one of my expensive squirrel hair or badger hair brushes if the hard shellac were to set in them.

Originally Posted by Xanthorrhoeas

.... I do not to want risk ruining one of my expensive squirrel hair or badger hair brushes if the hard shellac were to set in them.

Where did you get the squirrel/badger hair brushes from?

I have purchased them from these people Brushes in the past, though I can't see any Badger hair in their list at the moment - it is a much better brush and much more expensive. As the squirrel hair brush ages it tends to leave some fine hairs, but they can be wiped out when wet or sanded out later when you rub the surface down between coats.

The Woodworks Book and Tool Co has the Badger Hair brushes - same brand that I use http://www.thewoodworks.com.au/shop/...er-hair-detail

...

OK, here is the finished product. The only thing still needed is some tiny ball catches (probably around 6 mm diam) to keep the hinged doors closed. I tried magnetic catches but they foul the sub-frame of the sliding door. Anyone know where to find such ball catches - preferably chrome balls but brass would do at a pinch?

These photos are a bit dark but I didn't have the time to get out my lights - today was D (for delivery) day.

Sideboard front 1.jpg From the front. The bow in the top board is quite noticeable, but I don't think it ruins the appearance - just makes it interesting? Just one of the things to deal with when using recycled timber. In hindsight I should have simply infilled the original dadoes in the top and bottom boards and fitted a new central vertical with sliding dovetails to pull those boards flat - but I didn't even think of it at the time!

Sideboard side door construction.jpg The sub-frame on the side doors has to be narrower than the width of the doors because the central sliding door fits behind. I made the sliding door a generous width - didn't like to waste too much of the board!

Sideboard end-on 2.jpg From the end. As can be seen, the angle on the front and back of the legs is a bit quirky. That 'lightens' up the piece in appearance. It looks a bit unstable but it isn't.

The sideboard is now in place under her wall-mounted TV and with room for a birthday record turntable and amplifier on top. My daughter did well this birthday, even if it was a bit late!

Well, looks 'modern' enough for me, David, but then I came from the middle of the last century..

Just one comment, I think you said you glued the sub-frame to the door panels - only along the long grain, I hope? Screwing it on would've been my preferred method of attachment, but with 11mm thick panels, I guess you had too little for the screws to safely bite into. At least Maple is reputed to be amongst the more stable woods, & that has been my experience to date, so there's a very good chance your doors will stay flat..

Trouble with 'one-offs' is I often think of the things I might've done better after it's built. I think you told me you keep a log of your projects, so at least you have something to refer to if you have to make another for some reason. I keep a workbook, too, but being the slacker I am, I often forget to make a note of any changes I make to the original sketch plan,which can leave me head-scratching if I need to make another. Which is precisely what happened with those Jarrah bedside-tables that I made for my son & DIL earlier this year.

Cheers,

I know what you mean, I grew up with furniture like that - but it is definitely not my favourite style. I like early Australian furniture (brown furniture it is called now and very out of favour, although much we have is actually golden Australian timbers). However, the youngsters like mid-century-modern so that is what I make for them. Unlike the strong tradition in the USA I do not usually like to make 'reproductions' of antique furniture so I prefer something with some quirky individuality in it, even if it does reference an earlier style.

I must admit that I did spot glue across the grain on the sub-frames. I hope that doesn't come to haunt me! I would have preferred to screw the sub-frames but, yes, 11 mm (at most) was too big a risk. Also, I wanted to clamp those frames on tight and, lovely timber though QM is, it is soft so i feared that the screws would pull out.

Normally I draw things up fairly thoroughly and sometimes even make mock-ups in ply or rubbish pine first so I have good records of what I do. But, this time it was straight seat-of-the pants and was very much dictated by the dimensions of the beautiful recycled timbers that I had. I always do design around the timber dimensions that I have to some extent, but this time was almost completely dominated by the timber that I had, so next time the design would not be the same again, anyway. If my daughter leaves it on the footpath the next one will be different.

Your bedside-tables reflect the high quality of work that you do Ian. I am just a muddler by comparison, having come to "fine" woodwork as a retirement hobby. I do enjoy hand tool work, but am very dependent on my Hammer C3-31 combination machine and other precision machines to produce what I do. If I can ever be bothered editing my forums description it will be from "Diamond Member" to "Woodwork L plates for life" or similar as i consider myself very much a learner.

Cheers

David