Linen Pantry

Natalie wanted a linen cupboard for the guest bathroom.

We found some examples of shaker style cupboards that she liked.

I drew some quick plans and rounded up some material, poplar lumber and birch plywood.

A few hours with the track saw and a couple dozen dominos later, I had a case.

Poplar bead board made the door panels.

After glueing everything up I installed the hardware and trimmed the door to fit.

A little filler and it was time for some milk paint.

Milk paint was an interesting experience.  After a couple tries I got a decent mix.  I found that mixing the powder  into a thick paste first helped.  Then I could thin it down and let it sit overnight.  Straining the mix before application helped.

Once the painting was complete I set up out on the deck and sprayed  few coats of shellac to give the paint a bit more depth and protection.

8 Month Side Tables

I've finally given up thinking I'm going to actually "catch up" on the last 8, 9?, months.  So instead I'll just go pick up more recently and try to go from there.

Last winter, around christmas, I started building a pair of side tables to go with the TV stand. Throw in a ski trip to Japan, a wife with a broken leg and everything that goes with recovering from that and I was pretty happy to get these wrapped up this summer.

The basic frames went together quickly using dominos.

The shelf panels were sized and rabbeted to fit into the rails.

The tops are from a 14" wide walnut board that I picked up a few years back.  I added a bevel to the underside of the top edges to lighten the look a bit.

I'm pleased with the final result. One curly cherry board was used for the two outside faces and the drawer fronts.  

As with the TV stand the drawers are a simple dowel reinforced rabbet which I really quite like the look of.

They are finished with a couple coats of seal coat shellac which was sprayed on.  HVLP and shellac is a brilliant combo for getting a quick, beautiful finish.

Hopefully it won't be another 8 months before I post again, and maybe I'll even get around to finally posting pictures from the first half of this year.

Whiskey Cabinet

This year for Christmas I built a small whiskey cabinet for my father-in-law. The case and door frame are from a single board that I picked up last summer.  It had been milled to 3/4" and was a bit cupped so it wouldn't work for the side tables which need 3/4"+ parts.  I was able to get all the parts for the cabinet straight and still end up with a heavy 1/2" which I think looks nice on a cabinet this size.

The door panel is book matched walnut from a another board I had stashed away. 

I am really pleased with how the door came out.

The case is dovetailed with the top and bottom protruding out past the case edges.

 I finished the cabinet with General finished Enduro Var.  This was the first time I have used this and I was quite pleased with it.  It is a water borne varnish with a bit of color to it.  It certainly looks much better than other water borne finishes I've used while still drying quickly and not being unpleasant to work with. I may try spraying it on the next project I complete.

The door is mounted with knife hinges from Brusso. They were a real pleasure to work with.

I used a small brass pull, also from Brusso, which I think goes well with cherry.

A small brass catch is mounted behind the pull to keep the door shut.

Prototyping as part of the Design process

One of the projects that has been creeping closer to the top of my list is a pair of side tables to go with the TV stand that I finished earlier this year. I've been working on the design off and on all year.

This is as far as I had gotten before moving onto other projects. Going back to it this fall I decided that this project might be a good use  for the wide walnut board i bought on a whim this spring.

It is 13.5-14" wide and the longer piece has almost 60 inches of clear stock, perfect for two table tops.

I started with a new sketch-up model to see how the proportions would work out with the narrower top. It seems to work out pretty well and may actually fit the space better than square tables.

Next I experimented with a couple wood combinations.  We know that we want to use cherry for the base to tie in with the TV stand, I just need to decide whether there should be any more Walnut than just the table top.

This second version uses Walnut for the shelf and the drawer front.  The shelf might be a good idea but I don't think the walnut drawer front really works.

After discussing the new plan with Natalie we decided that I should build a quick prototype  so that she could better visualize the proportions and we could test out the narrow table top. Using the scraps of Doug Fir construction lumber left over from the shed door, I put together a simplified version of the table.  To expedite things I used square legs, no drawer and no shelf. Other than those changes, the prototype should be close to the final design.  All of the parts are connected with dominos and I added a handful of pocket screws to keep things tight, while allowing me to take it apart if I decide to make any changes.

Here it is in the future home of the final version.  The height, at 24" seems to be just about right and the width of the table top seems to be sufficient.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by how nice the Doug Fir looks once I cut around most of the large knots. 

So it looks like the dimensions are going to work which means I can use that walnut for my top.  I picked up some 4/4 and 8/4 cherry earlier this summer from a shop that was closing down so I think I may have all the material I need.  There are couple design details left to sort out, namely whether to use cherry or walnut for the shelf, and then I can begin laying out parts.

Cherry Bookcase - Design and construction.

Earlier this year a friend asked if I would be willing to build a bookcase for her.  She has an old bookcase in a hallway and wants to replace it, though she couldn't find something shallow enough. We talked over what she was looking for and I did some sketching.

After getting feedback on the sketches I built a quick sketchup model.

This let us play with thicknesses. We decided to go with 5/4 material for the case so the top would finish out to 1 1/8 and the sides 7/8.  The shelves are finished at 3/4 from 4/4 material.  We met up at lunch and went over to CS Woods in Denver.

They have a good inventory or really nice, unsteamed cherry.  These boards were tempting but way too wide for this project (18-24 in wide, 5/4).  

First up was to get the stock broken down and milled close to final size.  I finally found a good deal on a small jointer on Craigslist.  Some handwork we still required as the 6in jointer only got 2/3 of the wider boards.

Then the case boards and shelves were cut to final size.  I clamped them all together to get an idea of how the different thicknesses worked with one another.

After cutting all of the joinery with the domino I cut the profile on the underside of the top.

Finally the case was ready for a full dry fit.

Next up is the skirt.  Here is one option for an arch, layed out in blue tape.

The side skirts are cut from the same board so the grain will wrap around the case.

The corners of the skirt and chamfered and joined with a small domino.

The back edges of the case pieces were rabbeted to accept the back.

All that's left is to get feedback on the edge treatment for the front of the shelves and then sand everything before glueup.