As I sit here listening to Christmas music (what? it's after Thanksgiving), I look back on my most involved woodworking project yet. While its modern look suggests a simpler procedure, the cabinet's details made this project one laden with many new skills and challenges. For the woodworkers out there, these new skills included housed tapered dovetails (connecting the top to the sides), cove cuts on the table saw, moldings on the shaper, barred glass (including cutting the glass), knife hinges, and a tenoned lapped miter joint for the base as well as shaped legs. In the end it came out surprising similar to my initial sketch and satisfyingly accurate to my full-scale draft. The final design blends varying elements from Asian, Danish, and traditional American furniture and while that seems risky it also creates the potential for something fresh without going too far down the contemporary route.
When I designed it I felt that this project begged for nicer wood rather than that of the nearby lumber yards so I decided to order from a place in Pennsylvania called Groff & Groff Lumber. When it comes to drying lumber, air drying tends to be the best. The wood generally has to sit for years before it is to the preferred moisture content, retaining its color and vibrancy. Most companies, however, don't want to wait this long. Kiln drying is much faster but can compromise the color of the wood, especially walnut which tends to end up a dull grey/brown. Groff's process is a compromise of these techniques. They kiln dry their wood but they don't steam the walnut, allowing the wood to retain its variation of purples, browns, deep reds, and lighter sap wood. When I was ordering from Groff, the man helping me even sent iphone photos so I could see the boards. Pretty good service I'd say.
If anyone has a suggestion for what to name the piece please send it my way. I think it warrants a name (other than boring old Cabinet) but I can't put my finger on just what. So far people have come up with Chocolate Milk, 2%, To the Moon Alice, and Out to Stud. Apparently, it reminds people of dairy products and the Honeymooners.
The piece is currently for sale to anyone and everyone looking to add a bright piece of flair to their home. It measures 40" wide, 34" tall, and 14" deep. The primary wood is all walnut and the glass was hand-cut from original window panes reclaimed from a house built in the 1700s.
Have a look-see at my process to get a insider's view at what is holding the whole thing together.
When I designed it I felt that this project begged for nicer wood rather than that of the nearby lumber yards so I decided to order from a place in Pennsylvania called Groff & Groff Lumber. When it comes to drying lumber, air drying tends to be the best. The wood generally has to sit for years before it is to the preferred moisture content, retaining its color and vibrancy. Most companies, however, don't want to wait this long. Kiln drying is much faster but can compromise the color of the wood, especially walnut which tends to end up a dull grey/brown. Groff's process is a compromise of these techniques. They kiln dry their wood but they don't steam the walnut, allowing the wood to retain its variation of purples, browns, deep reds, and lighter sap wood. When I was ordering from Groff, the man helping me even sent iphone photos so I could see the boards. Pretty good service I'd say.
If anyone has a suggestion for what to name the piece please send it my way. I think it warrants a name (other than boring old Cabinet) but I can't put my finger on just what. So far people have come up with Chocolate Milk, 2%, To the Moon Alice, and Out to Stud. Apparently, it reminds people of dairy products and the Honeymooners.
The piece is currently for sale to anyone and everyone looking to add a bright piece of flair to their home. It measures 40" wide, 34" tall, and 14" deep. The primary wood is all walnut and the glass was hand-cut from original window panes reclaimed from a house built in the 1700s.
Have a look-see at my process to get a insider's view at what is holding the whole thing together.