JohnG Posted May 10, 2019 Report Share Posted May 10, 2019 This is a project I’ve been loosely thinking about for a while, and am ready to get moving on it. The idea is a small(ish) wall cabinet to keep my main camera and most often used lenses and accessories in. I have sketched out a few iterations and think I have landed on a design I like. Instead of making a full model in Sketchup/F360, I’m just doing paper design for this project. I sketched out some small rough ideas, a la Mike P., then used my favorite one to draw a full size sketch. It still leaves a lot to the imagination. Two doors open to reveal 3 shelves. Below the bottom shelf will be two small drawers for small items like batteries and SD cards. As the title suggests, this will be made from Cherry. I’m wanting to do dovetail construction, but my lazy/cautious side is tempted to do box joints which I’m more comfortable with. I mention this to try to pressure myself into doing the dovetails. I’m considering making one or both of the top shelves adjustable, but am not set on that. As always, thoughts and feedback are welcome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeslayer Posted May 10, 2019 Report Share Posted May 10, 2019 Looks like a good project John, frame and panel overlay doors? magnetic catches? i would make the shelves adjustable just because unless you already know what's going to live in there and not be changed. dovetails are cool, box joints are easier but whatever you choose i would carry that over into the drawer construction as well, and you have to give some thought as to how you're going to attach it to the wall considering the weight of the cabinet, screwed thru the back? french cleat? be sure to post some pictures 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted May 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2019 Yes, frame and panel overlay doors. Probably will do a small magnetic catch. Undecided about type of pulls, but likely turned on the lathe. Good point about carrying the case construction over to the drawers as well. My current thinking is to use a french cleat to hang it. I’m hoping to start processing the stock this weekend, but either way I’ll post pictures as it progresses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted May 11, 2019 Report Share Posted May 11, 2019 Proportions look good to me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Mark J Posted May 11, 2019 Popular Post Report Share Posted May 11, 2019 Well you know you need to do dovetails someday. Check your calender, it's someday. 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick S Posted May 11, 2019 Report Share Posted May 11, 2019 Nice looking project that begs for dovetails. I guess my question is not if, but how will you cut them? I’m a big fan of the 30 in 30 method. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeslayer Posted May 11, 2019 Report Share Posted May 11, 2019 1 minute ago, Mick S said: Nice looking project that begs for dovetails. I guess my question is not if, but how will you cut them? I’m a big fan of the 30 in 30 method. 30 in 30 method? Please explain Mick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick S Posted May 11, 2019 Report Share Posted May 11, 2019 Hand cut 30 sets in 30 days to develop muscle memory. Here's a link to Chris Schwarz' article on it from 2007 - https://www.popularwoodworking.com/editors-blog/a-dovetail-a-day/ 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted May 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2019 49 minutes ago, Mark J said: Well you know you need to do dovetails someday. Check your calender, it's someday. That’s a good one! I’ve done a couple practice dovetails, but never in a real project. I do try to push myself to do something new on each project, and that was one of my goals for this. I’m committed now, regardless of the outcome. If need be, I’ll just fill the gaps with epoxy and then remake the cabinet when I get around to it. 28 minutes ago, Mick S said: Nice looking project that begs for dovetails. I guess my question is not if, but how will you cut them? I’m a big fan of the 30 in 30 method. 10 minutes ago, Mick S said: Hand cut 30 sets in 30 days to develop muscle memory. Here's a link to Chris Schwarz' article on it from 2007 - https://www.popularwoodworking.com/editors-blog/a-dovetail-a-day/ Good info! I hadn’t heard of this before. I’ll try to prep some boards and get to work on that this weekend as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chestnut Posted May 11, 2019 Popular Post Report Share Posted May 11, 2019 14 hours ago, JohnG said: That’s a good one! I’ve done a couple practice dovetails, but never in a real project. I do try to push myself to do something new on each project, and that was one of my goals for this. I’m committed now, regardless of the outcome. If need be, I’ll just fill the gaps with epoxy and then remake the cabinet when I get around to it. Do your best and if it comes out poorly just put some 3/4" trim at the top. Nothing fancy just like a chamfer trim. No one will know it's there to cover up gappy dovetails. There is no better time to try than right now. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick S Posted May 11, 2019 Report Share Posted May 11, 2019 1 hour ago, Chestnut said: Do your best and if it comes out poorly just put some 3/4" trim at the top. Nothing fancy just like a chamfer trim. No one will know it's there to cover up gappy dovetails. There is no better time to try than right now. What about the bottom ones? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted May 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2019 Starting material selection today. Door panels Rest of the parts Also prepped some 3” wide maple for practice dovetails. After I have made a bit of headway on that, I’ll try a couple wider ones. Edit: the lighting in my garage and iPhone make the cherry look kinda gross. Color is much better in person. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted May 11, 2019 Report Share Posted May 11, 2019 Material selection is one of my favorite parts of a project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted May 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2019 I have the parts milled to rough size and thickness. I’m going with 5/8” thickness for the case. Dovetail practice really hasn’t happened yet, unfortunately. I started one last night but was too tired so it got scrapped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JohnG Posted May 26, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted May 26, 2019 So life got in the way of shop time for a few days. I have the case pieces milled and cut to final size. I haven’t been practicing dovetails like I had hoped, and I’m not very good at putting full effort into practice. So with all of that, I decided to... just go ahead and cut the tails. I still have some waste to remove and cleanup to do, but they are started. I will sit down and sharpen my chisels before proceeding with the cleanup and then cutting the pins. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JohnG Posted June 1, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted June 1, 2019 Okay, the dovetails are done! A bit gappy but I have no concerns of its structural integrity. I think there are a couple spots where I can tweak the fit to close up the gap. I think the pictures below are in the order of being cut, but I’m not certain. I used the blue tape method for the pins and tried a couple different methods for clearing the waste. I’m very happy that I went with the dovetails and checked it off my list. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark J Posted June 2, 2019 Report Share Posted June 2, 2019 Congratulations, better than my first dovetails. I haven't actually cut any dovetails, yet, but when I do I'm sure they won't come out that good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JohnG Posted June 17, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 So I finally had some time in the shop again today (my one Father's Day request ). I had been waffling on how I want to do the back, which made me waffle on cutting the rabbets, which also made me waffle on cutting the dado for the horizontal drawer divider. Now I want waffles.... I picked up some cherry veneer and a piece of 3/8 BB ply, so I may try my hand at veneer on this. Otherwise I can plane down some cherry boards to the same thickness and go solid. I had been trying to figure out how I would do a french cleat with something like shiplap for the back. I didn't really want to glue up a big panel for the back, which pushed me in the direction of veneered ply. Any thoughts? Rabbets done. I did screw up a couple of the corners. I was sure to make stopped rabbets on the top/bottom so they didn't show through, but I forgot to consider that they need to extend the dovetail baseline by exactly the width of the rabbet in order to make a nice corner. A couple went too far. At least this won't be seen in normal use. Corners still need to be squared up with a chisel. Horizontal drawer divider in place. There's a slight gap on one end, but hopefully it will close up a bit with clamping. Next step will be the vertical drawer divider and then shelf pin holes for the top shelves. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted June 17, 2019 Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 Veneered ply sounds like a good choice to me! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Coop Posted June 17, 2019 Popular Post Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 I made this from cherry a couple of years ago for my office. I used 1/4” bead board for the back and painted it what I called Amish green for a lack of better description. Sorry I don’t have a better view of the color of the back. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted June 17, 2019 Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 Looks great John!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted June 27, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2019 I had a few more minutes in the shop today after taking a detour to attempt a uke build in 2-3 days. Not much progress but I routed the stopped dados for the lower drawer divider and fit the divider. I had been thinking I’d stick with cherry for the drawer fronts and door panels, but now I’m thinking I might go walnut. I have some neat figured walnut from my dad’s property in NC. Any opinions? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeslayer Posted June 27, 2019 Report Share Posted June 27, 2019 Cherry and walnut go together so well that would be my choice, but you can’t go wrong either way, nice work so far sir! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted June 28, 2019 Report Share Posted June 28, 2019 Cherry and walnut go together like lamb and tuna fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmac Posted June 28, 2019 Report Share Posted June 28, 2019 I've used cherry and walnut together quite a few times in my early woodworking projects. I liked the look initially. But after a few years the cherry darkens and the walnut lightens, and you can hardly tell they are different species. But you can tell they are different colors slightly, and the look is not nearly as pleasant as it was initially. It doesn't look terrible, but it does look like you mismatched boards in the piece. Have not used them together in many years because of that experience. If the walnut is highly figured and you are using it for drawer fronts then you still will maintain some interesting contrast in the piece, but that will purely be from the grain pattern. Now please excuse me while I go have a lamb and tuna fish sandwich. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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