Cherry Wall Cabinet - Completed

[pkinneb]

1 hour ago, Chestnut said:

Cherry and walnut go together like lamb and tuna fish.

Say what??  

[JohnG]

1 hour ago, Bmac said:

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.

Thanks for your input on this! I have seen/heard of others using the two together but I have only seen it fresh. I do have some walnut with interesting figure, but I’ll have to see if it will look good in the size/shape of the drawer fronts and panels. Might be best to go with my initial idea of all cherry.

 

2 hours ago, Chestnut said:

Cherry and walnut go together like lamb and tuna fish.

 

22 minutes ago, pkinneb said:

Say what??  

Haha that was my response. Does that mean they go together well or not? It’s been at least 15 years since I’ve eaten either of those. 

[treeslayer]

I built these two for a spare bedroom about four years ago, I think the cherry is about as dark as it’s going to get, walnut tops but you get the look

[Bmac]

1 hour ago, treeslayer said:

I built these two for a spare bedroom about four years ago, I think the cherry is about as dark as it’s going to get, walnut tops but you get the look

The colors in my pieces never stayed that distinct, my walnut got a lot lighter and my cherry a little darker than your piece

[treeslayer]

at this stage my memory is shot, if I remember right I didn’t like the color match on the raw walnut boards I had for the tops and I stained them with dark walnut stain or I could have used tran-tint dye, I know that’s a no-no, forum members please forgive me for I have sinned

[Chestnut]

2 hours ago, pkinneb said:

Say what??  

Movie reference. Big daddy with Adam Sandler.

[Mark J]

On 6/28/2019 at 6:49 AM, Chestnut said:

Cherry and walnut go together like lamb and tuna fish.

Has anyone actually ever had lamb and tuna fish together? ...I mean like in the history of mankind.

[JohnG]

For the sake of this thread, someone needs to try it. Any takers?

[Mark J]

Well if it's for this thread than it's going to have to be lamb, tuna, cherries and walnuts.

[JohnG]

Try it lamb, tuna, and cherries first, then add walnuts and try it again. If it’s better with just cherry, I’ll use cherry for the panels and drawer fronts. If it’s better with the walnuts, I’ll use walnut for the panels and drawer fronts. 

[JohnG]

I glued up the case and drawer dividers. 

 

The drawer dividers are just slightly proud of the case so I can flush them up later. I saved some little slivers from paring the dovetails, and I’ll try to use some of those to fill in my gappy dovetails. Shelf pin holes were also drilled using the Kreg jig. 

Next up is the door and drawer construction. I also need to figure out how I will clamp the veneer strips on the ply for the back. 

[pkinneb]

Looking good!

[JohnG]

After rough sanding the dovetails flush, the gaps don’t look as bad. I filled a couple of them with slivers of cherry, but left the others. 

I also cut the rails and stiles to final dimension and cut the grooves for the door panels. 

I picked out stock for the door panels and resawed them on the table saw and then planed down to ~1/4”. I left them long so that I can pick section I want for the panels. 

I’ll use dominos on the door assemblies and glue up clamped to the case for alignment. Afterward I’ll plane flush and set the gap. Then on to the drawers. 

[JohnG]

Door panels cut to final size and sanded to 220, dominos cut in rails and stiles. Dry fit without dominos, with a bit of mineral spirits on it. It has been really hot the last couple weeks so I haven’t been spending too much consecutive time in the shop. 

 

[pkinneb]

Nice!!

 

[treeslayer]

 Beautiful, who doesn’t love cherry, especially those doors, well done sir!

[Chestnut]

Oh man those door panels are awesome!!!!!! Cherry is my favorite for 2 main reasons 1 you just showed us and the 2nd is the color only gets better with age unlike a lot of woods.

[JohnG]

Thanks fellas! I saw that board in the stack at the lumber yard and knew I needed to buy it! I saw drawer fronts or door panels in its future.

I feel like I've reached a new level of woodworking with this project. It's not really difficult or special, but I've expanded my skill set (dovetails, veneering to be done) and everything has gone surprisingly smoothly. I haven't really had any of the dumb mistakes or oversights that I usually have (I hope I'm not speaking too soon here...) It has just been a fun and satisfying build. Thanks for your support and encouragement, and for following along thus far.

[JohnG]

I now have two coats of ARS satin on the door panels and interior of the cabinet. 

Pic is just after the first coat was applied, but you get the idea.

[Coop]

I was going  to ask if you intended to prefinish the panels. Good move and good looking! 

[JohnG]

I may put down one more very thin coat after the doors are assembled, but I wanted to at least get a couple coats on before assembly. I used a piece of brown paper bag to get the nibs off, and really liked that method. I used to use 1000 grit, but the paper bag worked really well.

Gluing up the doors today. Doing one at a time so I can clamp it to the case. It seems to naturally match up pretty well, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to do it this way.

[JohnG]

It turns out the case is slightly out of square, so I used a plane to flush up the doors and start to work on the gap between. 

I don’t have a “real” vise so I had to get creative.

 

I picked up some brass butt hinges, but I’m not sure if they are what I want to use. Any thoughts about hinges (and pulls)?

[gee-dub]

On 7/25/2019 at 8:47 PM, JohnG said:

Any thoughts about hinges (and pulls)?

Hinges and pulls can make or break a piece.  I don't throw Brusso hinges at everything that comes along but, I do try to avoid the low end stuff.  For smaller doors I don't have an aversion to no-mortise hinges and they come in many finishes with finials and without.  they are pretty lightweight.  I'm afraid you just missed the Brusso sale but, take heart; the hinges on sale may have been a bit small for your cabinet.

Other quality hinges are Vertex or (not trying to push Lee Valley, it just turned out that way) extruded hinges come in larger sizes. For pulls, I prefer to make my own. 

If you want them to match the hinge finish, a similar brand is the best way to go.  Careful selection is required when matching finishes from different vendors.  Just to pitch another vendor here's some pulls.

[JohnG]

The hinges I bought are Vertex, and seem to be nice quality. I had looked at the Brusso sale specifically for this piece, but the sale hinges seemed too small for the piece. I’m not opposed to buying Brusso for this project, even at normal price, but the Woodcraft didn’t have the right size either. I glanced at the knife hinges, but I wouldn’t know how to identify the correct hinge for my application.

I’m not a great turner, but have turned some pulls before, so I have considered small round pulls. However, after seeing your pic, I think that rectangular pulls would fit the piece better. 

[gee-dub]

Those were pretty quick.  A cove bit down each side of the blank, cut to length, cove the ends and arc the fronts.  Short vertical ones for doors.

 

Longer horizontal ones for drawers.