| Project by LiveEdge | posted 06-22-2015 10:49 PM | 4988 views | 20 times favorited | 29 comments |  |
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Can you combine rustic and elegant in one piece of furniture? I sought to find out as I decided to build a liquor cabinet for our dining room. I wanted to use alder for the body of the cabinet to match the dining table, chandelier, and bench, but I wanted to have the doors present with a real “wow” factor. I had picked up some highly, highly figured maple at my local hardwood store and this seemed like the time to use it.
I used some cabinets I found online as a basis for the design, but I made some modifications. Because the drawers go all the way out to the doors, I chose to use finger cutouts instead of knobs. I like how the maple drawers echo the doors after the cabinet has been opened.
The doors are finished with Tung Oil Finish (which is actually linseed oil, go figure). The alder is stained and topcoated with 3-4 coats of water-based poly using a HVLP. I love how stained alder looks, but if you don’t like blotchy, then this is not the wood for you. (If you don’t mind “rustic”, then I highly encourage you to try working with some if you haven’t, it’s dreamy).
For Father’s Day my family sneakily loaded it up with all sorts of “accessories”...salt, sugar, tools, tumblers, new wine glasses, martini glasses, etc. It was an awesome present.
Thanks for taking a look!
29 comments so far
harum
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420 posts in 2702 days
#1 posted 06-22-2015 11:31 PM
Stunning figure! Definitely, “wow’ factor is achieved. Do you have photos of the boards before finish? Just would like to get an idea of how obvious this figure was in the store. Thanks for sharing.
-- "If you're not counting the ripples when throwing pebbles in the water, you're wasting your time."
cdaniels
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#2 posted 06-22-2015 11:48 PM
damn, i’ve never seen that much figure before and I live in the land of maple!!! that’s amazing. you sir or ma’am are a craftsman or craftswoman
-- Jesus was a carpenter... I'm just saying
Mean_Dean
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#3 posted 06-22-2015 11:56 PM
Man that figure is just astounding—never seen anything like it!
The cabinet looks pretty good, also! :) Though it looks like you could use a bottle of bourbon in it….....!
-- Dean -- "Don't give up the ship -- fight her 'till she sinks!" Capt James Lawrence USN
LiveEdge
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#4 posted 06-23-2015 12:01 AM
Harum, I don’t have pictures before planing, but you can get an eye for what the figure will look like. The hit and miss planing will cause some tear out and you can see the pattern of the figure from this. I am a regular at the hardwood store so they let me go in the back and sort through a shipment before it went out front. :).
Actually you might get an idea of what the board looks like Ina post in the wood and lumber forum. Look for “3D visualization of figured maple”. I can’t remember if I had planed the board already.
gfadvm
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#5 posted 06-23-2015 12:09 AM
You definitely got the WOW factor going here! That is the nicest quilted maple I’ve ever seen. And your cabinet did it proud.
-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm
LiveEdge
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#6 posted 06-23-2015 12:13 AM
I found a picture before planing. You have to know what you are looking for, but you can see the figure potential already.
harum
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420 posts in 2702 days
#7 posted 06-23-2015 12:41 AM
Thank you for the picture and the reference. Yes, being a regular helps. Sounds like you get to see these boards even before the staff finds them.
-- "If you're not counting the ripples when throwing pebbles in the water, you're wasting your time."
Dan'um Style
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#8 posted 06-23-2015 01:14 AM
Wow …
One of my favorites.
-- keeping myself entertained ... Humor and fun lubricate the brain
waho6o9
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#9 posted 06-23-2015 01:45 AM
Awesome work Live Edge, congratulations!
hunter71
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#10 posted 06-23-2015 02:58 AM
Absolutely beautiful. Wood like that is hard to find. You made it look great.
-- A childs smile is payment enough.
bobasaurus
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3713 posts in 4244 days
#11 posted 06-23-2015 05:34 AM
Damn that is some nice maple. Amazing you got such a nice pop to the figure with just a linseed oil / varnish blend. Did you hand plane any of it, or just sand it smooth? It would take a very finely set smoothing plane to touch that kind of figure.
-- Allen, Colorado (Instagram @bobasaurus_woodworking)
Texcaster
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1293 posts in 2733 days
#12 posted 06-23-2015 08:09 AM
Purdy Good !
-- Mama calls me Texcaster but my real name is Mr. Earl.
TexasOak
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#13 posted 06-23-2015 01:41 PM
Just a note on the “blotchiness” of Alder, I made an entire King Size bed out of Alder with a 6 foot tall headboard. I used a Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner like this:
http://www.minwax.com/wood-products/preparation/minwax-prestain-wood-conditioner
before I put stain on and it really evens out the finish. Makes the stain absorb more evenly…...IF you don’t want the rustic look….which I know you were going for on this.
R_Stad
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#14 posted 06-23-2015 02:15 PM
Beautiful piece utilizing outstanding wood. Well done.
-- Rod - Oregon
CampD
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#15 posted 06-23-2015 02:29 PM
Umm yeah, that’s about the best quilted maple I’ve seen.
Diffinatly WOW!
-- Doug...
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