Project by swirt | posted 02-23-2021 01:20 AM | 464 views | 0 times favorited | 14 comments | ![]() |
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I built this cabinet to house my son’s books while he is doing this Covid related schooling remotely thing. I used some Oak that came down in Hurricane Irma for the doors and some Cypress that came from our back yard for everything else.
Joinery: dovetails for the top and drawers, sliding dovetails for the four shelves.
Finish: Two coats of Dark Tung oil and 1 coat Odie’s Oil. The drawers were burned and then treated with Dark Tung oil.
Firsts:
1. making my own drawers
2. carving drawer fronts and drawer pulls
3. handles made of lightning whelk shells.
Regrets: I regret offsetting the carved drawer pulls. I had originally sketched them as all lining up. Then I got “artsy” by making a spur of the moment decision to offset them. I didn’t realize until getting it all together that they looked like a nose and eyes…. Now I can’t unsee it. I find it too distracting and have it on my list to re-make them.
Photos:
1. The front of the cabinet.
2. 3/4 view.
3. View from the back before screwing a luan plywood back on it.
4. Completing resawing the oak doors by hand.
5. Sliding the shelves in along their tapered sliding dovetails.
6. Cabinet complete and in place next to my son’s desk.
See the source for a bunch more photos and full build details.
Source: Sliding dovetails book cabinet
-- Galootish log blog, http://www.timberframe-tools.com
14 comments so far
pottz
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14859 posts in 1995 days
#1 posted 02-23-2021 01:39 AM
nice cabinet buddy love the match on the doors.goes real well with his desk im sure you also made.
-- working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
swirt
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#2 posted 02-23-2021 02:18 AM
Thanks @pottz Yes the desk I made for him back in 2019

-- Galootish log blog, http://www.timberframe-tools.com
mtnwild
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3737 posts in 4538 days
#3 posted 02-23-2021 02:55 AM
So beautiful! Love the whole thing. That top part is Awesome. Wood selection, top notch. Great design and build…Super project..
-- mtnwild (Jack), It's not what you see, it's how you see it.
swirt
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#4 posted 02-23-2021 02:58 AM
Thanks @mtnwild
-- Galootish log blog, http://www.timberframe-tools.com
therealSteveN
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#5 posted 02-23-2021 04:26 AM
Do you know what type of Oak you have there? Whatever it is I wish I had it over here. Hauntingly beautiful, like our Persimmon on steroids.
I like it a lot, the whole thing has an earthy feel to it. I wouldn’t mess with the drawer pulls.
Nice work.
-- Think safe, be safe
swirt
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6024 posts in 3982 days
#6 posted 02-23-2021 06:18 AM
Thanks @therealSteveN. I don’t know specifically what it is. It is one of many logs I dragged home from the side of the road after Hurricane Irma went through my neighborhood. There are a lot of Oak varieties in Florida and I am not so good at identifying one from another once they are logs.
-- Galootish log blog, http://www.timberframe-tools.com
wildwoodbybrianjohns
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2657 posts in 558 days
#7 posted 02-23-2021 08:55 AM
Fantastic. So original and creative. Those drawer fronts are killer, I wouldnt redo them either.
-- WWBBJ: It is better to be interesting and wrong, than boring and right.
swirt
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6024 posts in 3982 days
#8 posted 02-23-2021 12:49 PM
Thank you @wildwoodbybrianjohns
-- Galootish log blog, http://www.timberframe-tools.com
TZH
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600 posts in 4151 days
#9 posted 02-23-2021 02:07 PM
DANG!!!! That’s nice!!!!!
TZH
-- Where The Spirit In Wood Lives On
swirt
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6024 posts in 3982 days
#10 posted 02-23-2021 02:24 PM
Thank you @TZH
-- Galootish log blog, http://www.timberframe-tools.com
James E McIntyre
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1102 posts in 2303 days
#11 posted 02-23-2021 04:42 PM
Love it. I followed your link to your web page and was amazed at the detail or your documentation of the work process. How do you like the Veritas dovetail marker.
Kids do like to burn things to a crisp. 8^D
-- James E McIntyre
splintergroup
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4701 posts in 2233 days
#12 posted 02-23-2021 04:48 PM
Going “artsy” and eschewing symmetry is a time honored tradition, don’t fight it 8^)
I think with the wood and figure mix you have, those pulls complement it perfectly.
A big thumbs up!
swirt
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6024 posts in 3982 days
#13 posted 02-23-2021 05:04 PM
Thanks @James
I’ve had the saddle dovetail marker for years and I like it. It is super easy to mark both the tops and sides of the tails. It could just as easily be used to mark pins if that is your approach. Works well with either a marking knife or a pencil. I also like it because I tend to make larger things than usual and it is sized so that it works fine for some of my chunkier projects.
-- Galootish log blog, http://www.timberframe-tools.com
swirt
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6024 posts in 3982 days
#14 posted 02-23-2021 05:07 PM
Thanks @splintergroup I probably wouldn’t fight the “artsy” so much if it did not look like a face. Opening the middle drawer tends to look like you are shoving your fingers up a nose and that is unsettling ;)
-- Galootish log blog, http://www.timberframe-tools.com
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