FINALLY...finished this cabinet (Follow-up to hardware question)

[Chris Griggs]

Hey Folks,

Posted a question about picking pulls for this cabinet last week, got some great advice and just wanted to show the finished product. Many thanks to Sam and Mel for all their input...it was very VERY helpful. I like the pulls I ended up with A LOT more than the original ones I had chosen. Though I did ended up sticking with the original hinges I had picked against some advice.

Anyway, here are some lousy cell phone pics (yes, I know, I know, I will later regret not doing a better job with photographs of my work). Overall, I'm pleased with it, and am glad to have it out of my shop (it sat there idle for quite a while). In person it would be obvious that it was made by an amateur but despite all the boogers (and there are many) I'm still very happy with the overall end result. Primary wood is hard maple with a mix of curl and birdseye figure, secondary wood is pine, finish is BLO and Dark Biyasaki seedlac, hinges are from Horton and pulls are from White Chapel. Everything but the moldings (router) and the initial kerfing of the bookmatched panels (TS assist) was done with hand tools only.

I dedicate this cabinet and its hidden dovetails to Zach and Dave who hate all things end grain.

Comments, constructive criticism, as well and personal insults are welcome.

IMG_20130626_073016_106.jpg IMG_20130626_073114_976.jpg IMG_20130626_073044_563.jpg IMG_20130626_073150_804.jpg IMG_20130626_073204_389.jpg

[Sam Murdoch]

What's with those hinges?

Very, very nice Chris. Lots of subtle details and great overall effect. Yes, worthy of better photos.

[Chris Griggs]

What's with those hinges?

Very, very nice Chris. Lots of subtle details and great overall effect. Yes, worthy of better photos.

Thanks Sam. Again, the discussion with you and Mel (and others) really helped. Got me thinking about a lot of hardware and opened my eyes to some stuff that I previously thought might be too decorative. In the past when I looked at stuff with back plates like these I imagined that it really only fit on highly decorated carved period pieces, but I think they fit really nice on a simple little cabinet like this. I feel like I'm now aware of a lot more great hardware options.

Oh BTW, for placement I ended up with them centered on 2/3rds the way up. I did experiment with sticking them on at various higher places but the 2/3rd placement just looked right to my eye.

(Hehe. Sorry about the hinges Sam...I know they are a disappointment. You'll just have to learn to live with them. Though now I want to try some of those french finial hinges like in your avatar...those are cool)

[Mike Allen1010]

Congratulations Chris Your cabinet turned out great!

I know firsthand that working Maple with hand tools is a tall order and you've done an excellent job. I particularly like the way you've highlighted the beautiful curly maple figure in the book matched panels in the F&P doors! it really says hand made by a craftsman without looking flashy.

The profile of the base, the beaded slats in the back and the dovetail carcass construction covered by the molding on the top are all very nice details and well executed.

I also really like the scale and proportions -- I think the cabinet will fit well in almost any room and will be practical for storing all kinds of things.

I'm sure you and your family will enjoy this cabinet for generations! (I just hope you put your "Wolverine" signature somewhere where future generations will find it and know you built it).

Thanks very much Chris for sharing your work and the pictures -- really inspirational.

All the best, Mike

[Mike Holbrook]

I have a place you could park that old thing! Very nice!

[Chris Griggs]

I really like the scale and proportions -- I think the cabinet will fit well in almost any room and will be practical for storing all kinds of things.

Thanks Mike A and Mike H! Its actually sized to fit in a very specific are next to our TV and the shelves are sized to hold our DVDs of all things. The height is simply 2x the width. Given than DVDs are rapidly becoming obsolete I'm guessing that some day it will hold small-med sized books. I deliberately spaced the shelves a little more than I would need for DVDs to make sure it would be useful for that in the future. Of course, books are rapidly going obsolete as well so perhaps some day it will just be a place to store ones kindle or iPad.

As far as working the maple. Yeah it was a pain, though not in the way that folks often have trouble. No problems planing the curl thanks to a closely set CB, but lots of areas of grain run out that made cutting sturdy joinery, plowing clean grooves, etc, w/o blowing out the wood tough. The other problem was that this wood turned out to be some of the most unstable wood I've ever worked. I just could not get it to stop twisting and moving. For instance after taking a lot of effort to build doors that were straight, planing out any slight twist after glueup, careful hinge mortising, and careful alignment of a stop, I had doors that sat flush for exactly one day. As soon as the humidity changed the stiles/doors twisted again. Really, I should have known the wood was too unstable to make for good door parts (it was obvious that it had a lot of stresses in it the second I sawed into it). Not a huge deal overall, just sharing a good lesson learned.

Anyway, thanks for the compliments. I always enjoy seeing your stuff as well.

[Joe Bailey]

Infinitely more attractive than the original mock-up -- good for you for pushing on when you knew it wasn't quite there yet.

[David Weaver]

Looks good to me!

[Zach Dillinger]

I like it! The choice of veneer on the doors looks really nice without all that nasty end grain to clutter it up

[David Weaver]

The lack of endgrain is very pleasing to my eyes, too.

[Chris Griggs]

Thanks Guys.

Infinitely more attractive than the original mock-up -- good for you for pushing on when you knew it wasn't quite there yet.

Yeah that's the only way I know how to learn this stuff. Try it, stare at it, look at pics of other things, obsess over it and when I can't figure out whats wrong ask. Even my wife thought the new pulls were much better than what we are now referring to as the "chest" piercing ring pulls, and she doesn't usually notice things like furniture hardware.

Picking hardware is tough. Unless you have have built, looked at, or studied enough furniture to really know what will look "right" its really hard to know how something will look until its actually on there, and even then, as a novice, it can be pretty hard to tell if the hardware is working for the piece or against it. I can usually tell if something doesn't look quite right but I often can't identify what would be better. That's why its so nice to have a place like this where more experienced eyes can give my untrained vision some specific direction.

[Bob Jones]

Super nice. Classic and modern.

[Chris Griggs]

I like it! The choice of veneer on the doors looks really nice without all that nasty end grain to clutter it up

The lack of endgrain is very pleasing to my eyes, too.

Excellent! That's exactly what I wanted to hear. You guys made the extra effort I put into chopping all those double lap dovetails in hard maple (that had a huge tendency to split/blow out) all worth while.

I gotta admit, that even though I'm not always anti end grain, I really am glad I covered it up on this....definitely would have detracted from the rest of the design. I'm loathe to admit your guy's good taste is rubbing off on me

[Chris Griggs]

Oh yeah, I gotta thank George for directing me to use seedlac as a finish. I love the stuff. Thanks George!

[Chris Hachet]

Looks good to me!

I would add to that sentiment!