Photos of Spool cabinet completed for wife's Christmas present

[Enrico Caruso]

I thought that I would share a couple of photos of the spool cabinet that I created for my dear wife's Christmas present. The cabinet is hard maple throughout, with birdseye panels on three sides. The sides and front crossbars are made made from 3/4" left over maple kitchen flooring. The six drawers have plate glass windows with personalized lettering related to her pre-retirement business of 25+ years. Each drawer has blind dovetail construction and the interiors are uniquely divided for storing sewing items. The decorative rope twist half spindles were made on my vintage Craftsman Router Crafter. The separate base/stand carriage has casters for easy mobility. There are separators between each drawer section for rigidity. This is the first piece of furniture that I have produced since high school in 1955.
Enrico Caruso

[Bob Potter]

Great job above and beyond

Bob.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Fine job, Enrico. The decorative spindles and drawer detail work very well. Your wife is lucky to have such a fine craftsman for a husband.

[Phil Mueller]

Absolutely beautiful. The fact that your skills have stayed with you over 60 years is amazing. Well done!

[Rick Potter]

Very, very nice. I have to hide that from my wife.

[glenn bradley]

What a great piece and a wonderful testament to her work. It doesn't seem like the 60 year break in furniture making slowed you down at all.

[Al Launier]

Incredible indeed! What an heirloom this will be. Beautiful work!

[mike holden]

Very nice!
How did you cut the spirals on the columns?

[Enrico Caruso]

Hi Mike,
The rope twist half spindles were made on a Sears vintage Router Crafter. The crafter is basically an indexing fixture that has a router mounted on a platform. The platform moves along tubular rails as a handcrank on the workpiece centerline is turned. The number of twists can be varied by the amount of index used. To develop the half spindle, I cut a 2" x 2" turning square along its 24" length, and then glued the two halves together with newspaper between the pieces. Also to assure that the pieces remain tightly together, I pre-drilled the turning square 3/4" from each end before cutting and installed bolts/nuts as I glued the pieces together. When the spindle is completed, a single blow with a bench chisel separates the two halves. I used a point cutting beading bit in the router. There is a lengthwise rounding up process using a rabbeting bit before cutting spirals, and you can detach the router platform from axial travel to form circular shapes such as coves, beads, chamfers, etc. If you would like a photo of the router crafter fixture, I would be happy to post one.
Enrico Caruso

[Enrico Caruso]

Hi Everybody,
I really do appreciate the kind comments.
I am now going to add some additional photos showing the sides and back which depict the birdseye maple panels and the vertical beading motif which is carried through also on the legs of the base structure. The joinery types used in this project included mortise and tenon, tongue and groove, dovetails, and doweling, so I got a chance to practice them all.
Later, I will add photos of some drawer interiors.
Enrico Caruso

[Mel Fulks]

Nice work. Your mention of the spiral router thing is the first I've seen in many years. Well ,since no one else has asked....I'll have to, do you sing?

[Enrico Caruso]

Mel, I use to sing in the shower, but that is the extent of it.
I have taken some photos of the spool cabinet drawer interior configurations, which I am now attaching. One photo shows the divider that is between each drawer section which I added for rigidity.

[Yonak Hawkins]

I didn't realize the base was part of the build. That's a fine set-up and beautiful work.

[Mel Fulks]

Well, thanks for reply,Enrico. I couldn't miss the opera-tunity to ask. Glad to have your voice here.