Entertainement Armoire ..too much for a novice??

[Al Killian]

Aspen(poplar) is almost pure white and easy to stain. The case is fairly easy. Just take your time with it.

[Jim Becker]

Aspen(poplar) is almost pure white and easy to stain. The case is fairly easy. Just take your time with it.

The majority of poplar used for furniture making is tulip poplar, (also known as yellow poplar) which is a member of the magnolia family, not an aspen. Aspen is much lighter in weight and tends to be "fuzzy" when you try and work with it. Most that I've seen is sold as hobby wood.

[matt pickston]

Thanks for everyones feedack. It as changed my thinking somewhat. Our scouring this and other websites, i think I may be best served to get a planer. From what I have found, I can joint the edges on the router table.

This way I can buy lumber and mill it myself. THoughts??

After seeing Raymonds armoire, I wna to make that!! Beautiful.

HAve found a local lumber store dealing in hardwoods and wil go there and learn more. Never dealt with wood ths way and have always been intimated. Looking forward to learnng.

Will et you all know how I proceed. Cheers.

Raymond, if you have a plan for your Armoire, i would love to see it.

[Rick Thom]

The question remains,; it's not can you, but should you? I am currently starting to build my new console style to replace the beautifully crafted armoire which is some 14 years old. Funny that my new 42" LCD won't fit into a cab made for a 32" set which was state of the art then.

[Mark Blum]

I have one that's doing a great job of hiding a 36" diag. Sony XBR CRT. The television is very heavy so I installed six inch casters under the cabinets skirt. But just yesterday my wife seems to have plans for eliminating the CRT and Armoire in favor of an articulating wall mounted flat screen setup.

I too have a large armoire I built to house a 36" Sony XBR television. You aren't kidding about it being heavy. Even with two people lifting that TV will give you a hernia. I took great pains to make sure there was plenty of support for that weight, and after 8 years there still isn't a hint of sag anywhere in the armoire.

However, the writing is on the wall that such a large piece of furniture won't be needed much longer when I finally get around to moving to a flat-screen TV. I put so much time and effort into building that piece (made of cherry) that I hate the thought that it will be a dinosaur with no real purpose.

I don't think it is a good idea for anybody to build an entertainment center geared toward a 4:3 screen setup these days. All TV's will soon be 16:9.

[George Bregar]

Thanks for everyones feedack. It as changed my thinking somewhat. Our scouring this and other websites, i think I may be best served to get a planer. From what I have found, I can joint the edges on the router table.

This way I can buy lumber and mill it myself. THoughts??

I think I would get a jointer first, you can get the lumber supplier to plane the boards. But ultimately, you need both.

Second think, about using cherry. You'll be happier in the end. I use poplar for drawers.

I think most would agree that making small things is harder than large things. Tolerances are tighter, and even small errors the eye can see. There is nothing especially difficult in that piece. Go for it.

[Steveo O'Banion]

First of all Matt, I'd do it IF you have the stick-to-itiveness and are willing to accept you will make mistakes and can work through them. If you have the abilities, you can make it happen.

My first project in stained glass was a 96 piece 16" x 32" halfround window, the smallest project in our beginner class full of beginners. (Instructors goal was to sell glass and studio time.) 20 weeks later I had it set in the window looking great. I'd never even seen art glass done before.

Steve, I grew up believing plywood was junk and my work was only good enough for solid wood. (HA, what a young fool I was!) Plywood is cheaper, comes in sizes unavailable naturally, it's stronger, more stable, saves trees, saves time and makes really sexy looking panels with bookmatching. I love good plywood now and prefer it. I even use veneer on BB plywood.

I'd suggest you save some time and money, use the ply when you can!

To give you a little encouragement, I present this...



This is my first piece of "furniture" and was made of solid cherry for the case and veneered bees wing Makore doors. It took a long time for me as I made a bunch of mistakes along the way, mostly because I did not plan enough up front, didn't take my time with measurements, thought I could do more than I really knew how and so on.

I could have easily used pywood for the slabs but I have a jointer and planner and wanted something out of solid wood. If I can do this, you can too. Take your time, plan everything out and go over the details again and again. My wife did the finish work as I don't have the patience for it and I will eventually take a finished shot. This is by far my proudest moment in wood working and taught me a lot about being able to accomplish more than you think you can. Jump in, the worst that can happen is that you'll learn some stuff along the way.

[Jim Becker]

I think I would get a jointer first, you can get the lumber supplier to plane the boards. But ultimately, you need both..

I unfortunately feel the opposite. A jointer without a planer is kinda close to holding one hand behind your back while swinging a sledge hammer at a brad. There are many ways to get an edge straight, and you really can't use the jointer for flattening a board without a thickness planer to take over for the second face. Therefore, the jointer has limited value by itself. IMHO, of course, and the cost was, well...low...

To the OP, do give some thought to the state of the TV world today. The folks that bring it up make a lot of sense. You could build the armoire for use as...and armoire...and/or build a lower media cabinet for use with a flat screen or DLP set. That way your efforts will have greater longevity. At least be sure to provide for "armoire" use later if still want to use the piece with a conventional 4:3 TV or small flat screen now...

[matt pickston]

Wonderful replaies from everyone has of course taken me down another route.

I feel alittle stupid. Found a hardwood lumebr store closest to my house and paid them a visit. I don't why I thought I could only buy rough sawn hardwood and thus my need for dimensional lumber from HD or Lowes. I guess all my confusion with board feet etc. got me stuck in a weord course of thinking. Seems really stupid now

But, as you know, me now, they sell cherry, maple, oak stanadard sizes S4S. Perfect.

The question now becomes do I do the project with the TV change as people have mentioned. As I mentioned a large piece would go well in the room. Then, do I want a cherry finish or maple finished dark like mahogany. Seems a sin to color cherry.

Either way, thanks for all the feedback, and I will be requesting more soon I am sure.

[matt pickston]

Steve... plywood iwould be great for sides and back. Would you , or can you, make panel types sides with plywood for the panel.....non-edged of course.

What do yuo mean by making panels with it. any photo examples?

[/quote]
"Steve, I grew up believing plywood was junk and my work was only good enough for solid wood. (HA, what a young fool I was!) Plywood is cheaper, comes in sizes unavailable naturally, it's stronger, more stable, saves trees, saves time and makes really sexy looking panels with bookmatching. I love good plywood now and prefer it. I even use veneer on BB plywood."

I'd suggest you save some time and money, use the ply when you can![/quote]

[Brent Ring]

Welcome to the Creek! No matter what you do, take your time. The "measure x times and cut once" that I forget on occasion really applies on your first "real" piece.

But man is it a lot of fun. Make sure that you enjoy doing it too!

[Brian Brown]

Matt.

There is no reason you can't do this as your first project. There has been some really good advice given here, especially the part about taking your time and enjoying yourself. My first large project http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=54897 was enjoyable, until I started pushing myself toward the end, and it turned into a chore.

In my area, I can't get veneer over plywood. I can only get veneer over MDF. I hate the stuff, and it is so heavy. The case would have weighed less if I used solid wood, and there would be no chance of sanding through the veneer. Plywood usually has the same thin veneer, and it might cost more than solid wood. (the MDF I used cost more).

The worst mistake I made was trying to finish it myself when I didn't have the right facilities. Nothing like getting a bunch of dust nibs caught in the finish after all that work. If I had it to do over again, I would have taken it to a cabinet shop to get the finish sprayed on properly.