TV Console *"FINSHED"*

Jeff Horton

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With Wren finished and another secret kayak in the planning stages, :D I am to finally start on the TV Console. I have talked about this for a year now I guess. Finally bought the new TV and had no place to put it. So we did it Redneck style, it sits on top of the old Console TV. :rolleyes:

I picked up the Cherry from my now deceased neighbor, Chuck had given me before he passed on. It's been sitting in his barn. That wood is special to me so I have been saving it for something special for the house. He had about 125 to 150 Bd Ft. of Black Cherry/Choke Cherry laying around. I tried to talk him out of it but he had plans for it in building a shed or something. Latter on he decided to give it me, then shortly after that he discovered his illness. So I promised him it would be used for something special.

TV_stand.jpg

Like all of house it is very Arts and Crafts flavor. Going to be a lot of mortises on this one so I am getting the Mortiser I bought finished up and fine tuned. Expect to use it a lot on this project.

There are a few small details on this piece that won't show that much but will make the piece. Like the stiles in the door and end panel are slightly recessed. I want to do mortise and tennon frames, a first for me. So I am looking forward to this one. Should some what of a challenge. At the very least I am going to have to learn some new skills and tricks.
 
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I like it Jeff. Something like this is on my list to do "eventually" when we finally break down and spend the money on an LCD TV. Its amazing how much the "entertainment center" has changed in the past couple years. The old giant cabinets are virtually gone and have been replaced by either somehting like this or a system which puts cabinets/shelves on either side of the TV, below the TV, and maybe a bridge over the top.

How much do you have in the way of electronics to go with? It looks like you reserved space for two boxes?
 
Okay, so since this is in the Flatwork Showcase forum, and not the Design forum, does that mean we can't critique the design?:huh::p

With the door wide open in the drawing, the middle horizontal piece really stands out, as the sides don't have it. I think I'd also experiment in sketchup with a thicker front on that shelf, to make it look more substantial? Just curious. Oh, and I wonder about a crosspiece under the top crossing over the opening. it looks kind of thin there right now from this angle.

Are you going to pin the tenons with contrasting dowels? (I like to do that in my pieces, I like the look)

It looks like fun, keep us posted!
...art
 
Jeff that will look great. I have attached a pic. of one that I found on a site , I don't remember where, That a lady made for her husband and it is somewhat like your design. I thought it was an outstanding piece and she did a fantastic job on it. I especially like the finish that she achieved, and I have wondered how she did it.
Chuck
 

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For a minute I thought you were gonna say you used the old plank and cinder block trick to hold the new TV. :rofl:

Looks like a great design. Cherish the time working with that special wood.
 
I'm a great fan of Arts & Crafts, and your design is a fine example of it. Look forward to seeing the progress of your new project. If you want practice of all that jointery, try making one out of quarter sawn red oak, same deminsions are ok, and I have a just the place for it :D.

Good luck and after seeing your wren, this will be a great piece.

Tom
 
How much do you have in the way of electronics to go with? It looks like you reserved space for two boxes?

That is my one concern. I have been thinking about making that shelf removable just in case. We only have a thin DVD player now that we have the new TV. MIGHT add a good sound system but that should be it. Most likely this will all we need for a long time. And I could put another component in one of the ends. Just open the door when we use it so the remote works. Not ideal but we don't watch that many DVD or tapes. So it could work without a lot of aggravation.

With the door wide open in the drawing, the middle horizontal piece really stands out, as the sides don't have it. I think I'd also experiment in sketchup with a thicker front on that shelf, to make it look more substantial? ......Oh, and I wonder about a crosspiece under the top crossing over the opening. it looks kind of thin there right now from this angle.

Art, had cross pieces and then I saw something very similar to this and like it much better. Plus this will match the trim in the house. We have some with and without cross bars. So that was a concious choice.

I have built the wife some laundry cabinets with 3/4" or so shelves like this and they look good. Now I might get this on the bench and change it when I see it. I have done that before, but I think the thin shelves are going to stay unless it looks a lot different in 'person'

The piece in the middle is worth looking into. Had not thought about that. I will try it as a dry fit it and see what it looks like.

Jeff that will look great. I have attached a pic. of one that I found on a site , I don't remember where, That a lady made for her husband and it is somewhat like your design.

Chuck, thats the look/design I was aiming for. Very much like what I have in mind. I am using cherry, not oak but I like that piece, just not much of an oak fan. But the overall feel of that is very similar to our house.
 
The hidden link thing is nice, but pricey when you start adding up the components if you have a few devices. I was always going to put one in our current EC which I built 7 years ago but have always been put off by the price. Our next EC will have either glass or open shelves for all the electronics (DVD, maybe still the VCR if it doesn't die first, DirectTV/Tivo, receiver.)
 
I can't disagree Matt, but there are less costly alternatives along the same line. The trouble I have with glass doors is you have to hit the IR sensor almost dead on, because, from and angle, the 'beam' bounces off.
 
...So we did it Redneck style, it sits on top of the old Console TV...
Been there, done that. (But we were classy about it...we used a chenille bedspread to hide the old TV.) :p

For a minute I thought you were gonna say you used the old plank and cinder block trick to hold the new TV...
Been there, done that, too. Got the T shirt and 32 ounce sport bottle to go with. :rofl:

Looks like a fun project Jeff. I'm looking forward to watching it develop. :thumb:
 
Finally got started on this project after a couple of false starts. (having to much fun Paddling Wren to stay in the shop on Saturdays)

These photo are from my cell phone. Not to impressed with them. I will probably just use my camera from now on.

This is most of the cherry I mentioned that my neighbor gave me. About 150 BF best guess. Very nice looking wood. I started by running one face across my joiner just to get an idea of what it looked like. Most boards I just made one pass, some of them needed two of three.


rough_boards.jpg

I then picked out and set aside the best one for the top. I picked from what was left and rough cut them to length. Then face joint, edge, plane and rip to size.

kickboard.jpg

This is the front bottom panel. After trying to draw an arch on there we were not happy with it. First off the Radius needed to be around 12'. Even with trammel points that wasn't easy. Plus it just didn't look good. It needed to be elliptical to really look right. After some discussion and sketching we decided to change it to what you see. I have used on this on two other pieces in the house and we decided to stay with it. I am thinking about putting some ebony square plugs in there. It's something I have thought about a lot but have not built anything I wanted to put them in. Seemed a shame to do it in the Laundry Room furniture. ;)

side panels.jpg

Sides are cut to size. I was going to mortise and tenon these together but I ran into some problems with getting my mortiser going. The chisels I ordered wouldn't work. So I decided to just hold it together with dowels so I could keep going on this.

Now I need to resaw some panels for the ends. And I slot these for panels. It didn't take me long to realize that was not quite as simple to make as I was expecting. I am also thinking about making sliding dovetails to mount the shelves. I have never done that before but I think it would really look good on this piece. Another skill to learn! :D
 
Very nice. Any plans to add a media pc? Can record shows, watch Joost, listen to MP3s, and surf your favorite WW sites. :D

I haven't put the media pc in myself, maybe when the kids are out. Do have one hooked up on the LCD in the kitchen. Have it on a swing arm so we can watch it from either there or the breakfast table. Have a wireless keyboard and mouse so we can lookup recipes and movie times. Can even listen to mp3s when in the mood.
 
I finished drilling and cutting all the dowels holes today. I think the mortises couldn't have been any more work! It's not hard to do, just take a lot of time.

I also worked on the base and got the floor mounted in place. did a dry fit. Then I resawed a bunch of cherry to 3/8" panels for ends. At that point I called it quits.

side panels2.jpg side panels3.jpg side panels4.jpg
 
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