Wall Cabinet for Jewelry

[glenn bradley]

Building this for a family friend. I'll ask later for recommendations on how to get this beast to Texas without breaking the bank .

As usual I pull some stock out of the racks and select my boards for the parts.

I haven't used this irregular finger joint jig for some time.

I ran my setup on some scrap to make sure my reference edge and alignment was what I was after.

I won't bore you with the breakdown and milling of the blanks. Once the case sides and ends were cut to final size I cut the fingers.



I run a jointer plane around the front and back to even up the edges. No matter how many times I watch Garrett Hack do this to fit an already constructed drawer box into a piston opening I still struggle with this maneuver.

I use a straight edge to make sure I don't wander off

The back will be beaded slats set into a groove top and sides. I can cut the sides at the tablesaw since the cuts can go all the way, end to end (the exit locations will be hidden). The bottom gets cut off since the slats will tack to the part of the casework.

The top will need a stopped groove. I have an 1/8" spiral bit but this purpose specific bit works easily in one pass so I used it.

And this is the proud finger look I am after at the top and bottom of the sides (see the SU drawing above).

The fingers are proud on the side but flush at the top and bottom as there will be a sort of crown at the top and a light rail at the bottom.

 

[bill kaminski]

nice...seems large for a jewelry cabinet...any drawings of inside?
Quite sure Rennie will have lots of tips on shipping

 

[glenn bradley]

It is a sizable piece compared to a lot of shallow wall mounted jewelry cabinets I have seen. The client saw one I made for LOML back in 2005 and this was the jumping off point for her ideas. she has a lot of rings (costume jewelry) and wanted pegs to stack them on. The faux lower drawer will actually be a tilt out to present the pegs.

 

[David Johnson]

Can't make a jewelry cabinet too big. The bigger it is the more jewelry can be added. Something like a tool chest.

David

 

[glenn bradley]

I wanted to have the case in the clamps last night but instead took a little time at the end of the day and made a larger version of these cauls.

They work equally well for finger joints and dovetails. I have some for small box work but, these fingers are of a larger scale.


There was some talk about bar gauges a while back. Here I am quickly swapping bars to fit the scale of the piece. It just takes one small screw.

And it all clamps up like so. The finger joints are mostly self-squaring. A bit of a nudge with a diagonal clamp made things even better.

I always feel like I've gotten it right when the corners come together nice and air tight

Ever onward . . .

 

[Ted Calver]

I sure do enjoy your projects, Glenn. Probably don't say it enough, but thanks for sharing with us.

 

[glenn bradley]

No problem Ted. I'm retired and get bored easily. My project journals are actually a twisted cry for help.

 

[glenn bradley]

I tend to fit my joinery and do any rough work prior to final surface prep. I knock the edges back on the back-slats creating a sort of raised panel look.

I use scratch stocks for more complex edge treatments but for this simple round-over a small plane is fine.

So here's the puzzle pieces for the back. The raised edges slide into the groove at the sides and top, the slats half-lap over each other down the long meeting edges, and the bottoms of the slats are rabbeted to rest on the bottom of the case.

The outer slats go in first.

Then slide over and into the grooves on the long sides of the case.

I prop them up with a couple of scrap wedges.

And slide the center piece into position.

These will eventually get tacked to some of the internal structure along the center-line of each slat to allow for wood movement. The recessed back is to accommodate a french cleat for hanging.

And here is the basic look.

Now I will pull them back out, surface prep them, and set them aside. They will go back in toward the end of the build.

 

[glenn bradley]

Hosting a birthday party so not much done today. I did a mock-up of the tilt front "drawer".


Looks like that requested feature is going to work out OK.
Nothing puts a spring in your step like dropping a nice sharp plane iron. On the one hand it missed my foot. On the other hand . .. well, we all know which end of a sharp tool hits the concrete.

When choosing parts, especially the showy bits, you can create some odd shaped scrap.

I don't worry about it. Christmas is coming and those small pieces become gift boxes.

My cutoff saw is a little slower than a chop saw but serves me (and stores) well.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

And the dimensions are...?

 

[glenn bradley]

And the dimensions are...?

It’s about 19” x 33” x 6”. I have reached one of those phases where you spend a lot of time but it doesn't really show.

Has anyone ever been sad that they setup a shooting board?

Despite squaring up during glue up I have a slight out of square situation with the casework. Since the door and the tilt-out will be inset I want to eliminate this. I could, and have, worked around this while fitting the door and drawer but wanted to apply a little "recovery-woodworking" and see what I could gain. This block at the bottom of the case will be hidden behind the tilt-out.

Along with a well fitted french cleat hanger I was able to pretty well re-square the case so I'm happy about that.

File this under weird stuff that becomes useful . . . These are cut offs from some vinyl lattice work I used in the yard. I ended up with a bunch of them. Turns out they are very close to 1/8" thick and work as shims or alignment aids. Who knew?

In a rare case I actually know where this piece will be mounted. It will be on drywall.

I setup the wall portion of the french cleat to use RocLocs. I have used these myself on cabinets much heavier than this jewelry cabinet with good success. The recipients did a beautiful job of remodeling their own kitchen so I am sure they can get this cabinet up on the wall without any trouble.

 

[glenn bradley]

There are times when life just seems bound and determined to interrupt my natural flow in the shop. My dog woke me about 2am with the signal that someone was around that hadn't ought to be. I let her out because nothing puts a spring in the old girls step like cornering someone and daring them to try to move.

I couldn't see anything that led me to believe there were any two-legged varmints about so I was confused as to what she was doing so far out and for so long. I finally whistled her back . . . the smell hit me before I could even see her . . . skunk! She obviously didn't get a full blast from the critter but she had enough stink on her that she got to spend the rest of the night in the garage. Bath time in the morning.

Enough of my tale of woe . . . back to work.

I picked up a couple of dings somewhere along the line. This little $20 Sunbeam iron stores easily and is great for steaming out dents.

I drill a 3/8" counter bore and a 1/4" hole at a few degrees to accept the pegs that will hold rings. This feature was a specific request.

I need some door frame parts and ran into a quandary. I'm sure I paid a premium for 'thick and wide' on this board years ago but it is a good color match so I will cut the frame parts from a strip of it.

I tinted some shellac to match my final finish and sealed the inside surfaces with that. I try to avoid finishing areas that will be mostly enclosed with high VOC finishes that off gas for long periods. A tinted shellac has proven to be a good solution. The outer finish will be my usual toxic witch's brew

.
Here's the parts for the door frame.

And here I am set up to cut the bridle joints tomorrow morning.

The lack of sleep is making me a little foggy so I want to wait till tomorrow for this operation.

 

[glenn bradley]

I scribe the face of the boards when making cross cuts like these bridle joint shoulders. There's always more than one way to do things. I use a knife or a wheel gauge but a ruler and a razor knife would do as well.

This shot is for those folks that wonder why they ever bought a tenoning jig .

These self-adjusting toggle clamps really speed up the work at the Domino Table.

Case in point.

I cut all the grooves for the door panels. This gives you a general look at where I am so far.

The door figure will blend with the door panel figure. I hope to fit the panels tomorrow.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Love the domino table - your design or commercial?

 

[glenn bradley]

Love the domino table - your design or commercial?

Lee Valley. I gave it a quick review here. I was designing my own. I added up the time and material, thought about how I might be able to make the height bars and the offset registration guide, and kept delaying it. I ended up getting a gift card and used it for the commercial version.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Lee Valley. I gave it a quick review here. I was designing my own. I added up the time and material, thought about how I might be able to make the height bars and the offset registration guide, and kept delaying it. I ended up getting a gift card and used it for the commercial version.

Yep - remember now - bookmarked!

 

[glenn bradley]

Lots of detail work that take time but shows little. Thought I better post something at least so you don't think I've wandered off . This item is going to live in central Texas so the floating panels have a bit more room to breathe than I generally give local pieces. In lieu of space balls I use blobs of silicone rubber at various locations in the panel grooves. To assure the panels stay centered and the frame stays true I clamp it more than what I would normally.

Things seem to be working out.

The drawer-looking panel is where the ring tilt-out hides.

I use a hand plane to put a bit of a bevel on the door-strike edge so there is good clearance through the swing. The clamp is holding a sacrificial block so I don't blow out the end grain of the bridle joint at the end of the stroke.

I keep meaning to make one of those Woodsmith door holder doo-hickies but keep on just doing this with hand screws.

And there we go.



A little more fooling around with the top and bottom trim and it will be time to start finishing.

 

[Robert Horky]

Looking great.

 

[glenn bradley]

Hand Screws come in handy yet again for small parts holding.



The rough stages of shaping the pulls.

The base coat goes on.

Now it is just a matter of building film, finishing the finish, and adding the jewelry hangers.

 

[glenn bradley]

Sorry I wandered off. Oh well, giving a new finish a little more time to cure is never a bad thing. I thought I would be ready to assemble but I found something in the finish on the door that I didn't like. I fixed that but will have to wait a day or so now before handling. In the mean time . . . there will be three necklace / bracelet hanger fixtures inside the cabinet. The two on the back wall will be attached from behind so no fasteners will show. I also want one on the inside of the door. Rather than have screw heads show I will plug these holes. I will make the plug heads proud and somewhat domed.

I take a piece of the same material as the hanger board is made from. This is a slightly figured and fairly open grained material. I often make plugs, square and round, from lengths of material that I can handle like a pencil. I want face grain on these plug heads so I had to get inventive. I use a Veritas tapered plug cutter for these 1/4" plugs.

I cut out a piece of scrap and drill a 1/4" hole about an inch or so deep in the end. I drill an 1/8" hole from the base of the 1/4" hole at an angle so it blows out the side.

I stick the raw plug into the holder to shape and polish it.

When I am happy with the plug I can poke it out using the 1/8" hole.

I end up with a plug that has a combination of the open grained material and a polished look.

This will all make more sense when I mount the hangers.

Got the carcass waxed in prep for door install as well.