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

[Chris Griggs]

Hey Folks,

Posted a question (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?204279-Some-help-with-quot-appropriate-quot-looking-hardware&highlight=) 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.

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[Sam Murdoch]

What's with those hinges? :D

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

[Chris Griggs]

What's with those hinges? :D

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!

[Mel Fulks]

Nice work,Chris. When you actually use things ,you see them in a different way than when building them. You will stop thinking about perceived small flaws and enjoy its beauty and utility. I learned something from this thread ....Sam does NOT keep his pen hanging on the wall! It's a hinge!

[Chris Griggs]

Thanks All.

Yeah Mel, once its in place in the house being used the flaws won't bother me. I find on everything I make there are flaws that bug me for a month or so and than after that I stop noticing them. Flaws in projects have the same effect on me as the first ding I put in a new hand plane. It really bothers me at first but than as I use it I realize it doesn't matter much and eventually I stop noticing it.

Ha! Glad you learned something from this thread. Now we just need to find an excuse to use those hinges (http://www.whitechapel-ltd.com/category/CABEIFCH.html) in something...and learn how to install them.

[Dave Beauchesne]

Chris: Nicely done !! I like the color the shellac imparted to the final product - Verrry nice.

[Steve Voigt]

Gorgeous. Really nice, not "amateur" at all. I love the seedlac finish.

[Winton Applegate]

I am really enjoying looking at your beautiful cabinet. Your choice of orienting the figure in the doors as you have, to borrow a phrase from a song :
"Sends Me"
That's a good thing.


My only criticism , and I think most but not all here would agree with me when I say, it needs more end grain showing.

[Jim Matthews]

Why did you put the best looking board on top?

I like the layout of the "feet"...
too many furniture pieces I've seen don't allow
for cleaning, underneath.

Home with pets will have the same "accretion layer" found in mine,
under every similar cabinet.

Nicely done.

[Chris Griggs]

Why did you put the best looking board on top?

I like the layout of the "feet"...
too many furniture pieces I've seen don't allow
for cleaning, underneath.

Home with pets will have the same "accretion layer" found in mine,
under every similar cabinet.

Nicely done.

RE: The top.

Because of where the cabinet sits (in a corner more or less) and because of its height (40 or so inches) the top is more visible then the sides so I opted to put those pieces that had the discolored area's on the sides and the very clear piece on the top. I did have a couple other boards that were clearer and have a lot of nice figure that I could have used on the sides but I'm saving those for panels or something on future projects.


RE: The base and pets

I didn't even think of that but that's a good point. We have 4 cats which technically qualifies us as crazy cat people. 5 minutes after I sweep tumble weeds of fur begin to once again gather under furniture and in corners of the house.


Thanks again for the comments everyone. I moved into its place in the living room last night and filled it up with our DVDs. Looks much nicer than the milk crates they were sitting in previously.

[Archie England]

Wow! Outstanding!!!! Great job on that cabinet AND FINISH. Way to go Chris.

[Jim Matthews]

I moved into its place in the living room last night and filled it up with our DVDs. Looks much nicer than the milk crates they were sitting in previously.

Well, yeah.
If you use the cheap crates, whadja expek?

Get the designer Ikea versions next time.

[Chris Griggs]

Well, yeah.
If you use the cheap crates, whadja expek?

Get the designer Ikea versions next time.

But Jim my wife is a teacher so the milk crates are free!!!! They are also my main source of shop storage space...:)

[Steve Barksdale]

Chris, nicely done.

Could you expand a little on the finish? I am very curious about the seedlac. Where you bought it. What grade you used. How it compares to shellac. That kind of thing.

Thanks

[Chris Griggs]

Chris, nicely done.

Could you expand a little on the finish? I am very curious about the seedlac. Where you bought it. What grade you used. How it compares to shellac. That kind of thing.

Thanks

Hi Steve, thanks for comment and question.

I bought the seedlac from shellac.net (http://www.shellac.net/ShellacPricing.html) . They sell 3 grades/tones. Kusmi which is the most refined and is more the color of blond shellac but maybe with a touch more brownish undertones and a little less yellow...but still very light. They also sell Thai seedlac which is sorta a carmel with redish amber undertones kinda like amber shellac but a little less orangy (this is on my lap desk I just posted), and finally they sell what they call Biyaskai Dark Brown seedlac, which is pretty close in color to the Thai but less reddish and more carmely but not really dark brown when applied (and is what is on the cabinet)

I bought all 3 grades. Here are some pics of all three on a maple cutoff from the project. From left to right, Biyasaki, Thai/Siam, Kusmi, and bare wood.

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My finishing process is to first give a heavy coat of plain BLO to all the surfaces that will be finished. I then wipe off any excess after a few minutes. You're not looking for build here, just want to make sure that all the surfaces look like they've been saturated with oil more or less.

Make sure you wipe off all the excess but there is not need to wait for it to dry before applying the shellac/seedlac. For application of shellac I normally use a "rubber" basically a wad of cheese-cloth balled up in a shirt, and dampened with DNA. I use somewhere around a 1.5-2 pound cut and make light even strokes across the surfaces landing the pad a little into the surface (not at the edge) and carrying the stroke all the way to the end. The thin coats dry almost immediately so you build up a nice first coat by applying many thin coats one after the other. Once the shellac starts to build a bit it won't dry as fast and will get a little sticky. STOP as soon as it gets sticky or you will inadvertently pull some shellac of some areas. Wait at least 30 minutes once things start to get sticky, lightly sand the surface with 400-600 grit wet/dry sandpaper and then begin to apply the shellac again. Basically, you repeat the shellac/seedlac application a couple times until you have a coat you are happy with. This is NOT french polishing BTW...I don't know how to do that. When you are satisfied with the amount of build you have you can go back and wet sand or buff out with #0000 steel wool. My preferances it to apply wax with steel wool and than buff it out with cotton rag at the end. This gives it a nice dull low gloss glow.

A note of caution colored shellacs and seedlacs are a little harder to apply then a clear shellac, just because a litte uneveness in the coats can make the color look uneven and/or cause a it of streaking. Its not super hard by any means, you just need to make sure your coats are even.

Another note. For mixing seedlac specifically, you end up with debris after after it has dissolved as they don't clean the sticks and bug parts out of it as they do with shellac. You can just allow the debris to sink to the bottom but found filtering through a couple layers of cheese cloth to be preferable. I didn't do any super fine filtering which was fine, but getting the bigger pieces of debris out of there definitly made the application easier for me.

BTW, everything I described about actually applying the shellac is Jeff Jewitts (I'm sure others but that's where I learned it) for a basic shellac finish. It takes a little practice but if you mess up and get an uneven build you can soak the surface in alcohol, wipe the shellac off, and start again. I definitely recommend you do some searches on applying shellac or look up some of Jeff Jewitts stuff. He explains it far better than I. Practice on some sample board first too. Its short learning curve but it did take me a couple tries to get the hang of applying it evenly and knowing when to stop.

One last thing. For this project I tried something that isn't usually recommended. I applied coats with a foam brush (usually a better quality brush is recommended for brushing on shellacs). It actually worked really well though, and allow me to apply nice even coats heavier and faster than I could with a "rubber".

Hope that clarifies things. I love shellac type finishes. They are super quick to apply (you can have them DONE in a matter of hours), they don't stink up your house, and they look fantastic.

[Steve Barksdale]

Wow, thanks much for the in-depth reply.

I use shellac all the time but just for jigs, shop cabinets and the like. I thought of it as an easy to use, inexpensive way to protect wood, nothing more. I mean it’s insect poop for crying out loud. I would not have thought of it as a finish for fine furniture. Your project, Chris, certainly proves it works very well as just that.

Bulls Eye in a can is fine but buying flakes and mixing your own seems like the obvious next step. I think I’ll add a little seedlac to that order.

Thanks again!

[Chris Griggs]

Bullseye is good stuff. You can get lovely finishes with plain old Bullseye Seal Coat. The application of the seedlac is pretty much the same as the canned stuff. Maybe a somewhat different consistency and somewhat different feel when sanding because of the wax in it, but really its the same application process.

The color of the seedlacs is very nice though, definitely give it a try. George also told me that it keeps it sheen better over time than the dewaxed stuff, because of the wax. If George likes it you know its good! Good luck with it. Its a fun finish.

[Jim Matthews]

But Jim my wife is a teacher so the milk crates are free!!!! They are also my main source of shop storage space...:)

I'm just sayin' - a truly resourceful lad would go to some lengths to procure cheap and cheerful furnishings
before all the trouble of making something both appealing and competently built.

Stay on this course and you'll be awake before dawn and giving up fast food before long.
It's a slippery slope you're on, there.

[Chris Griggs]

I'm just sayin' - a truly resourceful lad would go to some lengths to procure cheap and cheerful furnishings
before all the trouble of making something both appealing and competently built.


Touche'. :) Though I'll point out that if you look at the above photo of my seedlac testing you'll notice that the sample board is sitting on a lovely red ikea pantry. I actually do like some ikea stuff but I have a strict rule that I'll only buy the stuff actually made out of wood, as that stuff actually does last. I got tired of all that termite barf breaking the second I would try to move it.



Stay on this course and you'll be awake before dawn and giving up fast food before long.
It's a slippery slope you're on, there.

Oh my friend, if only you knew how far gone I already am. I have long since dove head first down that slope, swam across the river at the bottom, dug a well on the other side, dove headfirst into that, and then had it sealed off to the outside world with a 3 ton slab of granite. There's no turning back.

(Unless you count Starbucks as fast food. You'll have to fight me if you want to take my Starbucks away)