Tea Cabinet - Latest Project

[Jim Koepke]

This finally came to the top of my honey do project list. LOML has been wanting a tea cabinet for some time. She was requested to draw up her idea of what she wanted and where it would go. She hasn't done such, she does draw plans and usually more likely to do so than me. So this is what happened. My recent build of a Golden Mean Divider had me wanting to use it on a project. This hasn't had much documentation. An image of me cutting a dado with a chisel was posted in a thread about cross grain mortises.


Have been spending anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or two on it most days.

This is the main case with the crest rail sitting on top.

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There will be another on the bottom. It will be mounted with a screw in the top and bottom rail. It is for a light load of mostly boxes of tea. Candy has at least a dozen different tea blends she likes.

The 2X3 blocks with slots were used to hold the shelves in place while the side was put in place. This case is not yet glued. As usual at this time of year the shop is too cold to do a glue up. May use it as an experiment to see how long it can go with a door and no glue. Bound to be warmer if or when it fails.

The back is ship lapped re-sawn pine scrap.

My plan is to have molding on the top and bottom.

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A simple shape cut with a rabbet plane, a wooden round plane and a beading cutter in a Stanley #45.

My plan is to make a frame and panel door. Haven't decided yet whether to make a raised panel or do some carving.

Time will tell, details when they are done.

jtk

[Paul Cofrancesco]

Cool stuff.

[Brian Holcombe]

Nice work Jim!

[Cody Kemble]

Very nice. I wish I could get my wife to draw up what she wanted.

[Andrew Hughes]

Mmmmm I can smell the fresh pine from here.Aj

[Judson Green]

Cool! You know it might look just right without a door.

Nice work!

[Stew Denton]

Hi Jim,

Nice work! I will be looking forward to the updates when you post them.

Stew

[ken hatch]

Jim,

How are you going to finish it? Milk paint, oil and wax or something else? BTW, nice project and one Pat would love to have. I gotta keep her away from the web or one more thing will be added to endless list.

ken

[Jim Koepke]

How are you going to finish it? Milk paint, oil and wax or something else?

Since it is for the lady of the house, she has elected to give it a coat of ivory toned paint.

I like the idea of a light stain, but she gets to make the choice.

jtk

[Frederick Skelly]

I like it Jim!

[Jim Koepke]

Here is a little from today's work of cutting and installing the molding.

Here is my miter shooting set up:

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It is my small shooting board with a block that has been cut to 45º. Some manipulation of the piece was needed. That involves lifting or a slight change in the angle.

Then the molding in place:

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I messed up on the cut when cutting the second miter and had to move over about a half inch. If it was cut properly the first time the grain would come very close to matching. Since SWMBO wants this painted it won't be seen.

Next a matching molding on the bottom, then a door and onto mounting the top and bottom crest/rails for mounting on the wall.

[Daniel Rode]

It looks great so far! I work a lot in pine and is seems like you do as well. It wold be more work, but I think split doors would look really nice. You'd probably want flat panels with doors that thin.

I must have missed the golden mean divider. Did you post it here?

[Jim Koepke]

It looks great so far! I work a lot in pine and is seems like you do as well. It wold be more work, but I think split doors would look really nice. You'd probably want flat panels with doors that thin.

I must have missed the golden mean divider. Did you post it here?

My thought was to have double doors or split doors. The woman in charge said she wants a single door.

Here is the Golden Mean divider:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?223546-What-s-in-a-Name

Further down in the thread is a link to the layout that was used.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

So LOML wanted to paint the tea cabinet I built for her. So instead of the natural wood she wanted it white.

Then she wanted to put a clear coat on it. She felt the shellac I use is 'too glossy.'

So we went and she bought some satin finish spray lacquer. When we got home I read the package and noticed it should be used at 65º or warmer. So we turned on the heater (electric) to warm the house. Then the smell had us opening the doors and going out in the cold for a while.

She finally finished today so the tea cabinet is now up for business.

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And open with a few boxes of tea and a cup:

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Looks like she will be buying a few more boxes of tea.

I intend to make some small covers for the mounting screw holes.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

This one was built pretty much the same as the original except a #16 round soled plane was used to raise the panel and blind nailing was used to mount the molding.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?232798-Blind-Nailing

Front view:

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Inside:

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This is my third Tea Cabinet build. The second one's back didn't sit square so it is being used as a cabinet in the shop. My next one will likely switch to adjustable shelves with 1/4" pins for support.

The panel raising also needs to be better thought out.

jtk

[Phil Thien]

That is nice enough that I'd consider switching from coffee to tea.

What are you going to use for adjustable pins? Krenov carved his shelf pins and they were pretty neat. Those cabinets deserve more than a steel pin, IMHO.

Also, have you ever considered poplar? Not that expensive and over time the greens mellow into browns and I think that could look pretty awesome.

I also think some VG fir or pine would look real nice, too.

[Jim Koepke]

That is nice enough that I'd consider switching from coffee to tea.

What are you going to use for adjustable pins? Krenov carved his shelf pins and they were pretty neat. Those cabinets deserve more than a steel pin, IMHO.

Also, have you ever considered poplar? Not that expensive and over time the greens mellow into browns and I think that could look pretty awesome.

I also think some VG fir or pine would look real nice, too.

Thanks for the kind words.

Haven't come to a conclusion on the pins. One thought was to drill the ends of the shelf boards before resawing them from 3/4" stock. Wood dowels would work. Could also make small decorative features. It can all end up adding to the final cost.

My current source for what is sold as 'premium pine' charges about $2/BF. It usually is knot free and a little picking through the stack usually provides some good lumber. I might be able to get alder for less if I use the trees on my own land and mill it myself. Poplar is about $7/BF at the local Borg.

jtk

[Jeff Considine]

Jim, the cabinets look great. Could you expand on how you used the golden mean divider in the design of the cabinet please?

Thanks,

Jeff

[Jim Koepke]

Jim, the cabinets look great. Could you expand on how you used the golden mean divider in the design of the cabinet please?

Thanks,

Jeff

My first cabinet was built from scraps. The long pieces were measured with the outside of the golden mean caliper to then get a dimension for the horizontal pieces. The caliper is a mechanical devise to return a ratio of 1:1.6. This ratio used in design is for some reason pleasing to the human eye and appears often in nature.

Golden mean caliper:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?223546-What-s-in-a-Name

There have been other posts on the same device. Use the SMC search box and enter > fibonacci calculator < or any of the other names by which this device is known and you will find many different methods of doing the same thing.

jtk

[Phil Thien]

Thanks for the kind words.

Haven't come to a conclusion on the pins. One thought was to drill the ends of the shelf boards before resawing them from 3/4" stock. Wood dowels would work. Could also make small decorative features. It can all end up adding to the final cost.

My current source for what is sold as 'premium pine' charges about $2/BF. It usually is knot free and a little picking through the stack usually provides some good lumber. I might be able to get alder for less if I use the trees on my own land and mill it myself. Poplar is about $7/BF at the local Borg.

jtk

Gotcha. Poplar is $2.31 a board foot here for select and better. Walnut is $7 select and better. Too bad shipping this stuff is so expensive.

The pine you're using is very nice, I'm not dissing the pine. It is very fitting for the piece.

[lowell holmes]

Jim,
Can you expound on making the beveled joint at the side to vertical stile (front corner ). Did you do that with hand tools?

I probably would be forced to do it on the table saw.

[Jim Koepke]

Jim,
Can you expound on making the beveled joint at the side to vertical stile (front corner ). Did you do that with hand tools?

I probably would be forced to do it on the table saw.

Lowell,

I am having difficulty trying to figure out which joint you are talking about. If by 'beveled joint' you mean the mitered corners, yes they were done with hand tools. The cuts were made with an old Craftsman miter box and then the shooting board was set up with a block that has been cut to 45º. There may be a need to do a little finessing/adjustment at the shooting board.

The side moldings are cut a tad long and then any excess is trimmed from the back. I am also careful to cut the pieces from a continuous piece. The corners are cut as close as possible to each other. This helps to make the grain seem continuous around a corner. Then there was something posted by someone else here about glueing the molding at the corners. This cabinet also has the molding glued along the mounting side along with being held by nails.

The only use of power tools on this cabinet was using the bandsaw to resaw the shelf stock and rip the molding.

Hope that answers your question.

jtk

[lowell holmes]

Jim,

The mitered corners are exactly what I was talking about. Making a beveled shooting board would never occur to me.

I'm more impressed with your skills every time you post pictures of a project. Keep up the good work.

I will probably be forced to bevel the shooting board on the table saw. :)

[Matt Lau]

Very tasteful.

[Mel Fulks]

They used to use the term "tea ceremony" ,it's nice to have dedicated pieces for every day enjoyments. I like your moulding as it is crisp ,attractive, and obviously not from the Borg. The thin shelves add a lot ,and should be used more often.

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks Mel,

Seeing it now one would think it was made too small. Candy has it stuffed to the last square millimeter with boxes of tea.

jtk

[Jerry Olexa]

Nice work, Jim.....Now go have a cup of tea...

[Mike Baker 2]

That's beautiful work, Jim. Both pieces. But the last one, with the natural finish, is the winner for me. I guess it's the Southern boy in me, but I love pine. It will most likely be my main wood, although I don't get that quality of pine around here. The closest place to me to get lumber that is not construction grade is 60 plus miles South of me. About 130 miles round trip, and all I've got is a mini van that needs a ton of work before I'd trust it that far.

[Jeff Ranck]

As always Jim, you do really great work!

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks all for the kind words.

Fortunately for me there is a builders supply store in Vancouver, WA. That is only about 100 miles round trip. In Portland there are a some good lumber suppliers, but the better the wood the higher the cost. The Vancouver yard used to have a clear pine. The owner bought a train car load and sold it over a few years at ~$2 a foot for 1X12. Now it is back to picking through the #3 pine at a little less than a buck a liner foot. Not sure if the price has changed recently.

jtk

[Hasin Haroon]

Very nice design and execution Jim!