Build thread - Mahogany, Birdseye Maple, Padauk

[David Falkner]

This is my first project to post here at SMC and I thought I'd do a build thread, even though I have already built this and given it to my wife for Christmas. Hope you enjoy this little project. David

My wife doesn't have much jewelry and has no real desire to have more (cool by me!) but I thought I'd build her a decent place to put what she has.

We have built-in shelves/drawers in our closet and when you walk into the closet there is 14" wide painted plywood side of the shelves that looked like a great place to put a jewelry cabinet. So I thought about it a day or so and decided on Honduras Mahogany, Birdseye Maple, and Padauk. I took a few measurements and picked suitable stock to begin, starting with resawing a 4" wide piece of Birdseye Maple into three pieces about 3/16" thick.

I jointed the edge of the Birdseye before resawing but wanted to get it perfect for the bookmatch that would actually show. So I lightly sanded to keep as much width as possible to stick to my overall desired width of the cabinet.
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Glued up using the board I made 30 years ago for joining guitar tops and backs. This board is 1.25" particle board - flat and heavy! These wedges work really great.
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Both sides finished with Nitrocellulose sanding sealer and Lacquer
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Mahogany flattened, trued, cut to dimension, rabbet cut for back
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ySw_88lLA

With the back finished I moved to sizing the rabbet. I don't like a back that is flush fit but rather one that sets in a tiny bit. Because this is going to be mounted on a wall, any irregularities in that surface would put this cabinet in a bind once it is fastened (it won't be hanging).
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Miters cut and the frame/back are test fitted. Allowances for movement across the width of the back are key to making sure this doesn't split or bow later. There is very little allowance top and bottom because the panel won't move in that direction, not perceivably anyway.
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Internal shelves and vertical pieces milled to a few thousandths under 1/4" and cut to size.
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Shelves cut and fitted
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More to follow...

[Curtis Myers]

Nice. I want to do some jewelry boxes for wife and daughters one day. Anxiously waiting for more.

[David Falkner]

Slotted with 1/4" bit for interlocking joint
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Here's the basic layout although the shelves are too long at this point.
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Cutting dados/slots in the frame -
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All pieces cut -
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Checking the fit on each piece -
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Shelves, vertical pieces, frame all dry fitted. This view is from the back.
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Once I was satisfied with the dry fit I glued the frame together.
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I dry fitted the entire cabinet with all pieces before applying finish (Nitrocellulose sealer and lacquer).
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That's all I have time for tonight. I'll finish this tomorrow.
Thanks for reading - David

[Doug Ladendorf]

I don't know David, kind of cheating when you know how it turns out. Where is the thrill? Where is the risk? ;-)

Project looks great. Can't wait to see how it came out. I like your wedged panel glue up jig.

[David Falkner]

I don't know David, kind of cheating when you know how it turns out. Where is the thrill? Where is the risk? ;-)

Project looks great. Can't wait to see how it came out. I like your wedged panel glue up jig.

Ain't it though, Doug! :D I didn't want my first build thread here to show my mistakes. I'll save those for later. ;)

The wedges work very good and you can vary the pressure pretty easily and quickly provide enough for glue squeeze out.


I used blocks in each corner not only for mounting but to reinforce the miter joints. These are set back from the front and I'll show you why later.
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It was time to cut the door so I routed a profile on two edges and cut the rabbet. Then I ripped both sides to the desired width of my frame but I saved the pieces from the rabbet for later.
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Miters cut for door -
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I needed a door pull and came up with this design in Birdseye Maple. It took about 10 minutes to make and I think it looks pretty delicate, like the piece and the jewelry to go inside. Plus, Sandy is petite and has small fingers so this seemed to be right for her. And I didn't want to go buy a pull or knob for this, just wouldn't be right.
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When it comes to mounting and spacing hinges on a door I know this can be a problem area for some. Here's a little technique that might help - I mounted the hinges where I wanted in the frame and then propped the door at the full open position up against the frame. Then I used two drill bits the same size for spacers to know that my door is positioned properly in relation to the hinges. Next I used a straight edge to line up the bottom of the frame and the bottom of the door and to double check my drill bit spacers. When both were lined up properly, which took all of about a minute, I marked two holes for screws, put those in, then closed the door to make sure it was right - it was. I've had it happen where the hinges aren't quite precise enough and then you have to tweak it but this usually works.
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Remember those strips I kept when I cut the rabbet for the door? Well, the strips work perfectly for retaining the glass because the glass and my blade are the same thickness (kerf, in the case of the blade). Even if they had been off a tad this still works. I just put about 4 drops of Epoxy on each strip and taped them down for a bit.
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[David Falkner]

Here's the finished door -
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Oh yeah, the catch is a Rare Earth magnet, 3/8", ordered from Amazon at about $1 each for 10. These are some seriously strong magnets! I placed one in the door and a screw in the frame for it to pull against. Works great, really.
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It was time to make the necklace hooks and what I had in mind really only took a few minutes to make. I took a piece of the Birdseye Maple and drilled two 3/8" holes and one 3/4" hole with Forstner bits. Then I cut this small block off the larger board and marked where I wanted to cut on the bandsaw. I divided the block into 4 equal pieces and sliced partway through then turned it on the side and cut through the holes to end up with my four pieces. I could have created another two hooks on the bottom of these little pieces and ended up with 16 hooks for necklaces. But she only has about two necklaces and if for some reason that changes drastically then she can double up on the eight hooks. I was thinking more about how I wanted it to look than getting as many hooks as possible.
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Cuts made to create four identical parts -
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Once I cut through the holes all four pieces came out neatly and ready for sanding.
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Dry fitting to make sure they're going to be square with the frame. The piece on which they'll be mounted is Padauk about 1/8" thick. I just came up with a freeform style to give it a little flair.
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Finished and mounted to the middle vertical piece. There is a notch in the Padauk where the hangers are Epoxied in place.
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Everything is finished, dry fitted, and ready to assemble. Here's a test run of the assembly -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6TqAiAnoIc

I'll finish this thread in a little bit -
David

[Evan Patton]

Great project. Thanks for documenting and sharing!

[David Falkner]

Great project. Thanks for documenting and sharing!

My pleasure, Evan. It was a fun project!

And testing the latch once it was mounted (I just had Sandy open and close the door to within an inch or so to see if the magnet would pull it shut softly - it did)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1S8nlZPiZ0

So here's the finished cabinet mounted in our closet. The lighting isn't great so the first shot is without flash and the next two are with flash. You can also see the caps of Mahogany I placed in front of the mounting screws in each corner (didn't want screws showing but wanted this securely fastened, so no hangers). The only adhesive used is Titebond 1 for the miters and a few spots of Epoxy for the back, Padauk, and necklace hangers. The verticals and shelves are free floating although they fit nicely and don't move around (see the video above).
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I hope you enjoyed this build thread. It was fun to take my design all the way through to completion and to see how much she liked it. Start to finish was about 10 days so that wasn't too bad, especially since it was a surprise and there were times when I had to work on other things so she didn't see it.

Thanks for following along!
David

[Doug Ladendorf]

Beautifully done David. Gotta build for the Mrs. now and then. She will appreciate that but I think I see a gift opportunity for birthday, anniversary, Valentine's etc. :-)

Doug

[David Falkner]

Beautifully done David. Gotta build for the Mrs. now and then. She will appreciate that but I think I see a gift opportunity for birthday, anniversary, Valentine's etc. :-)

Doug

Thanks, Doug. Yep, gotta earn those Husband Points! If they just didn't spend so quickly... ;)

[glenn bradley]

Very nice David with a clever and artistic design. Display and storage in an attractive package that is sure to be cherished.

[Joseph Valsi]

Nice project ! Good design and use of woods !!

[Gus Dundon]

Such a fine build. Excellent choice of woods and design.