Mahogany entertainment center

[Bryan Hunt]

The build for my entertainment center (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?259404-Shaker-style-cabinet) has begun. I picked up the wood today and rough cut the legs from the 12/4. I'll try to post pics as the build progresses.

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[William Fretwell]

Cherry & walnut?

[Bryan Hunt]

The mortise and tenons are all cut for the rails and legs. I used the chisel to define the mortise, hogged out the bulk of the waste on the drill press, and finished with the chisel. The tenon cheeks were roughed out with the chisel and finished with a router plane. I'm extremely happy with the fit. Today, I'm going to taper the legs and arch the bottom front rail. Then, maybe start planing the boards for the drawer fronts and door frames. I kinda want to wait till I have help to cut down the 4x8 mahogany plywood.

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[Bryan Hunt]

I did manage to get the legs tapered and the bottom rail arched today. I used a thin cutoff piece of mahogany to draw the arch on a strip of 1/2" MDF. I rough-cut the MDF on the bandsaw and did the final shaping with a rasp and sanding. I marked the bottom rail from the template and rough-cut on the bandsaw. I attached the template to the rail with double-stick tape and ran it through the router table with a pattern bit. My wife helped me rip a sheet of plywood so I can start working on the bottom and partitions.

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[William Fretwell]

The thing about entertainment centres is they are a moving target. Think of your parents set up, then yours, now they are shrinking even more. In all likelihood they will just be an app on your phone or laptop with an amplifier buried in a cupboard. Good speakers are pretty much the same.
Yours seems very large so I'm guessing it's mainly a TV table.

[William Fretwell]

Your shop is ridiculously tidy. My floor is concrete so I don't have to worry about glare!

[Jim Becker]

The thing about entertainment centres is they are a moving target. Think of your parents set up, then yours, now they are shrinking even more. In all likelihood they will just be an app on your phone or laptop with an amplifier buried in a cupboard. Good speakers are pretty much the same.
Yours seems very large so I'm guessing it's mainly a TV table.

I don't disagree that things have changed over time! That said, many folks still have multiple components involved in their home for media and while the norm for screens has moved to wall mounts (for both functionality and safety), attractive furniture for the other stuff is a great project opportunity. I'm looking forward to see what the OP's end result is...those legs are very interesting looking!

[Bryan Hunt]

Today's pics should give you a better idea on the look. I did a dry-fit of the legs and rails and spent the rest of the day getting the bottom to fit. It turns out that my bench makes a good shooting board.

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[William Fretwell]

The top rails seem very long with no middle support, do you plan to add one?

[Bryan Hunt]

The top rails seem very long with no middle support, do you plan to add one?

Yes, there will be plenty of supports coming soon.

[Bryan Hunt]

I got the bottom supports and dominos in the plywood done. I'll do the middle feet tomorrow and that should complete the underside.

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[Brian Holcombe]

Beautiful work!

[Bryan Hunt]

Since my last update, I've finished the middle support feet, dividers, top supports, and side panels. The divider panels are domino'd to the bottom and fit into a dado in the top supports. The side panels have an add-on piece to accommodate the drawer slides.

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[Jim Becker]

That's coming along beautifully, Bryan!

[Bryan Hunt]

That's coming along beautifully, Bryan!

Thank you!

I've started the glue-up so I should have pics of it fully assembled in a day or two. I did manage to get the boards for the top milled today - it's going to be somewhere around 1-1/8" thick. I'm really looking forward to getting that top on.

[Jim Becker]

The size of that thang' will benefit from the thicker top. Nice!

[Bryan Hunt]

I'm in the process of gluing up the cabinet, so I relocated the build close to one of the doors to the shop before it gets too heavy. More on this later! The right and left sides are glued together, but not to the front and back rails. That will happen tomorrow and for now, I'm using the sides to keep everything square. I'm really looking forward to only having to take it apart and put it back together one last time. It feels like I've done that 1000 times already.

I got the top dimensioned for thickness and width. I face clamped the boards in pairs and used my 7-1/2 plane (I don't have an 8 yet) to co-plane the gluing edges. I also cut for 10x50 mm dominos every foot to keep the top from shifting along it's thickness during glue-up. This should make the final flattening of the top much easier. Finally, two of the four boards for the top are glued.

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[Bryan Hunt]

A couple days ago, I got the top completely glued and then started on the doors. I really like the Woodpeckers coping sled for the cope cut on the rails. Next I glued up the doors and while all the glue was drying, I installed most of the drawer slides.

Today, I flattened the top with my #7-1/2 and sanded to 180 - I'll do the final sanding just before I do the finish. I got the doors planed flat and I set the top on the base mainly to free up the bench. Finally, I started cutting parts for the drawers. The dark spots on the top in the last pic are where I filled some spots with epoxy mixed with Mahogany dust. I made a paste and pushed it into the places where there was a tiny gap in the glue joint. I'll sand those out tomorrow.

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[Bryan Hunt]

I did some sanding on the top to clean up the epoxy patches. They came out great. I got three drawers and two doors installed. I had to add some spacers for the drawer slides for the drawers behind the door so they would clear the hinges. If all goes well tomorrow, I'll finish the construction. I still need to do a lot of planing to get the final fit for the doors and drawer fronts.

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[Joe A Faulkner]

This is looking really good. Nice job in matching the grain on drawer fronts. Looking forward to seeing it progress. How are you finishing the back?

[Bryan Hunt]

The back will be a sheet of 3/16" Mahogany plywood. That should happen this weekend with pics to follow. :)


This is looking really good. Nice job in matching the grain on drawer fronts. Looking forward to seeing it progress. How are you finishing the back?

[Bryan Hunt]

The last of the drawers are in, and the doors and drawer fronts are done. Still a lot of adjusting and planing to do.

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[julian abram]

Dang, very nice!

[Joe A Faulkner]

Another well matched set of drawer fronts. The figure is going to really pop once a finish is applied. I'm guessing it is pushing 90" in lenght? I hope you don't have to make any sharp turns to get it into the entertainment room. :)

[Bryan Hunt]

I planed and adjusted the drawer fronts and doors. I secured the top to the base. I added the back and installed the fans. I also added some stops for the shelves to allow for airflow behind the shelves. The voltage regulator I'm using to run the fans is not working right so I'll have to find a better one. All that's left is pulls, shelves, a final sanding, and the finish.

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[Bryan Hunt]

The base has moved into the spray booth and I've applied the first coat of Tried and True hand rubbed varnish to the underside.

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[Dan Schocke]

Nice work!

I have to say that I really admire the folks that take the time to photograph theirs builds and keep a journal. I tend to get too buried in the work at hand and forget to take pictures of the process. Anyway, my thanks to you for documenting this build and letting us follow along.

--Dan

[Bryan Hunt]

The finish continues. The project is moving a lot slower now. I had to go back to my real job.

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[brian zawatsky]

That is a monster cabinet! Very nice work, looking forward to seeing it completed. Don't you hate it when work gets in the way of your life?

[Bryan Hunt]

It's done. Here are the final pics. BTW, is it possible to edit my original post to add these pics at the top of the thread?

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[Todd Trebuna]

Very, very nice. I think including ventilation is so smart.

[glenn bradley]

Beautifully done Bryan. Its nice to see folks who have not become confused about an iPhone blue-toothed to some wireless speaker being a music system.