Project: Cabinet door with 3D carving off CNC

[Jim Becker]

(This was posted in the CNC forum area, but I like to keep finished projects here where they belong, too)

Well, this little exercise is completed and I'm very happy with the end result. The original bookcase was something my father had made to fit between his electric organ and a wall to hold sheet music and organ books. A couple months before he died, he compelled me to bring it north from Florida and use it up here. We had no use for a bookcase, but I knew I'd find a project for it. It is sturdy, but, um...not as square as it should be. I assure you the door is square, however! LOL For those who didn't see the original thread in CNC, I carved the door panel on that machine, starting with full 1" material and ending up with a typical 3/4" thick board with a nice 3D rooster on it. The rails and stiles were grooved to contain the panel on the router table and were joined with pocket screws. The back side of the door is painted. The front and edges were stained with multiple Minwax stain colors to work out the color match with the original bookcase, sealed with de-waxed shellac and then the door was sprayed with some Target Coatings waterborne finish. I applied two coats of the TC waterborne to the cabinet, too, so it would match the sheen of the new door, after thoroughly cleaning it.

At any rate, I got a pretty good color match and it looks pleasing. The rooster really sets things off nicely, too. After finishing things up today, I gifted it to my older daughter for her rooms so she would have more space to store this and that...it more or less matches all the other furniture I created for her. (I set up a mini-apartment for her in the house so she could get used to the idea of eventually living independently...she has significant emotional issues due to early childhood trauma in Russia) I think my father would be pleased with that. For reference, the unit is about 48" tall.

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[Mel Fulks]

Nice new life use. Love the door and coloring. I think it would be improved by darkening that bottom board to same color as the door or just a touch darker.

[Jim Becker]

I think it would be improved by darkening that bottom board to same color as the door or just a touch darker.

Yea, I toyed with that idea, but decided to just move on as it would be a pain to do anything with that one component. For some reason, the original maker used multiple species and materials and that lower molding appears to be a piece of maple, rather than the pine and plywood that the rest of it was built from. It looks lighter in this photo than it does in a room, however...probably because of the sunlight angle

[Yonak Hawkins]

I really like the rooster, Jim. Did you design it ? I'll bet there was a lot of sanding involved if all the flat area around the bas-relief was done with router bit. ..Good thing you used poplar.

[Jim Becker]

Yonak, it's a stock 3D element in the Vectric software. Almost no sanding....the majority of the relief cutting was done with an Amana 1.25" insert "spoil board" cutting and the cleanup around the graphic was done with a .25" down cut carbide spiral. The CNC is very precise with depth. I chose poplar simply because that's what I had handy. The little bit of pine I have hanging around was too narrow and I didn't prefer to have to glue up a panel for this quick project. The 3D cutting is also a little cleaner in hardwood than with a softwood. Nature of the beast...

[Phil Mueller]

Well done, Jim. I think you did a pretty amazing job with the color match. Always nice when you can repurpose an heirloom piece. I’m sure your daughter appreciates having something that comes from both her Dad and Grandfather.

[Julie Moriarty]

That's pretty sweet, Jim! You did an awesome job staining the door. Looking at the bare wood, I could have never imagined getting all that rich color and character out of that wood.

There's something about family furniture. Its history is often more important than whatever one can do to make it look new. Your cabinet has character that will always tell stories of its history. :)

[Jim Becker]

Thanks, folks.

Julie, tulip poplar is a pleasure to work with as it can easily mimic many other close grain species of both hardwoods and softwoods. I don't normally use pigment based stains like the Minwax colors (2) employed here, but I suspect that's what was used on the original construction and it worked out quite nicely. I'm more of a water soluble dye kinda guy most of the time if I choose to add color. :)