Purpleheart Wine Cellar Buffet

[Roger Everett]

This isn't a most recent project, but one I did a few years ago. It was kind of unique ,and I thought you might enjoy seeing it.
I had done a library wall for a couple, while working for a trim contractor, and they liked my work, and he asked me to come over. He wanted a wine cabnet for his growing wine collection. The only thing he spec'ed was to be in purpleheart and a Chinese design from some cabinets at Epcot ( Disney World ). He wipped out a catalog of wine cellar cabinets from a Calif. co., which all looked like K-Mart furniture.What we decused was to get one of them and reveneer and add appliques to give it a fine furniture appearence. What followed was a trip to Epcot and then to the library to do some research on chinese furniture as well as a couple trips to 2 furniture stores that specialized in Chinese furniture.
I made 3 drawings of the ready-mades redone to give a proper appearence. When I brought them over, he would like any of them, but she says, I don't like them. The dinning room had a radious top alcove about 7'3" W X 18" deep, She walked over to it and waved her hand around and says " Roger, I want to fill this space ". He says , Roger You could built one from scratch, right. As she described what she wanted I made a quick rough sketch, she loved it.
We discused a rough price , and that I would get back with a scale drawing and contract, and $ was open. As I left, I was doing a yea! nice pc. of work, then it hit me uh-oh, I've never seen in any publication a refridgerated wood cabinet( it contains a unit that maintains 50-55 degrees and 70% hum. ). This unit looks a lot like a window AC unit and is fully contained ( no drip line ).

Roger

[Roger Everett]

Once I got started , I spent a good bit of time On the phone To Calif. trying to get an idea of how they insulated the factory units and a few other things. I find that if you ask the same questions over and over, they start to think you dumb and start to tell you a lot of info. The R&D was kind of time consuming. I used some Chinese elements ( leg style, and mitered frame doors ) then designed in my interpatation. On the top and doors, the veneer was book matched. Wine racks are 2 sizes and redwood heart and hold 84 bottles, plus racking in middle bottom for case storage ( got to have a place for a case of Boones Farm or wine in a box ).

[Jay Knoll]

Roger

That is a wonderful piece of work, thanks for posting

Jay

[Roger Everett]

The base cabinet and doors are 2" thick, insulated. Materials are Appleply in 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2, purpleheart in 4/4 and 8/4, and a lot of purpleheart veneer. The door handles are Ebony, which I made in a bowtie shape and put on with purpleheartt dowels, I made.
The finish---Interior is 1 wash coat, clear caulk seams, and 2 finish coats of spar poly. The exterior is 2 coats of a tungue oil finish , then 2 or 3 coats of spray on varnish. The top has several addit. coats , the it was block sanded (wet) to 1500 grit then buffed with fine, very fine, then finesse-it, then a good coat of wax. The gasketing took almost as much thinking out as construction.
One thing thats funny now but wasn't at the time. On the top I had finished down to very fine , and you could use it for a mirror to shave, when I thought just one more buffing. Went thru the top coat and ended up with 3 hallo's, OH FUDGE. Running close to deadline I put on 2 coats of poly ( it cured faster then the varnish I used) I usually want 3-4 weeks after,for sandining and buffing. But what I did was, after curing 4 days , was to keep 2 fans on top 24-7 and starting w/ 600, did one grit a day till I got to 1500, Then buffing 2 days before promised delivery.
What I like about this project was, the amout of research that went in to it, some of the never seen before joinery I had to come up with.It is, to date, my favorite project. It was a very stretching experience.
Roger

[Richard Wolf]

Very nice work, Roger.

Richard

[Mark Singer]

Roger,
Great work! absolutley wonderful! I love the design and shop drawings...it is such an important part of building. The small detail construcion sketches are always a great way to figure things out.

A couple weeks ago a bunch of us visited Sam Maloof and he had a large black board and was sketching most of the day...he draws beautiful and allows his sketches to resolve any issues and refine the design.

Once in a while I see a post and they state " I didn't make any drawings ,I just started cutting" ...unfortunatley that is what it often looks like.

Again a beautiful piece well thought out and finely crafted!

[Dan Larson]

Beautiful piece, Roger-- the veneering work is fantastic!

Dan

[Bernie Weishapl]

Roger that is absolutely beautiful. Thanks for posting.

[George Matthews]

Beautiful Roger.
I design all my furniture from 'scratch' and often spend more time designing than building. They are not as radical (or as beautiful) as some designs I've seen here, but they are still mine. I occasionally make copies of small items, but the satisfaction is just not the same.

Thanks for sharing the design experience.

[Gregg Mason]

Roger,

That top looks incrediable. Thanks for sharing.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Incredible design, veneering and finish! Truly incredible!

[Jason Tuinstra]

Roger, excellent piece of furniture. It turned out great. The veneering fits the overall look the the piece as well. Excellent job!

[Roger Everett]

Thanks all for the nice comments.
Mark: you hit the nail on the head about drawings, esp. when dealing with a client. It shows both of us what you are doing, and what they're getting. I have a client sign or initial the drawings and have them incorpated as part of the contract. When I took scuba lessons, the instructor preached every class " plan you dive and dive your plan.
On this pc. as I progressed I wanted to add a different design feature at the top corners of the top cabinet. After working out what I wanted to do, I gave the client a call and made an appoointment to meet. I told him my wishes and showed him a detail drawing, he agreeded, so I had him initial the drawing and sign a change order form, even though I wasn't going to add an addit. charge.
I kept a note book where I worked out drawings on all the joinery and specs., right down to adding a cleat on to dowel the door pulls to. When you get to step 6 of the assembly it's too late to wish you had allowed for something when you did step 2.
Roger

[Mark Stutz]

Roger,
This is a wonderful design, and great execution. I don't think I've ever seen a completed piece of furniture done with Purpleheart. Most people have never heard of it.. how did your client come to spec it?

Mark

[Mark Singer]

Thanks all for the nice comments.
Mark: you hit the nail on the head about drawings, esp. when dealing with a client. It shows both of us what you are doing, and what they're getting. I have a client sign or initial the drawings and have them incorpated as part of the contract. When I took scuba lessons, the instructor preached every class " plan you dive and dive your plan.
On this pc. as I progressed I wanted to add a different design feature at the top corners of the top cabinet. After working out what I wanted to do, I gave the client a call and made an appoointment to meet. I told him my wishes and showed him a detail drawing, he agreeded, so I had him initial the drawing and sign a change order form, even though I wasn't going to add an addit. charge.
I kept a note book where I worked out drawings on all the joinery and specs., right down to adding a cleat on to dowel the door pulls to. When you get to step 6 of the assembly it's too late to wish you had allowed for something when you did step 2.
Roger
Well you obviously know the benefits of design and making drawings...both for you ,the crafstman and also for the client...
I have had long threads on SMC about design and making sketches and lots of guys resist it.
When you think on paper, there is a chance to work things out....solve problems and even break out of the box as you have elegantly done here...again great work!!!

[Fred Voorhees]

Bravo!!! Most impressive!

[Keith Christopher]

VERY nice ! Outstanding even. When I first saw purpleheart and wine cabinet I was thinking $$$$ and heavy !!! What a beautiful piece.

[Javier Gonzalez]

Thanks for sharing those photos and advice. Keep 'em coming, it's fun and inspiring
to see how the pros do it.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Javier took the words out of my mouth. It's nice to see how the pros do it here, so guys like me can have goal to shoot for. Beautiful work, Roger, and thanks for sharing it.

- Vaughn

[Gail O'Rourke]

This is a lovely piece, from design to execution. Great work.

[Rob Blaustein]

Beautiful piece! It looks like you tried to match the arch of the top part with the arch of the inset space--is that right? Did you put up some sort of sheet and trace it to make a template? I've gotten into arches lately.
-Rob

[Roger Everett]

Keith-- yes, there was a lot of them $$ involved, but Purpleheart wasn't that expensive, at the time about $5 for 4/4 and $6 for the 8/4 (wholesale). The PH was his spec. and he had purchasing at the co. he was evp at order it, the kicker was that on a high dollar pc. I like to get 2X the estimate of lumber, to allow for matching up. I told him I wanted , between 4/4 and 8/4, about 240 b.f., they showed up with 320 b.f, OK!!. The good part also was that I hard bid labor and a guesstimite on material. It allowed me to use the best stuff I could get, as in the hinges were like 20 something a pc..Extruded and machined not stamped.

Rob, yea the upper cabinet is laid out to be 8" smaller rad. than the arched alcove. Accually I took measurements at the house and duplicated it on a sheet of 1/4 birch, then drew the cabinet on it full scale. A full scale drawing on a complicated pc. is a life and time saver. Just make the structure to fit the drawing like a puzzle. As I was finishing putting the top together I thought I should have made a cutting and went out to their house and double checked that my layout from the measurements was correct, but . Must have measured right as it's 8" and even all around the arch.

Roger