Cherry Humidor

butzla

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
1,233
I just finished a humidor I made for a gift.

It's made with solid cherry with cherry splines. Bird's eye maple top with a walnut accent where top meets bottom. Spanish cedar for the interior. The walnut was an afterthought. I'd use walnut for the splines if I could do it over. It's a much better contrast.
I used many coats of Minwax wipe-on poly for the finish. Wet sanding by hand in between coats using mineral spirits and 600 grit paper.

The Festools I used was RO150, ETS150 and ETS125 sanders. CXS drill for the hinges. Really happy with the CXS. Those are very small brass screws and in the past have always hand torqued them. I bet I've had those screws in and out a million times during the lengthy fitting process. With the CXS I had great precision and control, I never stripped or snapped a screw. It's a treat to use.

EDIT, almost forgot. I used the OF1400 router to rout the hinge mortises. I used to rout this freehand then finish the outline with a chisel. I use Brusso hinges and this time I bought the Brusso hinge template and had MUCH better results. I only wish I bought 2 templates so I could rout them together. Instead I had to unclamp and reposition the jig. Next time.

Notice the longer churchill cigars do not fit width-wise. My original plan was to make it around an inch wider. I thought I'd try something different and use my TS75 with MFT to cut the mitered corners. I never could get the saw to cut accurate miters. I attribute that to the extra weight of the TS75. It tends to tip when beveled. So I kept whittling down the width with subsequent attempts until finally I went back in my comfort zone and cut them on my table saw. It was a frustrating experience. It was a bit of a bummer to find the longer cigars did not fit after I had completely finished it.

I also recently bought and put to good use Tico Vogt's "Superchute 2.0" shooting board. It came in handy in shooting the spanish cedar miters and for beveling the cedar appliance that holds the hygrometer.

I welcome all comments, positive and negative.

u3udasu7.jpg

8e3aruju.jpg

qusa7equ.jpg

anugyteg.jpg

vapusydy.jpg

eva8yza6.jpg

uqezuvy2.jpg

y4ysabeb.jpg
 
Jim.  What a fantastic job, I really like the wood combo you choose.This gift will surely be appreciated and cherished

Sal
 
Wow that is a gorgeous humidor, well done!

giving me some ideas for my next project  [big grin]
 
Beautiful. Very nicely done. Wouldn't change a thing. The walnut splines MIGHT be a bit distracting and too attention grabbing. I like the subtle cherry splines.
 
Very nice. Did you use a shaker panel raising bit for the maple?  I also like the cherry splines.

Peter
 
Thanks guys.  Peter,  I never thought of using a shaker panel bit.  I even have one.  I built my first humidor back in 96 from some great plans in American Woodworker (#53, Aug, 1996) and I used the same technique from those plans.  It never dawned on me to use my shaker panel bit that I bought sometime since then (Doh!).  I did it all on my table saw tipped 20 degrees and cleaned up the saw marks with my Veritas large shoulder plane.
 
Gorgeous work, Jim.  I love the different wood and your craftsmanship is very nice.  Did you take any pics of the build?

Thanks for sharing!

Scot
 
No build pictures Scott,  But I'll gladly tell you about any part of the build you want
 
very good looking!  whoever is getting that is quite lucky

the fit and finish is wonderful and the wood choices are perfect 

great choice on the cherry splines, tasteful subtle detail that you get to discover after really looking at the piece in detail

what does one have to do to get on your gift list  [big grin]

John     

 
The only negative I can think of here is this would probably get me back on the stogies since it would be hard to take my eyes off this beautiful humidor.

I'm curious about humidors in general, do you have to take care about the moisture level of the wood pre assembly or is that a non issue?
 
Paul,  I'm not sure I understand your question.  A lot of humidors are made out of plywood and covered with veneer.  With good reason, the high humidity on the inside causes many to fail.  One of my early humidors I didn't spline the corners and it blew apart a year later.  Any humidor since then has been splined and I also leave plenty of room for expansion in the top/bottom panels.  Finally, prior to installing the cedar, I seal the inside of the box with shellac and seal the inside corners with silicone caulking.  The cedar has no finish. 
I made another one this winter using dovetails.  Time will tell if it holds together

eza5ydyb.jpg
 
Jim Kirkpatrick said:
No build pictures Scott,  But I'll gladly tell you about any part of the build you want

Thanks, Jim.  More details on the top would be great...looks like the maple has a slight chamfer and would like to know if you used any joinery with the walnut or just glue?  Is the inside of the top trimmed with cedar?

Thanks!

Scot
 
Jim Kirkpatrick said:
Paul,  I'm not sure I understand your question.  A lot of humidors are made out of plywood and covered with veneer.  With good reason, the high humidity on the inside causes many to fail.  One of my early humidors I didn't spline the corners and it blew apart a year later.  Any humidor since then has been splined and I also leave plenty of room for expansion in the top/bottom panels.  Finally, prior to installing the cedar, I seal the inside of the box with shellac and seal the inside corners with silicone caulking.  The cedar has no finish. 
I made another one this winter using dovetails.  Time will tell if it holds together

Yea, that is what I was curious about.
 
ScotF said:
Jim Kirkpatrick said:
No build pictures Scott, But I'll gladly tell you about any part of the build you want

Thanks, Jim. More details on the top would be great...looks like the maple has a slight chamfer and would like to know if you used any joinery with the walnut or just glue? Is the inside of the top trimmed with cedar?

Thanks!

Scot

Scot, The walnut was simply glued to the cherry prior to cutting the mitered corners and assembling the box. So the steps were as follows: rip 2" off of the 7" wide cherry sides, glued in 3/8" strip of walnut (so the order is 2"cherry - 3/8" walnut - 5" cherry). Planed and sanded flush. Cut miters on ends. I then glued and assembled the box, cut the splines on the table saw using a jig, glued and installed the splines, Trimmed and sanded them flush after they dried, I cut the box open on the table saw w/fence, lining up the center of the blade with the center of the walnut strip. I hope that makes sense. Here's a pic after I cut the lid open. I wasn't satisfied with the width of the walnut so I trimmed off some more back at the table saw and fence.

abehybep.jpg


For the maple top, I first cut a rabbet on the top with my table saw. I then tipped the blade to 20 degrees, adjusted the blade height and fence and passing it against the fence face down, I cut the chamfers on the end grain. Of course, I had to adjust the fence again when I made the rip cuts. I cleaned the saw marks up with a shoulder plane. It's also easy to even up the reveals with the shoulder plane if they don't quite match up. Very easy.

The inside of the top is trimmed with cedar. This picture scan shows a crosscut detail of the lid, even though my sides are not beveled as shown.

aby9y2yn.jpg
 
Back
Top