Curly Sapele Cabinet

[ear3]

Just finished up a sapele cabinet I've been working on for the last few weeks (handles are Padauk):

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Gonna post some build pics in a separate post.

 

[tjbnwi]

Very nice.

Tom

 

[Steven Owen]

You did a good job with a very difficult wood to work with.  I’ve seen a lot of very bad sappele cabinets in my time with the grain detial totally in the mud. 

You kept your grain clean and visible.

What process did you use for the finshing?

 

[Svar]

... a very difficult wood to work with.

What? Sapele, even curly, is a joy to work with. Finishes beautifully with oil.

 

[ear3]

First on the handles/pulls -- I was initially just going to use some metal ones, but my eyes started to glaze over after like the 20th page of handles in the Lee Valley hardware catalog, so I just decided to make my own working off a reference image I had seen some place online.

I had already built the drawers, however, so the challenge was to do all that excavation of a recess on the fully assembled drawers.  I did it in two stages.  First I built a jig to create the oval shape.  Two side by side plunges with a 2 3/4" fostner bit on the drill press:

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Then connected the holes using the plunge attachment on the Vecturo, followed by some final smoothing of the transition with a spokeshave:

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Then I attached a lip on two sides of the board, so that it would automatically align in the same place on each drawer front:

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Clamped up the each drawer in my leg vise, and clamped the jig to the drawer:

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Then used the 2200 with a 1 3/8 core box bit and the 40mm copying ring to create the rounded depression:

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The core box bit doesn't really leave a flat bottom, so I sanded it out smooth with a bowl sanding drill attachment I normally use on my lathe:

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Similar principle for the vertical handle mortise.  Used a 1 3/8" straight bit to cut some slots (I had to make two because the top drawer was 6", while the rest were 8") in a board with the edge guide:

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Then put lips on two sides (which were later reversed when I was doing the mortise for the 6" drawer):

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Then swapped out for a 1" straight bit on the 2200 outfitted with a 1 3/8" copy ring, which fit snugly in the slot so there would be no movement in creating the vertical mortise:

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Finished up by squaring off the mortise with some chisels:

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I had some scrap padauk lying around, so I cut it into 1" x 1 1/32" strips.  The extra 1/32" was so that I could get an exact fit shaving off a bit at a time with a plane:

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The shaping of the handles was done on the spindle sander:

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Followed by some hand sanding to relieve the edges.

Applied the handles in the mortise with CA glue, but countersink some screws through the back for extra security:

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[ear3]

Thanks.  Just two coats of Surfix.  I will probably add some wax and buff it out after the oil cures.

You did a good job with a very difficult wood to work with.  I’ve seen a lot of very bad sappele cabinets in my time with the grain detial totally in the mud. 

You kept your grain clean and visible.

What process did you use for the finshing?

 

[Svar]

Thanks.  Just two coats of Surfix.  I will probably add some wax and buff it out after the oil cures.

That's what I prefer on sapele if it's not for heavy use. Danish Oil or some other "oil", then Renaissance wax. Can't go wrong with that.

 

[ear3]

The curly sapele was actually serendipity.  I had already bought the wood for the drawer faces (just flat cut sapele), but after I built the carcasse I decdied I wanted to do just 5 drawers instead of the original planned 6.  But that meant that the 1x8 flat cut sapele I had gotten would no longer cut it.  So I went back to the lumber yard (Rosenzweig in the Bronx), and while flipping through the pile I came across this incredible 10" x 5/4 x 14 ft. long piece of curly sapele -- enough to do all 5 drawer faces:

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I thicknessed the board to 1" in 3 pieces.  Everything was going great until I cut the last piece to make the smaller 6" drawer.  As sometimes happens, the tension released by cutting the board caused it to twist, rather severely in fact:

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So I had to hand joint the face to bring one side back to flat:

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And after sending it through the thicknesser to even the other side, I ended up with a 3/4" thick board.  I briefly considered just leaving it and having the top drawer face a little thinner, but I wisely reconsidered and ended up solving the problem by simply laminating the back with a thin piece of flat cut sapele (which I had an abundance of since finding the curly wood):

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No one is the now the wiser except me:

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[HarveyWildes]

Just finished up a sapele cabinet I've been working on for the last few weeks (handles are Padauk):
...
Gonna post some build pics in a separate post.

Awesome - great use of a beautiful piece of wood.  Nice work on handles - both design and implementation.

 

[HarveyWildes]

...
No one is the now the wiser except me:
...

A statement that may have been true when you previewed it, but then you clicked "Post" and now we all know.  For my part, I'm not telling anyone .

 

[dltflt]

That is beautiful.  Love the curly sapele.

 

[HMR]

Beautiful!  Thanks for sharing.

 

[AlexThePalex]

Beautiful work. Also nice to read your detailed explanation.

 

[Cheese]

Pretty stuff Edward...both your work and the wood. I’m a big fan of birds eye maple but this sapele thing is something I may need to try.  [thumbs up]

 

[rljatl]

Beautiful!

 

[RJNeal]

Nice job Edward. I like the choice of wood and your pulls.
Very nice.
No toe kick or feet/ stand?
Rick

 

[ear3]

Thanks!  Yeah, technically it's not finished, as I still have to add the feet.  I haven't decided on style yet, though, as I need to deliver it to where it's going (the client in this case being my mother) and get a sense of how it looks in the environment and then make a determination on that basis.  Right now I'm leaning towards just chucking up some blocks on the lathe and turning some low, round, unobtrusive risers

Nice job Edward. I like the choice of wood and your pulls.
Very nice.
No toe kick or feet/ stand?
Rick

 

[RJNeal]

Turned feet sound nice.
[popcorn]
Rick.

 

[DrD]

Edward, THANK YOU!!!  This is the type of contribution this board has been in dire need of!  Very informative, very educational, very beautiful.  Reminds me of pasts posts from the likes of erock, halfinchshy, and other of the old timers.

Thanks,

Don

 

[gsdvorak]

Beautiful piece Edward!  Your mother is really going to love it!

Gerald