Entertainment cabinet

[nclemmons]

Just finished this cabinet over the holidays.  It has well over 150 hours of work in it over the past couple of months.  

Overall dimensions:  30" high x 23" deep x 54" wide.  
Material:  QS Red Oak
Finish: General Finishes Nutmeg wiping stain followed by four coats of GF oil / poly wipe on finish and then waxed and buffed
Doors: I used reeded glass on the doors to enable the remote to work with the set top and DVD player.
Drawers: Dovetailed with false fronts.  Attached with Blum full-extension undermount slides.

Inspiration for the piece came from looking at Thos Moser pieces.  They have a piece of similar size in Cherry that is a custom made.  It's about $8500, so I think I'm in pretty good company.  I liked the 'floating' nature of the center carcass that is suspended from the top with wood screws and then anchored at the bottom corners with wrought iron angles that I made and painted black to match the hardware.  The legs are referse tapered - 1 3/8 inches at the top and 2" at the bottom.  It's a blend of an oriental and mission style that I liked.

Jason Tuinstra over at Saw Mill Creek had built a piece and had it posted on his site - www.makerofshaker.com and was nice enough to share the dimensions which i then tweaked to fit the electronics I needed to put in the cabinet.

I'll show both the finished piece and a few work-in-process shots.  I used most of my Festools - saw and rails for tapering the bottoms of the top, 1010 and MFK-700 router for all the edge work, and dominos for the tops, sides, and joinery at the corners.  I used my Rotex and ETS 150/3 for sanding as well as the DTS-400 sander for the close-in corners.  And of course the Kapex for all the cross cuts.  I used Miller dowels for accent elements on the corner edges top and bottom since I didn't have dovetail jig large enough to handle the 19" width of the sides.

If anyone is interested, I have a sketchup model of the cabinet

Feedback or questions welcome -

neil

 

[nclemmons]

Here are a few more photos.  

The final finish matched very well.  Some of the in-process shots needed a second coat of finish to even out the color variations.

Drawers were maple and I just put a wax finish on them.  

The entire unit was solid wood.  I even decided to do the back and interior dividers in frame and panel with glued-up thin QSRO panels.  

neil

 

[rnt80]

WOW!  Wonderful job.  I'm not a big fan of oak but that piece is beautiful.  I like the reeded glass and choice of hardware as well.  Nicely done.

 

[Brice Burrell]

Great job! Well, except that big TV looks a bit out of place on what is otherwise a nice piece of furniture. [tongue]

 

[Chris Hughes]

Very nice.  I love that piece by Moser as well.  When I build my kitchen island I incorporate part of that same design.  I look at this as a great compliment to a great design by the Moser company.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Very nicely done, Neil.  And, I for one like the oak and the TV.  But we may all have to pitch in and buy you a tripod that can be easily leveled...  [tongue]

 

[jvsteenb]

I really like it - the design is right up my alley ( apart from the handles - I would have chosen wood for them as well... ). I like the clean lines - sort of a cross between Danish modern and Shaker with oriental influences. The oak suits the design quite nicely as well. Dit I mention I like it ?
But how do you keep the top from warping ? I suppose the panel is glued, but the nicely beveled supports on the short sides look solidly screwed and perhaps even glued to the top. Won't that introduce a problem?
Perhaps I'm a bit overly worried, being from a country where humidity swings wildly over the seasons, but I'd never have the nerve to "restrict" the movement of the top that way. How do you do it? Please enlighten me....

Regards,

Job

 

[honeydoman]

Neil,  Great job and full of awesome looking details,  I will take 2 !  [thumbs up]

 

[nclemmons]

Thanks for the comments -

Job - to your question -

The beveled cross pieces under the top are not glued.  They are screwed with elongated screw holes to accomodate wood movement.  The legs are dominoed into these strips but those dominos do not go through the cross pieces into the top.  The top is over 1" thick and dominoed about every 8 inches to join the pieces together in making the slab.  I'm confident that as it expands and contracts the cross pieces will not cause a problem.

Neil

 

[Brice Burrell]

Thanks for the comments -

Job - to your question -

The beveled cross pieces under the top are not glued.  They are screwed with elongated screw holes to accomodate wood movement.  The legs are dominoed into these strips but those dominos do not go through the cross pieces into the top.  The top is over 1" thick and dominoed about every 8 inches to join the pieces together in making the slab.  I'm confident that as it expands and contracts the cross pieces will not cause a problem.

Neil

And since the piece is quart sawn movement will be minimal.

 

[jvsteenb]

Well Neil, you definitely fooled me with those elongated screwholes - but I'm glad I know how it's done. To me they just looked like countersunk holes.... dit you elongate them at the bottom of the cross support?

Brice, I noticed that it was quartersawn, but in moast oak species even quartersawn width movement is about 6-7 times the length movement.... hence my puzzlement.

And once again: I really like the piece !!

Regards,

Job

 

[nclemmons]

Yes they are elongated from the bottom.  And they are accessible from the sides when the cabinet is upright - the carcass actually sits inside the legs - so I actually made sure they are 'snug' but not so tight that they will restrict expansion movement.

Glad you like the piece, and thanks for the questions.  I have seen tops split open when not properly attached, so fully appreciate your questions.

neil

 

[butzla]

Neil,  Just going to echo what everyone's said.  Great design and execution!  Thanks for posting!

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Neil, thinking ahead to my next project... I like the reeded glass.  Where did you source that?  Were you able to get it somewhere local cut to size or did you order it from a source online?

 

[sw1211]

Neil, thinking ahead to my next project... I like the reeded glass.  Where did you source that?  Were you able to get it somewhere local cut to size or did you order it from a source online?

Rockler carries a nice selection of glass.  Select one of the styles listed then under the More Info tab there are a number of additional choices.

 

[nclemmons]

Shane I made the doors and then had a local glass supplier order the reeded glass to size.  There is an amazing selection of different decorative glass designs.  I actually debated doing clear glass with lead overlay on both sides to create 'panes' but decided to go with the reeded to more discretely hide the contents of electronics.

After I purchased the glass, I did find that Rockler carries the glass.

In my case, there was a $20 up-charge on the glass as it had to be special ordered from the local glass company.  So I could have saved some money had I gone with Rockler, but I did not really know what I wanted without looking at the samples in store.

I also found that reeded glass is tempered, which I did not know.

Stoolman - thanks for the compliments.  it was a challenging but rewarding project.

neil

 

[Phred]

First of all thanks to Neil for posting this project and for sharing his SketchUp model with me--I am very slowly working on a design for a similar piece that I intend to build and Neil as well as several others have been very helpful to me.

Second of all a disclaimer:  I own a glass shop.  We sell a fair amount of glass to local cabinet shops and hobbyists for use as shelves and doors.  Because glass does not ship well, this message is in no way a disguised attempt to sell glass to anyone through FOG.  Having said all that, perhaps the following will be helpful to someone.

Most of the patterned glasses available to us are 5/32" thick.  Rockler appears to offer reeded glass in either 1/16" or 1/2" thickness.  1/16" is a bit thin unless the piece is small and well supported.  That is the thickness used for standard picture frames and will tend to be pretty fragile in a door.  1/2" is heavy (approx. 6.5 lbs/sq. ft.--apologies to my metric friends) and thick for much of the standard cabinet door hardware.

Rockler's prices look competitive @ $0.14 per square inch ($20.16 per sq. ft.) plus the shipping charge ($25/4 pieces)--that equates to $26.41 per sq. ft .  (For comparison, our standard retail prices range from $25 to $40 per square foot depending upon pattern and thickness selected.  We offer a 15% discount to anyone who asks.  In addition, our prices are based on a 3 sq. ft. minimum--if someone is ordering several pieces then we work with them to optimize the cuts and that can bring the cost down to $10-$15 per sq. ft.)

Some of the popular options include:
a)  clear glass with beveled edge on all four sides
b)  narrow reed (usually installed with lines running vertically)
c)  seedy spectrum (clear glass with bubbles in it)
d)  seedy reemy (clear glass with bubbles and swirls)
e)  satin etch (sandblast look achieved through a different process that doesn't pick up fingerprint oils as easily)

All but the seedy spectrum are available tempered but most people just use standard (annealed) glass.  Tempered is more expensive and must be ordered in cut size from a fabricator (it can't be cut after the fact).  That usually adds a few days to a week to the leadtime.

If anyone is interested in more information please feel free to contact me.  I've gone on too long already 

Phred

 

[nclemmons]

Phred -

I know a lot more about glass now!  Thanks for the clarification.  

The glass I ordered was tempered and took an extra week or so.  I didn't realize that all reeded was not necessarily tempered.  But I was a bit concerned about something hitting the door.

Glad the Sketchup model was helpful.  It's a steep learning curve early on, but can quickly pay off in figuring out designs.

One other thing on Sketchup - check out the Google 3D Warehouse.  There are a bunch of Thos Moser designs that are in the warehouse as models.  While not drawn with all the components and methods you might want to use in creating something from scratch, the warehouse is a great place to find ideas, and quickly figure out dimensions and methods.

Good luck!

neil

 

[-woodsman-]

Nice piece. I also like that style of glass.  A co-worker has similer glass in his kitchen cabs.  He got the glass from old wash boards.  He's so crafty.