The doors

 The doors are attached to the cabinet.  They are fairly even for the first try.  I want to fit the top and get the poles for the hanger attached next.  Then I will take it apart and round over the edges and give it a final sanding.  Then I will put it back together and round over some more edges.  After that, I will take it apart again and apply the finish... then reassemble to be sure all edges fit and the fit looks good.  Then I will take it apart again for delivery.  That is a lot of assembly!

Doors

Well the doors are dry fitted.  Now I need to stain the wonderfully beautiful natural panels. I will follow the same process for the other panels I stained.  First, the oil base stain, then a varnish, then a glaze, and then two cotes of polyurethane.  That will take me about a week, each coat needs at least 24 hours to dry.  While that is being done, I will install hinges on the door stiles.

The panels in the door are matched.  The gap at the top is an optional item, to allow the clothes to air out between wearing.  I hope the owners are happy with the addition.

Starting on the doors

The wardrobe's sides, false top, false bottom and back are attached.  I am now starting on the doors.  I was going to use European hinges, but now unsure.  I do not want the screws to attach to the side panels.  I may have to use regular hinges, and if I do that will be another decision the owners will need to make.  I would recommend brass hinges.  Also a decision will need to be made about door handles.  Here are some different perspectives of the piece.  A good site to use is rockler.com.

I made a mistake on one of the sides, I made an exact copy of the side and it was to be a mirror image.  Not sure how I did that, but that set me back a couple of weeks.  Not much new wood, just rework.

The color

Raw Quartersawn White Oak, planed

Stained with Minwax Mix

Now I am applying the color to this piece.  I sanded the panels using 100 grit, 120 grit, 150 grit, 180 grit and 220 grit in sequence.  The process I am using is glazing.  The people who will own this piece wanted me to eliminate all the yellow I could from the wood, so this is the only technique I know to do that.  After sanding, I wiped on a mix of Minwax stains (three colors) to try to reduce the yellows in the brown stain.  Then I applied a 1/2# mixture of shellac with a brush.  Next, I applied a glaze over the shellac, using wiping.  After 24 hours I will apply 3 coats of polyurethane by wiping.  Between each step I will rough the wood with a 320 grit sandpaper.  After a couple of weeks I will wax the piece with a clear wax.  You can click on each picture to enlarge it.

Stained with Minwax Mixed

Shellac over Minwax Mix

Glazed



Glazed



Glazed



Glazed

Glazed

Deck Pieces

To entertain my very few followers here are a couple of piece I made earlier.  The wood is cypress. Cypress will turn dark if untreated.  It is like all other light woods, it turns darker with time.  Light woods turn darker and dark woods turn lighter is the old saying about woods.  That is why I am not a fan of staining wood, it will finally turn a wonderful color with all the grains shown. Both of these piece are not stained.  They are covered with a Sikken sealer, which is made in Germany.  Above the trunk is a piece I made many years ago of redwood for a planter box, again unstained.  I have not put a preservative on that redwood for about 10-12 years.  It stands up well outside.  Now, redwood is cost prohibitive to buy.

The Wardrobe

 

 I am further along and still waiting on stain color.  If the nameless owners of this piece would subscribe to my blog, it is very easy, they would see the progress that is being made.  I have clamped the sides to the back. There is also a picture of the grain of the quartersawn white oak, that may be covered by the stain color, if a dark stain is chosen.  And, the grain is so pretty.

Wardrobe

The sides

The Top

Waiting on the stain color, but still more to do.  I think I am going to move the back next.  It is a heavy piece.  While I am sure we could carry it upstairs from the workshop, I am glad we are going to pocket screw it together.  I will hide the pocket screws.  All is out of quartersawn white oak.  I am sure the people who will own this fine piece are keeping up with my blog to see the status of the work... they are not even subscribers.  Oh well, the work I do for all these people.

Wardrobe

I am building a wardrobe out of cross sawn oak.  I have cut out the legs and am gluing the top.

The legs

The plan for the finished piece

The top starting to be glued

Smores bar

Here is how the smores bar was set up at my nephew's wedding.  The establishment wanted to buy the boxes, but nobody had the authority to buy them.  I asked the person that approached me if the bill could be reduced, and they could not make that decision.  My nephew took them to his restaurants to use.  I guess if there is a sale to be made they will cost more due to shipping cost. 

My Nephew's Boxes

My Nephew's Plans

Plans

My Nephew called me Monday and asked if I could build some boxes for his wedding.  The boxes are to be used at his wedding in August for smores.  So I asked him if he could tell me what he wanted.  He drew me a picture.  Even though he only drew one side, he wanted four, with no top... so we figured out the plan. . I gave him back some plans and this what the finished product looks like.

My Nephew's mother called and told my wife that they wanted them painted chocolate brown... so with three coats of shellac, I sprayed them with paint.  I will take a picture of them at the wedding and see how they are used.  I hope they work.

Painted boxes

The finished boxes before the paint

Retrofit cabinets

Fat Guy by Cabinet

No fat guy

I just completed a built in for some friends that are a newlywed couple.  They are remodeling their first house.  I had to stay ahead of the painter, a good friend from church.  She told me that she would be ready for the room I was in in about a week.  So I have been cranking this week.  I built the top unit and side unit, and retrofit it in the wall unit.  I also filled in many of the cracks with molding that I made.  I used the drawer fronts on the old piece.  Inside those fronts are solid maple drawers, with 3/4" sides and 1/4" bottom set in a groove all around the drawers.  The case is made from 3/4" maple plywood.  The piece is finished with shellac and with a water based poly on both the inside of drawers, cabinet above the window seat and the shelves.  They may paint the outside white, unsure at this time.  Shellac will accept paint very well, not sure about the poly shelves and no need to paint the inside that is polyurethane.  I may post a picture after they are painted.  Most of the construction is with pocket screws, I broke from my traditional mortise and tenon, with dados.  Pocket screws will create just as sturdy of a piece and reduced the labor... by a little.  The drawers are about 22" long on slides, so they work fairly easy, need to pull on both knobs because of the size, can create a size bind... but it is not too bad.  After the couple realizes how easy these drawers are to slide they will want to install slides and new drawers in their whole house... but I am sure that is a ways off.  Have fun. 

As completed without the Fat Guy

The Wilson Bell

The Wilson Bell

When Grandmother Wilson (Sandy's Grandmother) the family all split up the possessions.  So we got the farm bell.  We have been moving with that bell for at least 30 years.  So I finally decided to display it in the yard.  It was a feat to get it on the pole.  The pole is out of cypress, hollow with a square post at the bottom.