Knot Home

My first project with raised panels. I really learned a lot on this adaptation of a plan from Woodsmith Magazine. Contruction utilized cherry plywood for the carcass, and hardwood for the top, face and base. I used mortise and tenon joints on the base instead of the pocket screws the plan called for, mainly because I dont have a pocket screw jig. It would have been a good choice, but the joints I did use are fine too. I also used dovetails for the drawer joinery (another first), and made them out of cherry too. They ended up being mostly hidden by the drawer faces, but I know they're there.

Knot Home

Couldn't figure out how to add them to the original post

aclose

very nice Knot
i have an entertainment stand/table on the list for this year for my Mother-in-law. won't be quite as fancy as yours.

matty0501

Excellent work. Particually like the drawer construction. Well done.

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lucas.j.dunton

Beautiful piece, I think that taking the extra effort on the joinery is one of the things that takes a piece of furniture from ordinary to extraordinary
kudos

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mayday3374

holy smokes!! that looks awesome.. love everything about it. great detail work, nice tight joints, very impressive.. where in the world do you buy cherry plywood from? i can only find maple and oak at lowes or HD,

bsharding1982

That is beautiful. I am beginning to become very fond of the projects from Woodsmith. I have gottten a few from plansnow.com.

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jdixon

Very Nice! You should be very proud.

Knot Home

Thanks for all of the kind words. I live near a major metropolitan area (Detroit), and there are several sources around these parts for cherry plywood (Drayton Plywood, Pontiac Plywood and Detroit Plywood to name a few). They also carry walnut, mahogany, oak, and some others. It doesn't come cheap (a little over $100 a sheet for 3/4), but it's nice and it's also a half inch oversize in both directions so building a 4' wide cabinet is no problem. I think most of their clientel are folks who make cabinets for a living, but they still have time for a weekend warrior such as myself.

I'm not sure if all of the Woodsmith plans are exactly what one might call "fine furniture", but they are certainly well thought out and illustrated, and their cutting diagrams are pretty accurate. The one I used for this project came out of Vol 29, No. 169. I used their construction techniques for the most part and just adapted the plan to fit my room and the equipment I wanted to put in and on it. For example, instead of storage shelves on each side with a lattice door, I wanted drawers for DVD's or tapes. As pictured it holds 64 of them, so I have room for Sweatin' with the Oldies and The Outlaw Jose Wales. I also made the middle section to fit my stereo and video equipment, and the top is just big enough for my TV and a couple of small speakers, without getting in the way of the small room that this piece sits in.

The best part is that I used every machine in my shop to make it, something that was not lost on SWMBO. I also got to use a couple of new skills (dovetails and raised panels) that I've wanted to try for quite some time. I made test pieces out of fir until I got them just right, and then went to the cherry rack with some confidence.

The pictures don't really show it so much, but the finish was another good learning experience. I used a wiping varnish (Formby's) on everything but the top, which got wipe-on poly (Minwax). I put a lot of prep and care into the finish and it came out really well. Flawless really; not a run or drip or bristle or rough spot to be found. I've generally reserved this type of finishing care to fine firearms, but it's an area of my woodworking where I wanted to move from pretty good to really good, and this piece got me a lot closer I think.

The plans called for 1/4 plywood for the back, which would have added another $70 to the project, but I used birch and stained it cherry and saved $50. As it turned out, I could have bought a pretty nice stand for what I have into materials on this project, but already my girls are calling "dibs" on it when I croak, which is more or less why I do it.

Roy