A friend of Gustav asked if we could make a dedicated cabinet for ribbons that are won/awarded at equestrian events. If you participate in a lot of events, you eventually end up with a bunch of those. She wanted it around 55" x 35" and preferably in light oak if possible.
I normally don't have any oak in stock for building furniture of, but I once got a great tip from Ty Stange: Buy old oak furniture and reuse the materials.
In the late 70'ies and beginning of the 80'ies, there were some Danish furniture factories that made some good honest oak furniture, but the design is really not something that strikes a chord today. I found a cabinet with stained glass doors at a thrift shop, and paid 27 US$ for it. That was solid oak, furniture grade, and enough to build the entire cabinet from.
After some stock processing, to reduce the thickness, I dovetailed the corners of the main frame. A face frame was made using half lap joints in order to make it a fast build.
I glued on some strips to help making a rabbet for the back to be glued onto, and that worked pretty good. Due to the original size of the back, I had to glue some reinforcement strips to cover where the back was joined.
The doors were also made using half laps in the corners, and after the glue had dried, I routed a rabbet for the glass to fit into.
The glass was something that I had leftover from the greenhouse, and I could reuse the hinges and pulls from the original cabinet.
A couple of strips with holes in where glued to the sides. I weaved some 1/8" braided line through all the holes, to give something for the ribbons to be attached to.
Finally two magnetic closing mechanisms were mounted, and the cabinet was complete.
I didn't go all wild with sanding, since it will be placed in a stable, but all in all i am happy with the result.
Hi Jonas,
ReplyDeleteThat is a good- looking display case. Well built and designed. The wood is probably white oak(?)
I like to get recycled lumber from places like Restore, which is part of Habitat for Humanity, because it is usually more stable and often very good quality lumber.
Hi Alfred, Thanks for the nice comment. I think it is white oak too, I bought it at Y's mens club thrift shop. So it all benefits the scout organization.
DeleteIn Denmark a lot of welfare organizations have thrift shops. I like the idea of contributing to a good cause amd reusing something that is too good to just be put in the "burn pile".
At first I had found a couple of slightly newer cabinets that looked like they were oak, but a closer inspection revealed that they were just veneered, so I am glad that I checked thoroughly before buying.
Brgds
Jonas