This week I finally finished a project that I have been working on for 29 weeks. Most things I do in the shop are completed in a few weeks. Some things last a little over a month. I grow to know all of them quite intimately, but then they are gone... This cabinet was different. It started over a year ago when I saw the perfect piece of Pearwood at Gilmer Wood in Portland. It was pricey, to be sure, but the grain was ever so beautiful, and I knew that I had this cabinet to build, even if I had yet to complete the design. So, it came home with me and took up residence in the corner of my shop. Every now and again I would take my block plane over to it and shave away some of the rough cut exterior to peak at what lay beneath. Visitors would ask about it, and I would just tell them about the Corner Cabinet I was going to build. After finishing a wonderful Walnut kitchen, I started penciling full size layout sketches.
This is a full size layout sketch from above, drawn on 1/4 inch MDF.
Once I was satisfied with my drawings, I took that plank of Pear and sliced it up into parts. There were the rift sawn bits for the six legs, quarter sawn for the rails and stiles, and special or intriguing grain was veneered for panels. There were lots of forms to build, as this cabinet has a curving face, and with each different curve, a slightly different form needs to be made. After awhile, the base really started coming together.
It was at this point that the veneer work really started. I wanted all of the curved faced horizontal surfaces to be veneered in a radial pattern. To achieve this, I would match the grain and rough cut the veneer on my bandsaw. Then I would take the "pie pieces" to my shooting board and handplane the joints until I had the layout I was looking for.
One of the shelf panels.
The piece was really starting to come together now. I had a good base, drawers done and top finished. The upper cabinet bit was going to be tricky as it consisted of two Trapezium (apparently that is a four-sided shape with no parallel sides) "towers" connected by curving shelves. I also wanted to have pie slice shaped dividers on the shelves to books could be stacked along the radius. There was a lot of head scratching and stewing and slow movements attached to this phase of the project. These were challenging waters. A woodworker is most comfortable in a place of right angles and straight lines. Our tools are (for the most part) designed with this work in mind. I essentially did away with both of these elements with the upper section of the project.
The piece looked like a variation of this for some time.
finally got all of the parts sized and fit, and fit one more time before beginning to slowly glue them together: tower one, tower two, tops, dividers and shelves, shelves to towers, tops, back, and all together! It was a truly great feeling seeing everything put together, and I'll admit I probably just stared at it for some time. I finished the project with Sam Maloof's Poly Oil. It gives the work a very soft, yet lustrous look and I thought it brought out a lot of the beauty in the Pear. I fit the doors, set the glass and added the little door stops. I made some wonderful little Ebony pulls for the drawers, and then made even smaller matching, yet slightly different pulls for the doors. The drawers were waxed, and tested, and then tested by Terra, then planed just a bit and rewaxed. I take the cabinet into the photographer tomorrow, and then I deliver it. 29 Weeks of work. Over a year spent with the Pearwood plank. I'm very satisfied with the piece, and certainly ready to move forward!