Pen cabinet

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LouisQC

Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2007
Messages
220
Location
Gatineau, QC, Canada.
Finally had some time to complete the construction of my pen cabinet. It holds 98 pens.

Quilted makoré, with Wenge highlights and drawers pulls.

Beside the cuts, it's done by hand tools. Lots of handplane and scraper work. That quilted grain is nasty to work with for a newbie). I practiced alot on the cabinet. The miter joints are biscuit jointed, The wenge highlight is of course rabbeted and handplaned to the proper dimensions. The back is baltic birch dressed in makore veneer that I sliced myself. The drawer pulls are mortices and tenons. The drawer backs are tongue and groove jointed. Drawer front are handcut half-blind dovetails. About 90 hours went into this cabinet (at least 30% for the dovetails alone... hey I'm slow :) ) The only piece of metal are brass screws to hold the wood drawers rails on which the drawers slide.

Two coats of Wipe-On poly to seal the curly grain and two coats of Tung oil to add warmth. The only left to do is to line the drawers with a nice fabric, and that's another piece of work itself.


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Sorry, the fabric is big enough for pen photography but I'll need to buy a bigger piece...
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Nice tight dovetails, done by hand. The drawer is 1 1/4 inch high. I only applied the finish on the dovetails to highlight them. The rest of the side is bare.
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I'm happy it's done, and very happy with the outcome. I learned a lot during the project as well.
 
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Very nice looking pen cabinet, you did a great job on the dovetails as well.

That timber has a beautiful grain pattern and you have made the most of it.

So, how many pens does it hold at present?
 
Very nice looking pen cabinet, you did a great job on the dovetails as well.

That timber has a beautiful grain pattern and you have made the most of it.

So, how many pens does it hold at present?
about 25 currently. I don't turn that much, too much stuff to do (like that cabinet and my upcoming workbench).

How about the inside of the drawer? The outside looks FABULOUS!
The inside is not covered in fabric yet, that's why I did show it yet.

very nicely done louis, i would line it with some nice leather, mmmmmm
Not a bad idea.
 
Holy pen case Batman :eek::eek::eek:

That is one fine piece of craftsmanship. Great job on the dovetails. Heck great job on everything from where I sit. :worship::worship:
 
Lois,

would you kindly reveal a photo of one of the drawer slides? I'm curious to see how you did these. Thanks.
 
Thanks everyone. I'll do my best to grab a pic of the inside and the details of the sliders. Still a bit on the fence on the inside lining, velvet or leather...
 
Best things to do Loui is to get 2 draws and in each one of them put a piece of leather and velvet, personally I like the light grey velvet look at my tutorial for the pen tray in 2007
 
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Finally, for those who requested more pictures.

Now, the drawer lining is not installed yet so what you see is the bare oak ply. The drawers sliders are made of purpleheart. At first I wanted them t be Makoré as well but it was strong enough. The rails slide into the drawers in which I have routed a stopped dado.

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Louis, that is absolutely stunning work! Your combination of woods and craftsmanship make for an outstanding piece of work.

I have a couple of wooden display boxes I made of varying sizes, and have found that using your own craftsmanship to display your own craftsmanship will sell your pens long before you ever open the case. Customers seem to see the case, get a good dose of "ooooh la la!" and they are already hooked on your work.

That display you have will do exactly that!
 
Once again, great work.

I made some drawer slides similar to those on a sewing table I made for my mother in law. With a bit of wax, I was amazed at how smoothly they functioned. A lot cheaper than metal guides as well.
 
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