Two questions...trim advice and medallions

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bradleyheathhays

bradleyheathhays

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Mar 26, 2021
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Location
Lexington, Ky
First, I have some requests from a few friends to make some of these concealment coat racks, and I think I can do better than what I'm seeing on my local FB Marketplace. After I get these first ones done, I'd like to make some example pieces in a couple of different finishes and put them on FB and see how it goes. Unlike the first image below, I'll be using solid pine boards for the sides, top, and door frame pieces instead of plywood, although I'll use plywood for the back.

Can you guys give any advice on how to give this piece some love? I'll definitely be routering some of the edges but I could use some direction on which edges and what bit. It seems like the 4 door frame pieces could use some kind of design on the flat faces, but I'm not sure what that would be. Stencil or router work...dunno.

Also, if you have any other suggestions as to how to make this an overall better quality piece, I'm all ears. For example, I've seen videos of these with winey sounding RFID locks. Cool function, but it sounds like crap. I'd much rather install a some kind of magnetic switch, although I haven't found one that would work for this application yet.

wood.jpg


white.jpg



Second, I need to design my medallion/logo, and I need some ideas. If I could get some examples of yall's medallions that'll get me started. Or just advice on what it should contain would be helpful. I reserved the name Rooster's Woodshop.com so it'll have at least a rooster and my domain name. Just recently, I've discovered how cheaply you can get digital art done by real professionals on sites like Freelancer or Upwork, so I'll be using a digital design trained person to generate the piece.

Any and all advice is appreciated.

Thanks
 
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What is behind the doors? If you are going to use beadboard I suggest you look at cabinet doors especially those used for kitchens to get router details. Usually they keep it subtle and simple because the beadboard is the highlight. You could put a small bead around the outside of the frame as well to tie the frame to the beadboard. To me I am a raised panel guy. Not a fan of beadboard. It is old fashion but as I say that my Brother will be doing his kitchen over and that is the pattern they want. My thoughts on the medallion, personally I hate it. I do not like when people stick their names or logos on a piece of furniture. Put the name inside if you want to advertise because that is all it is advertisement. These are not modern shelves, more rustic design, so if you want to put roosters or designs like that on them to dress up that is fine. These are my personal opinions so do not shoot the messenger. Again to get more detailed ideas look at kitchen cabinet doors. Plenty of designs and you can see wood choices. You can do so much with a small door like that. Instead of miters use plinth blocks, or rosette blocks or fancy corner blocks in the corners.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/117089...3112&msclkid=07e91d8754a811ad94527b783852c095


https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=concealment+coat+racks&form=HDRSC3&first=1

Seems like this is a gun cabinet from the ones I have seen. Not so much on concealment
 
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For a medallion or logo, you could get something small designed, then have a machine shop cut the reverse from brass for a branding iron. A small rectangal or circle with the words of your brand and "handmade by" or similar, including a line or space to date the piece (if you like doing that)
 
Thanks for all the well-thought-out advice, JT. I live in the middle of Bluegrass horse country, so if you're going to shoot for a general style, you can't go wrong with farmhouse or something similar. This is probably a regional thing, too, but when you say concealment around here, you're talking about hiding a gun. This coat rack door would open to a rifle embedded in foam with whatever other firearm accessories you want to fit in.

On design...thanks for pointing out that the bead board is the highlight. That'll keep me from overembossing like I've done in the past. Could you explain more about adding a bead around the door frame though? Sorry, I don't have a lot of experience here, and I'm not able to picture it that well. Insofar as the white painted example above goes, the only addition I have thought to add that wouldn't be overkill is to add a VERY slight 45 degree chamfer to each of the boards corners, just enough so they're not sharp edged. Also, I might 45 deg chamfer the front underside of that top board as well, as indicated by the red triangle on the end. If it's not apparent in my rendition, the top of that triangle doesn't go all the way up through the thickness of the board, so they'll still be a small flat part on the top front edge, maybe about 3/8" tall.

rack 2.jpg


Thanks for the branding iron advice Drew. I've seen that in the past but had forgotten about branding that way.

EDIT: Oh I see you found where these are gun concealment pieces. Yes, no I'm not so much on concealment myself. It's just what sells around here from what I've been told.

EDIT 2: I think I found the style I want...

rack 3.jpg
 
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My #1 thought:
Don't do mitered corners unless you can make them flawlessly. I know a lot of people who would skip buying anything—no matter how much they like it otherwise—if a mitered corner has any gap.

If you do a mitered corner, look at doing a slipfeathered mitered corner—it's a great look and adds strength to an otherwise weak joint.
Also, before you actually glue the joint, put a glue sizing on the joint faces first.

You could also create the panel door using a Greene and Greene style having mortise and tenon joinery. It'll give you additional options for the look. There's a number of options within this general style and it's probably popular in the higher end equestrian homes and barns.
 
Thanks for your ideas Gary. I must say I'm fairly picky about mitered corners and since I'm new at it I'll have to spend some time really getting this right. I checked images of slipfeathered mitered corners and I definitely like the look. Sorry but I'm not sure what you're referring to with putting flue sizing on the joint faces first. I'm guessing it has something to do with gluing end grains together.

I'll look into the Greene and Greene style you mention. From my first looks I like the style.
 
I agree with Gary (GaryMGg), on mitered corners. I also think a Style and Rail construction for the door frame and bead board for the panel would look nice -- better than mitered corners in my opinion. Other than that, I really like the overall style of the pieces in the pictures. - Dave
 
One option is didn't see mentioned is the routed panel door. You use a designed kit to route your rails and styles and it creates all the geometry for the door. There are many different profiles for many different looks. Might want to give that a look.

I too like the idea of a magnetic lock, but then I don't have children to worry about. That is the advantage of an rfid lock over magnetic, protection from children.

I personally would avoid mitered corners, just to easy for them to not align. I'd either do mortise and tenon or half lap corners with pins myself. The routered can be built quickly and cleanly as well. Good luck.

PS: I'm currently working on my logo design. I like the idea of a branding iron, which aren't overly expensive to have made and there are tons of makers online.
 
Bradley
Glue sizing is simply taking wood glue and mixing it with water—maybe a 1:3 ratio of glue:water—and "painting" the end grain of the mitered pieces and letting it dry before doing the actual glue up.
End grain to end grain is a fairly weak joint by itself. The water helps the glue seep into the wood, giving the actual glue up a better bond.
 
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