TV Cabinet

This TV Cabinet was a request from LOML to replace a hurting particleboard stand with plastic casters that she had from college. The stand served us faithfully for several years together but had finally gotten the death penalty when LOML decided she wanted the entertainment gear behind closed doors. The cabinet was scaled up and modified from a U-bild plan I bought (they suck, BTW, at least this one did. Don't waste your money.)

Cabinet and Two Doors

The cabinet is cherry and cherry ply. Overall height is roughly 7 feet. Three pairs of doors with two drawers on the bottom. The doors are from some wide cherry boards my father gave me. I resawed and tried to go for a nice bookmatch look. Door rails and stiles are joined by M&T. The cove crown was cut on the table saw. It took a bit of sanding to get it smooth but it came out nicely, I think. One of these days I'll look into a scraper.

Finally a finished product!!!

After 8 months of on and off work and finally a big push during the month of June I have completed the TV Cabinet. It came out fairly well and LOML is pleased with it. Despite its flaws I'm not too terribly disappointed with the outcome, either. Mostly I've enjoyed the experience of building it and hopefully have learned from the inevitable mistakes and frustrations that came along with it.

The finished product

Here's a shot to give some idea of the scale of the cabinet in the room.

A closer look

The finish for the cabinet began with a mixture of linseed and tung oil thinned out with mineral spirits to help drying along. On top of the oil went several coats of garnet shellac on the "show" faces. The insides of the cabinet got only a single coat to seal the surfaces and for color matching.

A look inside

The doors are open so you can take a peek inside. The lower shelf holds the stereo components. Then the TV, a 27" model. Above that the satellite box and VCR. There should be enough room to accomodate a DVD player should we choose to add one to that TV. Finally the top shelf holds some of LOML's knick knacks, though I was hoping it would be used for more utilitarian purposes...storing her throws or extra pillows, etc.

Some lessons learned

1. Free wood certainly makes for a less expensive project. All the solid wood was given to me by my father. I hope he gets to see this cabinet in person because he does love cherry. I felt a little guilty taking it from him but it sure saved my bank account some pain.
2. Working with S4S lumber is considerably more difficult than rough. All the lumber was already planed to 3/4" since my father doesn't have a planer, and though he took care to stack it properly, much of it still had warp, cup, and other problems. The pull-side stiles on my largest doors warped significantly after I had cut them and assembled the doors, up to 1/4" on one. I was able to get most of it out but there is still noticable warp on one. Perhaps replacement doors will come along somewhere down the road.
3. Big pieces should be built in two or more smaller units. Now assembled I guesstimate that this unit weighs well over 400 lbs. It was more than a match for myself, my friend, and my neighbor and his friend to maneuver into the house and around the other furniture into position. I still have battle scars on my legs as proof of the battle.
4. Shellac is a user-friendly finish, but takes some practice to apply well. I applied the shellac by brushing and it went on fairly well, though I did get some ridging, especially where I had to change directions (like on the doors).
5. Think before you act. This should have been obvious but on several occasions I didn't do this and wound up with mistakes I had to cover (such as cutting a rabbet on the wrong side of a piece). Also, had I done this I could have oriented the aforementioned large doors so that the stiles that had warped would have been on the hinge side, less likely to catch the eye and with the possible result of the hinge screws helping to pull some of the warp out.

That's it for the TV Cabinet. It's not perfect but it's functional and was a good learning experience for me.

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