How would you make this display cabinet?

[ByronBlack]

Hi guys,

I've been commissioned by my mum to make her an oak cabinet that looks like this:

How would you go about the construction?

I'm thinking of using oak veneered mdf for the sides and back, and solid oak for the front, doors and top. For construction, I was thinking of M&T's for the front frame, dowel the sides and top together, groove for the back to slot into, and tongue and groove for the doors, so the glass can fit into the grooves..

Anything particularly wrong with that approach? Anything you think could be done easier/quicker?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, it's the biggest project I've had to do and don't want to F it up..

Cheers

 

[jasonB]

I would use M&T joinery for the doors as a tongue wont be very long and you won't get the glass out the frame if its damaged, rebate and bead at the back to retain glass.

Also I would screw a 6mm back into a rebate as its firmer than a loose panel in a groove.

Also may be easier to have an MDF top with just two strips of timber to give the look.

Rest sounds fine.

Jason

 

[ByronBlack]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for the input - good point about the glass, I didn't consider the consequences of it breaking, the beading is obvious now that you mention it.

What about thicknesses - I'm intending to get PAR, and these would be 19mm which I think would make sense, as I could plane the 1mm to match the thickness of the 18mm mdf sheet. Although I'm concerned if this would be thick enough to make the cabinet solid and sturdy.. I could get sawn and retain some extra thickness by prepping it myself..

 

[toolsntat]

Toughened glass, not constructional but more for safety :wink:

Andy

 

[jasonB]

The veneered board comes up 19mm (0.5+18=0.5) so no problems there.

But as its for the face frame and doors you don't really need to match the thickness of the MDF, think I would be tempted to use ex 32mm for the solid bits but the easier to obtain 19mm finish should be OK.

As said it will need to be safety glass, 4m toughened would be OK to keep the weight down

Jason

 

[ByronBlack]

Andy/Jason - thanks a lot for your help, much appreciated.

Jason - I think I may laminate some 19mm par to give double thickness to the face frames. I could get sawn, but I don't have any machinery and trying to thickness 1.7m long pieces by hand is going to be tricky.

I don't suppose there is any need to laminate for thickness pieeces for the door frames?

Also, do you think pegged M&T's would be overkill?

 

[jasonB]

I think the doors woulld be too thick at 38mm

Pegs not really needed but you could just add some in a contrasting wood for looks.

J

 

[ByronBlack]

Cheers Jason,

I like the asthetics of pegs, so might go that route, at the moment, it's quite a rudimentry square box with shelves, and I need to tart it up a bit, so that might be a nice option.

 

[ByronBlack]

Ok, I've mangled something out of sketchup - what are everyones opinions? Could it be tarted up a bit - or do you think it looks ok as it is..?

 

[SketchUp Guru]

I wouldn't do anything to "tart it up" but I would be inclined to narrow up the top rails on the doors or and maybe do away with the arch. I realize you're trying to pick up the curve on the bottom but it doesn't work for me. Maybe you could try a single arc carried across both rails.

It looks like you've put a radius on the top side corners. If you're going to do that, I think I would add some others. Maybe round over the edges of the face frame and the inside edges of the door frames?

 

[Chris Knight]

For me a lot depends on context such as where a piece will go and what it's surroundings and neighbouring pieces of furniture are like and thus it's hard to make a critique on the style in isolation.

I have basically the same views as DaveR on this cabinet plus I would consider a small cornice around the top.

 

[jasonB]

Must admit I'm not keen on the curves, prefered the angular look of the original and the overhanging top. If you are going with a curve why not make the door top rails with the same curve as the plinth, eg both curving up to the middle of the cabinet rather than two separate arches.

I'd be tempted to add a slight taper to the face frame so its wider at the bottom and tapers to the top, bit arts & crafts style which would go with your pegs and leave it overhanging the carcase externally . You could then angle the ends of the overhanging top to match.

J

 

[ByronBlack]

Cheers guys - I was struggling with the arch and glad that you picked up on it, I'll try and refine it.

Jason - I like the idea of the taper, I'll experiment and see how it comes out.

 

[Shultzy]

Looks good, but if its suppose to be a display cabinet I don't think there is enough glass. I don't know the width but maybe a single door would be better.

 

[ByronBlack]

Looks good, but if its suppose to be a display cabinet I don't think there is enough glass. I don't know the width but maybe a single door would be better.

It's only going to have a small handful of items in it, it's more of a filler piece of furniture to fit in an alvove than it is to display items. I did suggest a single door, but mother dearest vetoed it and wants two doors.

 

[ByronBlack]

Ok, I've made some changes.

I've got rid of the arch - it just wasn't working, and I've gone for the tapered legs - I like the balance of it now.

The taper/overhang is 10mm on top and 35mm on the bottom.

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Looks better. Maybe try it without the angle on the inside of the stiles at the bottom. I'm also not enamored with the arch on the bottom rail.

 

[ByronBlack]

Hi Dave,

I did try it without the angle, but it looked a bit to 'heavy set' and the angle just brings back a bit of lightness. I'll see how it looks without the bottom curve.. thanks for the input.

Quick question: If you radius a square corner, what is a quick way of getting rid of that and turning it back into a square edge? I tried deleting the lines of the curve and add in a rectangle, but it just didn't work at all well, and I ended up re-drawing the entire stile.

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Here's another option for you. If you leave the arc, carry it on to the stiles. Make it an elliptical curve so it can be tighter at the ends.

There are a couple of ways to do what you want. If you delete the radiused edge, you can draw in lines to extend out to the corner and a line along the length to create the faces. Depending upon what you have going on in the neighbourhood of the radius, you could just draw a vertical line to the side of the radius and use Push/Pull to cut the radius off. then use Push/Pull to pull the new edge out to where the old one was. If those don't make sense, I'll make you some pictures.

I went ahead and made a quick illustration. Click on it for a bigger one.

 

[jasonB]

I like the taper but the two frames look too heavy, try them the same width as the door styles at the top, this will also give you wider doors and therefore more glass area.

Jason