My future display cabinet...

[James W]

Mr. Suter's comment
(Errrr, it IS kind of big. You DID measure the doorways and all, didn't you?)

Hehe that is true...

Looks almost as big as that BMW outside of yer garage.

[martin]

WOW!!!

I'm sitting here...

eating my dinner...

having a Dr Pepper...

just looking at my tiny little box with my tiny little collection in it.

It hurts.

Can you feel my pain???

[Sebastian Bianchi]

In for a penny, in for a pound

Update – In for a penny, in for a pound.

Suffering from a fairly severe case of the “might as wells”, I have gone ahead and built a desk. The furniture is done and is now in the sanding stages, so this weekend taking advantage of the holiday I will tear apart the room (remove a closet, install recess/track lighting, paint, etc.). After that it should not be too much longer until the project is completed.

Of course, when I started a set a time of a “few weeks”. It’s been 6 months

Here is the desk, believe me it is all squared (this pic makes it look otherwise).

[Sebastian Bianchi]

The front

[Eric Gaumann]

wood?

Seb,
What kinda wood are you using for this project? At first it almost looks like Cypress, and it's certainly not the common Maple. Now I'm thinking it's Red Oak.
Since I'm a woodworker, too (and I work for lumber yard) I'm making a couple more display boxes out of heavily mineraled curly Maple. Gonna be sweet.....

[Sebastian Bianchi]

Indeed it's red oak, good eye. I have learned a lot throuout this project, and it's coming out ok considering my lack of practical experience when I started (I had read two books). I learned one thing real fast; proper tools are key!

Do you have pics of your boxes?

[Eric Gaumann]

Seb,
Yeah, I *think* i posted a couple o' pix on the collection's display forum a while back.
Now, for your cabinet the real key will be how you "finish" it; ie how (or if) you stain it, and most importantly the clear-coat. Minwax (and others) make some really great products but it's tough for part-timers like you and me to do a consistent job on big projects like your cabinet (and the hall table I'm making). A pro painter with a spray booth will make all the difference. If you've got an extra, say, 200 bucks that pro finish job will really make the cabinet stand out as high-quality furniture.
I'd be happy to add another other tips if you need them.

[Sebastian Bianchi]

I am actually reaching that point where I have to finish it. It will probably not be this weekend so I have a couple of days, but what do you mean a "pro" finish? Where would I take it if I chose that route? I think that I will do it myself, and need to use water base poly as this is the "safest" for medals (or so I have read/been told). I will stain it as well, and will use a sealer. As I understand this is needed in wood like oak. What do you think?

[Rick White]

Hi Seba,

Nice work! I see we have something else in common. Woodworking is one of my "therapies."

I agree with Eric. You just can't get the same finish doing it by hand that a pro can with a compressor and spray gun and years of experience. I have a guy that comes out to my house to do it when I want a top notch job done. With as much time as you have put into your work, it is worth the little extra $.

Rick

P.S. I found my guy at an antique store that my wife and I do business at. They do a lot of refinishing.

[Sebastian Bianchi]

Well, I have a compressor and spray gun, just lack the years of experience (or any, for that matter ). I'll see if I can find someone around here to give me a quote and to talk to for a bit, it might be worth it. Thanks!

[Eric Gaumann]

>It will probably not be this weekend so I have a couple of days, >but what do you mean a "pro" finish?

Simply a finishing done by a professional painter. As opposed to one done by an ametur.


>Where would I take it if I chose that route?

Find some recommendations for local paintshops. The biggest hassle will be moving the cabinet to the paint shop and back. Why, you ask? Cuz the pro's will do the painting in a dustless spray booth. They could do it in your garage, but the price'll be more (since they gotta drive out there and set up), and there'll be the dust issue, and the overspray will get on everything else in the garage.

[Eric Gaumann]

mine

A shot of the Maple I'm using for my display box. Since I got no digicam I set the top directly on the scanner. You can see the mineralization as the dark streaks all across the image, and the "curly" Maple-ness in the upper righthand corner. More sanding (I'm only at 120 right now) will bring out the curliness, and the clear coat (still undecided, probably Furzite) will darken the whole thing somewhat.

[Sebastian Bianchi]

Thanks for the tips guys.

Ok, the cabinet and office is (finally) done, I will post it along with details. But before I take and post the pictures, I will finish the displays inside of it.

For now, here are a couple of pictures of the destruction that took place a few weeks ago (took out a closet, put in the lighting, etc etc)

[Sebastian Bianchi]

While all that was going on, at least a couple of weeks, I was working from a laptop. This was my office.