The Woodshop Shed

1920's Display Cabinet

Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)


Last year a good friend who knows I do woodworking asked if I could repair a cabinet his grandfather had made in the 1920's. Sight unseen I accepted the project. I received it in a large plastic bag with a number of broken pieces loose in the bottom. This was not a repair but a rebuild. It sat in my shop for a few weeks while I considered the ramifications of re-making this heirloom cabinet. We all know that the imperfections are part of the character of our projects. After a time I realized that in the condition it was in it could never be displayed and would eventually be discarded. With that to fortify me I finished it's disassembly, sanded what was salvageable and patterned new parts from what could not. Originally assembled with steel brads, this time all joints would be poly glued together. Construction was spread out over a week so parts could be stained and finished prior to the next stage of assembly. It was a clamp intensive project as you can imagine. I squared up and tightened all the joints and remade only a handful of pieces. Even sanded and saved the drawer pulls. Applied a dark stain as original for a satin finish. My trepidation was completely unfounded as the owner was overjoyed with the returned cabinet and I was rewarded with a 400 year old piece of mesquite that he had salvaged years ago on a hike in the desert. I turned him a wood carvers mallet from it but that is another post.

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