Chocolate walnut and maple inside with a cherry outside ..

So the tool cabinet is finally finished.  Outside dimensions:  35″ high by 29″ wide by 15″ deep.Glamor shots:

Outside

Doors have book matched white oak panels with cherry frame.  I picked the panels up from Bell Forest.  Handles are oil rubbed bronze.

Yes, I have gotten a few comments that this is too nice for a tool cabinet, but hey, at least now I know I can do the cabinets for the inside of the house.

The panels were run through a power planer because I was having trouble with the knots and the significant cup.  Since then I’ve learned a few lessons from Joe and how to plane knots.  I’ll try that next time.

Inside with Tools
Cubbies were sized for specific tools.  Shelves are cherry with walnut dividers.  The back panels are left over from another project tongue and groove fir boards that I purchased from a local lumber yard.
This is my entire arsenal of planes and I have a little room to expand but I’m hoping I’m done with major hand plane acquisitions. (9 planes, right?) Some of these will hang on the interior of the doors.

Cabinet Side and Door Grain Matching.  I glued up the panels for the sides including the door width and then ripped out the door sides to make sure I had an appealing grain pattern.

Dove tail drawers – Maple and Walnut  with a small bead on the top and bottom.  These will hold my chisels and drill bits which I store in rolls. This allows me to pick up the whole roll at once and take it to the bench.

I still need to hang many of my tools.  The brace, egg beater drill, spoke shave, etc.  will be mounted later on the inside of the doors.

The Finish – I tried something new for this cabinet and really loved it.  The pores on the doors needed to be filled (white oak) to get a smooth exterior finish.  This wood filler worked wonders and dried clear.  Then I added the wipe on, wipe off satin finish.. in my garage.  No nibs and I couldn’t be happier with the results.I got the idea to use a transparent filler from Rob Bois’ butternut cabinet project.
From the Doh! Files
(a little reminders that I’m still learning not to make stupid mistakes)

1. Measure before you cut .. Doh!

2. Don’t drop your work on the concrete floor because even with a little water and a hot iron, you might not be able to decompress the fibers … Doh!

3. Pair up you tail board to make sure you don’t cut your tail board upside down .. Doh!

The Parting Shot

Links to other posts for this project: Tool Cabinet Project Page

17 thoughts on “Chocolate walnut and maple inside with a cherry outside ..”

  4. Everything about this tool cabinet is beautiful, but I especially like the details inside – the tailored-to-tool dividers, the beads on the drawers, and T&G back panel. Congratulations!

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  5. Really lovely work. You helped my ego by sharing your boo boos along the way as well. I think we can sometimes feel that we're the only one that makes mistakes. Thanks for your generosity in sharing the progress on the cabinet as well as your humility in letting us in on its "special features".

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  6. Thanks ya'll! My next project is a desk much of which is made up of a large cabinet with some fairly complicated joiner (at least for me). I'd love to not have a Doh! section at the end of that project .. but I'm bettin' I do.

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  7. Very nice work! I think we've all cut our dovetails upside down at one time or another. I wish I could say that its the type of mistake you only make once… but you probably will do it again, just like the rest of us…

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  9. Thanks all of you for your comments. I really appreciate it! If I didn't have your blog on my reader, I've added you so I can follow along. I'm sure I'll be cutting things upside down in the future (tee hee) so stay tuned. Hopefully I'll finish another project .. this year. ;o)

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  10. Marilyn, that's *beautiful*, spectacular job! The half-blind dovetails came out great, and I really like the bead detail around the drawers. The beaded/shiplap back is very classy, I like it a lot.Joe

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  11. Thank you! Glad you like it! :o)I'm really looking forward to see how your bench turns out. It's already looking very cool. My next project is a desk. It the most complicated project I've taken on so far. The joinery is fairly complicated but if I do it right those details won't be noticeable.

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  12. Very nicely done! I don't do woodworking I do DohWorking.I have the bad habit to cut on the wrong side of my mark, when it is just the table saw blade thickness that's acceptable, but a few week ago I did this with my dado blade set at 3/8"…

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  13. That's really pretty Marilyn. I like the shape of the dividers, and the panels are really cool. And if I squint I can't even see the piano hinges! 🙂

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  16. Wow, what a nice cabinet. In spite of the 'doh' experiences, it turned out really well. You know they say, the 'measure' of a woodworker is not in what he/she can produce, but in how well he/she can cover the mistakes and repairs! Your cabinet is wonderful.

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