John M. of Lancefield, Victoria built this glass-fronted china display cabinet after his wife’s china and ornaments had spent four years sitting in packing cases. He wanted Tasmanian Blackwood, but the price sent him to cypress pine instead — cheap, straight-grained if you pick carefully, and stronger than radiata.
The whole thing is his own design, joined with Festool Domino loose tenons and finished with three coats of pure tung oil over a light stain. It took about two months of shop time and roughly $300 AUD all up, with two of those weeks spent hand-jointing the wide boards for the top and end panels using a plane and a pencil-marked spirit level.
In John’s words
This cabinet originated from a situation whereby my wife had china and ornaments in packing cases for about 4 years since we moved to this house. I wanted to make it from Tasmanian Blackwood but the cost of Blackwood here is outrageous. Cypress Pine is much cheaper and if one chooses carefully it has good straight grain. It is an easy timber to work and considerably stronger than Radiata pine.
The top and ends were edge glued with Festool Dominos, Titebond III is my favorite. The fun bit was hand jointing with a good plane and a long spirit level marked with a 2B pencil. It was a slow job!!
The front utilizes a Face Frame structure. Doors also Domino connected at the corners and the glass held into a rebate with white gap sealing putty. The final job was lightly stained to give a slightly darker colour as Cypress is pretty light.
The build
- Project type: Furniture — china display cabinet
- Skill level: Advanced
- Wood: Cypress pine throughout, with Festool beech Domino loose tenons; American white oak drawer slides
- Finish: Light stain, then three coats of pure tung oil (first two thinned with citrus solvent)
- Tools: Festool Domino, Festool compound mitre saw, Laguna Fusion 1 table saw, several Japanese pull saws, Kreg pocket hole jig
- Time: About 2 months, not full time — roughly 80% of his shop time
- Cost: Around $250 AUD for timber, $25 AUD glue, $25 AUD tung oil
- Plans: His own design, from concept to finish
Biggest challenge
The biggest challenge was definitely hand jointing the boards for the top and end panels. Each board was around 4 by 1 inch and the width about 56 in. Not much I would do differently although I have since bought a jointer so if I did another one it would not take 2 weeks!
Oh yes, one other issue was the slides for the drawers. I started with roller bearing metal slides but in the confined space I could not get them to fit perfectly so I went back to wooden slides using American white Oak. Very successful with a little beeswax on the sliding surfaces.
Photos
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