Spice Cabinet for Mom

[atgcpaul]

My mom wanted a free hanging spice cabinet in their cabin. I knew I wanted
to use oak but didn't have any at the time. As luck would have it, when my
mom visited a few weeks ago, I took her to the Habitat for Humanity
ReStore. They were selling several bundles of used red oak flooring. Very
good condition except for a worn finish. I estimate I got 50sf of 3/4" boards
for less than $10.

Anyway, checked the boards with my HF metal detector then sent them
through my planer. Ripped off the tongues and grooves and use a few boards
to make this. Some boards are still slightly grooved on one side, but not
really an issue for me.

4 sides, adjustable shelves, and door frame are red oak. Top and bottom
attached to sides with biscuits and glue. The back is my last bit of hardboard
sitting in a rabbet in the case and attached with small brass escutcheon pins.
The door panel is a cherry board I resawed and bookmatched. Cherry was
a Craigslist buy. Pretty quick and easy project.

Finish is a very light coat of boiled linseed oil for color, followed by dewaxed
shellac, then sprayed on Hydrocote Resisthane Plus WB lacquer. Finally
rubbed out with steel wool and wax. I installed a magnetic catch (also from
the ReStore for 50cents). I still need to buy a pull.

Paul

Please click on pictures to enlarge.

[Brian G]

That's a beautiful spice rack, Paul. I especially like the finish.

[JR]

Sweet, Paul. I agree with Brian, you have a unique way of finishing, which looks great.

JR

[John Hunter]

Very nice.

[Pappy]

Good way to score major points with Mom! Love the bookmatched door panel.

[lrogers]

Bet you are number one on the "good son list" now! Very nice work. You can really do some neat stuff with old flooring.

[ragswl4]

Very Nice! How did you apply the Resisthane? It looks like the finish turned out really, really nice.

[footprintsinconc]

Finish is a very light coat of boiled linseed oil for color, followed by dewaxed
shellac, then sprayed on Hydrocote Resisthane Plus WB lacquer. Finally
rubbed out with steel wool and wax.

looks real nice! its very interesting to see what types of finish people apply to their projects. could you explain to me why all those finishes & steps? i dont know much about finishes, so just asking for knowledge sake.

thanks

[atgcpaul]

looks real nice! its very interesting to see what types of finish people apply to their projects. could you explain to me why all those finishes & steps? i dont know much about finishes, so just asking for knowledge sake.

thanks

It might be best to think of the process in reverse. Although it seems like a
lot of steps, it took me a total of 3 days to finish including all the drying time.
In my opinion, not very long and not a ton of work. And just as a disclaimer,
this is what works for me.

I like my pieces to be smooth to the touch and have a satin rather than
gloss finish to them. So I finish with wax and steel wool. When I touch the
final waxed finish with dry hands, you can feel that friction is greatly reduced
compared to an unwaxed surface. I like this. Steel wool and wax took me
less than an hour on Day 3.

The wax goes on over a water-based lacquer that I spray on with HVLP. I
have gone to water-based because it takes a long time for solvent based
finishes to stop smelling. Water cleanup is easy to do and no fire danger.
Water based with HVLP is also fast. I sprayed on 3 coats of WB lacquer in
less than 2 hours on Day 2.

WB finishes don't give much color so the first coat is a very thin layer of
boiled linseed oil (BLO). I don't flood it on and wait to wipe off. I apply a
little to a rag and just rub enough on for even coverage. Then I wipe off any
excess. This took 30 minutes on Day 1. I let this sit for a few hours before
returning to it.

WB finishes don't stick well to oil finishes so between the BLO and WB lacquer,
I padded on 2 coats of a 1lb cut of a dewaxed shellac (Zinnser SealCoat).
The shellac also has the added benefit of sealing off any BLO smell. Total
application time for shellac was one hour including drying time on Day 1. I
VERY lightly knocked down any roughness after the shellac with P320 grit
sandpaper and wipe the piece with a clean rag before spraying.

So yes, I could have down this whole thing with a solvent base polyurethane
or lacquer to give me the warmth that BLO and shellac give me, but then I'd
have to deal with the smell and the headaches(#1 reason for me to go WB).

Hope this helps,
Paul

[GPA61]

Very, very nice Paul.

[HarmsWay]

You've obviously got what it takes when you can take a mundane piece of furniture like a simple spice cabinet and make it special. I think it's in your selection of wood - figuring, bookmatching, colouring, etc. I never would have thought that one could combine white oak and cherry that way, but that looks great! Is the colour matching accomplished just with the BLO?

Bob

[footprintsinconc]

thanks paul for the detailed explaination. i really appreciate your time. i dont like the smell either, so have been thinking on and off of finishes that i will want to apply to our first furniture piece that i will complete (some day ). so your explanation really helps.

regards,

[bigdaddyjohn]

Very nice indeed. Love the fact you purchased cheap and reused something old to something new. Ummmm. Maybe my daughters are growing up too fast? Must be on my mind.

bigdaddyjohn