Tweet
I just finished this piece after working on it on and off for about three months. I expected it to take me one month.
This is the best picture I have at the moment as my uncle has told me he is going to have the hardware custom made at some point.
Leave it to a family member to request something so freaking complicated. He wanted a piece that looked like it came from the "Monterey" style.
I started with the turned legs. I expected that to be the hardest part and I turned those without any problems. I had to re-learn the skew, but I bought enough wood to have a practice piece.
I realized that because the legs poked out through the top I would have to use real wood on the entire thing so that it would expand and contract correctly without cracking. Much sanding ensued.
I then made the top and bottom piece using a template that was half of the piece. I then flipped it and did the other side to obtain two symmetrical identical pieces. That worked great. I just rough cut it with a jig saw and then used a router with a flush trim bit to make it perfect.
I then had the genius idea of assembling the middle section and then assuming it would fit perfectly in the sliding dovetails I had routed in the top/bottom. That was stupid. I ended up having to re-create alot of the middle section. Lesson learned. Assembly order is VERY important.
I cut large dado's in the legs to attach them to the top, bottom and various shelves. That part went pretty smoothly.
I had a bit of trouble with the dovetails and the Leigh jig. I just had to re-teach myself how to use that sucker after not using it for a while. This time I took detailed notes so I wouldn't have a similar dovetail graveyard the next time.
The finish is a dark walnut (Transtint) stain, one coat of lacquer, a General Finishes "brown mahogany" glaze and like 3 more coats of lacquer on top. The wood is Alder. It turned out pretty well, but I still had some lines in the stain where it wasn't perfecty even. Oh well...I generally hate using stain and am usually dead set against it, but they wanted the edges to look rubbed through. So I sanded the edges with 400 grit paper to remove some of the stain before I did the sealing lacquer coat.
Two days before I was to deliver the piece to my uncles house I dropped a piece of the glass and broke it while talking to a neighbor. I don't think my neighbor had ever heard me cuss before. I think I scared him. I was able to get a replacement (for double the price) before I delivered it.
That's about it. It now has a 50" LCD TV on top of it, various components inside, a center speaker and subwoofer behind the middle door (which has speaker mesh on it) and speakers on the side shelves.
It didn't turn out as perfect as I would have liked, but this one was a huge learning experience. It looked simple, but it was not.
This was also my first project I created in 3-D from start to finish using Google Sketchup which I HIGHLY recommend. It made construction and design much easier.
You can see more pictures at my website...
http://www.fleischerwoodworks.com/NE...tainmentcenter
Comment