Humidor Plans

[dkerfoot]

I am planning on building a humidor for myself soon. For aesthetic reasons, my intent is to build a hardwood outer box that is lined with 1/4" (or so) Spanish Cedar, rather than build the entire thing from Spanish Cedar. I'll be aiming for a capacity in the 100-150 cigar range. I'll almost certainly use mitered corners with contrasting keys à la Doug Stowe. Currently planning on mitering and press-fitting the lining and letting the humidity lock the sides in place.

I already have a very nice piece of 4/4 10"x60" Spanish Cedar that I will resaw for the lining.

I have done a bunch of searches and have probably found all the easily findable free plans and articles. Just wondering if any of you have built one and/or have access to plans that Google would not likely retrieve for me. I do also have access to the Fine Woodworking archive CD, so I have the humidor article they ran some years back.

Just trolling (in the fishing sense) for suggestions, plans, things to avoid, etc...

Thanks!

[JR]

I've made a couple of humidors. I'd say you probably have most of the info you need based on your searches.

Hinges can be tricky. Quadrant hinges are very difficult to mortise. I'd suggest using side rail hinges, which are effective and a ton easier to install. If you decide to use quadrant hinges drop me a PM and I'll dig up a chicken-scratch drawing of a jig made for this purpose.

Your plan for lining the box with spanish cedar is perfectly appropriate and should work fine, IMHO. FYI - I have seen some really high-end humidors in which the carcass is made from spanish cedar and a nice veneer is put on the outside. Although this breaks the rule of veneering both sides it does enable the cedar to provide superior humidity control.

I do a lot of boxes with miter keys. When you're ready for glue-up take the time to size the miters before applying the final coat of glue. I had a miter blow out on me the other day at a show, so I will be much more attentive to this in the future. Once again FYI - all high-end humidors use miter-lock joints.

HTH,
JR

[scmhogg]

Doug,

I made a humidor for an ex-marine, friend. I made it out of a .50 caliber ammo can. I used 1/4" Spanish Cedar to line the whole box. The sides and bottom all fit together with 45 degree angles. I made the corners a business card width short. When I added humidity they locked together nicely. I glued the top piece inside the lid.

Steve