The Finished Humidor

[lew]

Those of you who follow "Wednesday's Wisdom" will remember I was also working on a walnut humidor. Well it is finally finished and awaiting pickup.

 

 

This project contained a whole lot of "firsts" for me, including the cabriole legs.

 

I need to say a big THANKS to Patriot member Steven Newman for his instructions on attaching the drawer box to the drawer front. You are right Steve, the plug virtually disappeared!

 

 

 

 

The customer designed the humidor details, however, some of the construction points were gleaned from this article- http://archive.cigarweekly.com/magazine/cigarticles/02-12-2009/building-a-cabinet-humidor-from-scratch . Specifically, the method of sealing the openings to maintain the internal humidity.

 

The humidor is made entirely of walnut (from the customer) and lined with Spanish cedar. To avoid a cross grain gluing situation, the back of the humidor is made from MDF with a heavy veneer. 

 

The drawer is held closed with ball catches (those things a a pain to install) and the door has a mortised lock.

 

 

There are three lift out storage shelves/boxes.

 

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All of the glass is seated in a silicon bed and secured with removable wooded strips- in case of glass breakage.

 

 

I sanded everything thru 500 grit (Abralon pad at 500) and then applied Dark Walnut Watco Danish Oil. When it dried I used dark Briwax as a top coat.

 

Hope the customer is satisfied when he actually gets to touch it.

 

Thanks for looking. Any comments, criticisms and/or suggestions are always welcome  

[Courtland]

Comments? Holy sheep crud! Nice humidor Lew!

You are a brave woodworker doing so many "Firsts" on a customers project! Those legs are nice man, love em. I have never done cabriole legs on anything, I am always in awe of folks who do create them. 

How does that Briwax work over the Watco? Is it wipe on wipe off? And why do you use Briwax, what is it that makes you a customer of the Briwax?

[Ernie Richardson (BAA Bugler)]

It is absolutely beautiful. Shows meticulous craftsmanship.  You should be Very proud of this job.

[Ernie Richardson (BAA Bugler)]

It is absolutely beautiful. Shows  meticulous craftsmanship.  You should be Very proud of this job.

[John Moody]

As I said earlier, Wow and Wow!

 

That is so awesome and the craftsmanship is superb!

 

Great job on all of the first! I'm sure the customer will just love it.

[lew]

Thanks, everyone, for all of the kind words. I delivered it this evening. He was happy.

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

That is absolutely stunning, well done! The owner will be quite proud to have it in his home.

[Cliff]

wow~!!

 The legs.  They are really bold how you tapered and curved them.   Super execution~!!

 

Love the lock set, love the tight joinery, love the two different woods and the stepped door closure seals.

 

Great work.

[lew]

Thanks , Fred!

 

Thank you, Cliff! I can't take credit for the design. The customer picked the leg features and selected the glass elements from on line pictures. I found the stepped closure feature on line.

[lew]

 I am always in awe of folks who do create them. 

How does that Briwax work over the Watco? Is it wipe on wipe off? And why do you use Briwax, what is it that makes you a customer of the Briwax?

 

Sorry, John, meant to answer this sooner. 

 

About the legs. I learned how to create them in Sketchup first, with a lot of help from an acquaintance who is a Sketchup guru. Then I made a sample (Poplar) to give the customer a feel for the size and proportions. There are a couple of really good videos on YouTube demonstrating the layout and cutting procedure. It is easier than you would expect. Now sanding, on the other hand, well that's another story. Fortunately, the customer wanted the "square shaped" legs instead of round or oval. That really reduced the shaping/sanding portion. To sand the legs, I made a jig to hold them parallel to my oscillating spindle sander table- two jigs, actually.

 

 

Each jig permits sanding parallel sides of the leg. Sand two sides, switch jigs, rotate leg 90°, sand the other two parallel sides.

 

As for the finish. You know sometimes the Gods smile on you. I was so afraid that the finish was going to be a Poly type. In my basement, finishing with a film finish is really hit and miss. It is so difficult to keep airborne contaminates from affecting the finish. This piece could have NO mistakes. When the customer said he didn't like a film finish, I was relieved beyond words. A friend of mine is an expert finisher. He recommended the Dark Walnut Watco Danish Oil. With the surface of the walnut "unsealed"- by using oil- wax would be trapped in the pores. Using a dark wax, would prevent the pores from holding "white" dried wax. Why BriWax? I had a can of it that I bought from Woodcraft- on sale. My finisher friend uses dark Johnson's Paste Wax- which I didn't know was available.

 

I left the Danish Oil dry for a couple of days before applying the wax. Wiped it on, set for a few minutes buffed it off with an old towel. I did two applications- just to be sure.

 

Hope this answers your questions.