When I decided to update this blog I realized that this is one of my favorite projects. It has a ton of details crammed into a small project. There were a lot of problems to solve. 

 

Back in 2013 a friend gave me several walnut boards that came from a tree in his father in law's yard. Rather than pay him I offered to build something for him. After some discussion we settled on a box for a set of tea bag holders that they use. These holders originally belonged to her mother. The combination of the holders and the walnut ties some history from both sides of the family.

There are 4 holders in the set. After more years than I care to admit I found the time to get to this build. We settled on a small cabinet with Art Deco styling taken from old radios. Both the bag holders and the radios are from a similar era.

You will notice several design elements from this next example once you see the final design.

It took me until 2021 to finally do this build. The first step is to get the material ready. Pieces are cut oversize and left to stabilize for a couple weeks. The wood is very stable. A slight amount (around 0.010") of twist showed up that is easily removed.

I'm using the stepped surfaces that waterfall from the top to the front that are in the 2nd example pic above. I cut the recess for the first step with two passes on the router table. I used a 3/4" straight bit.

The longer piece is for the doors and is wider than the top to allow room so I can cut the door panel into 2 pieces later.

I'm leaving a small strip along the outer edge until later. This helps keep the parts stable while doing various operations.

The next cut is to round over the edge with a 1/8" ovolo bit. I'll try to get a picture of that bit in the next entry.