A project from 2020 - yes that COVID year ….......!!!!!
But it meant I was super productive with no-where to go, and had plenty of time in the workshop to be creative. This small table cabinet was another work inspired by Japanese National Living treasure Suda Kenji. I was lucky enough to be given a load of veneer years ago by a Canadian cabinet maker who was leaving Western Australia to return home. I didn't initially know what this particular veneer was, but soon decided it was teak.
So I used the teak in a four way book match to make a small cabinet, 11 inches / 275mm square.
Its constructions was classic Japanese - a box, in a box. The outer box was made first of teak veneered marine ply, followed by an inner box of paulownia. A feature I particularly liked was that the front of the cabinet, which can be removed as normal, but can then be stowed into a slot beneath the internal drawers.
The drawers are not dovetailed, but have mitred keyed corners. The fronts are unusual as they have a thick 3mm burl veneer with a Wenge banding glued across the top. The Wenge band was enhanced with shell dots giving the impression of the night sky. Shell dots are also used to highlight the intersections of internal paulownia box.
A feature I started using more and more back then was the use of stud earrings as knobs. There's an endless variety. These black zirconite ones matches the Wenge band. In this instance I glued the earring into some black stained 3mm dowel too make them more substantial. Another typical feature of my work was to incorporate some hidden compartments. This small cabinet has two. They are in the form of two small boxes hidden behind the false backs of the the middle rows outer drawers.
They are accessed by removing the central drawer and tilting the cabinet to one side. The box slides to the middle and can then be pulled out.
Its now 2026 , so 6 years later and I fancy making another small table cabinet!
