No Frills Red Oak Tool Cabinet

[EagerBeaver71]

Its been about 2 months since I started building this cabinet. Big thanks to Robert Brown (Auscab) for giving me the idea of using fake rails & stiles in the construction it worked out great!.

So I started out with a plan using sketchup, I wanted something simple, mobile and could be split into two parts if I ever moved house. The materials used are veneered red oak ply, birch ply, solid red oak for the doors and all the edge banding was done using iron on white oak.

Sketchup Plan....

01 The Design.jpg

Some of the plywood cut to size...

03 Cut Parts.jpg 04 Cut Parts.jpg

The base complete. Eventually a strip of veneered red oak will be glued to the front to hide the screws.

05 Base Complete.jpg 06 Base Complete.jpg

The back panel & mid support glue up, using dowel joinery. One thing I found was that the most accurate doweling jig is one you make yourself!, I've tried many and they're all not accurate enough for me.

07 Back Glueup.jpg 08 Support Glueup.jpg

Here's my doweling jig
IMG_8910.jpg

This thread might be abit long so I may have to post in two parts or something...

[EagerBeaver71]

The supports, back's & base all complete.
09 Back - Base & SUpports Complete.jpg

Veneered red oak glue up to hide the front base screws.
10 Front Red Oak Glueup.jpg

After assembling the carcass I went ahead and started gluing the rails and stiles to the sides which hid all the scews!, I left a few mils around the edge so I could flush trim them using the router.
11 Fake Rails & Stiles Glueup.jpg 12 Fake Rails & Stiles Glueup.jpg

Carcass complete & checked for squareness!.
13 Carcass Complete.jpg 14 Carcass Complete.jpg

The top and wheels added.
15 Top and Wheels attached.jpg

Close up of some of the veneer.
16 Side Top Panel Grain.jpg

To be continued....

[EagerBeaver71]

The drawers were constructed using tongue & groove, everything went together pretty well however at this point I started to get tennis elbow!, something I've never suffered with until now!.
I was going to make my own runners but opted to buy some cheap ones for the small drawers and some softclose for the bottoms.
17 Drawers Cut.jpg 18 Drawer Assembly.jpg 19 Drawers Complete.jpg

Attaching the veneered plywood fronts.
20 Drawer Fronts.jpg 21 Drawer Fronts Complete.jpg

This is taking a while!. To Be Continued!....

[EagerBeaver71]

Door assembly using solid red oak for the rail & stiles. I've never worked with red oak before &
suddenly realised during cutting the stuff, it has a very distinct smell that I can't quite put my finger on!.
22 Door Assembly.jpg 23 Door Glueup.jpg

Shellac time!. 3 coats of the hard stuff, lovely.... dry's quick, and you can cut it back to whatever sheen you want!, you just can't beat the traditional finishes. I cut the sheen back using 0000 steel wool to create a nice even satin finish which still shows the grain, just how I wanted it!. I also added a little dark oak tint to the first coat of shellac to make the grain pop abit more...
24 Shellac Time!.jpg

Project complete. I'm quite happy with the way its turned out , I especially like the colour, I wanted to
keep fairly light and warm for my workshop. Big thanks to Auscab for all his advice. Onto the next project,
finishing my clock!.
IMG_8918.jpg IMG_8902.jpg IMG_8906.jpg IMG_8923.jpg IMG_8926.jpg IMG_8929.jpg

[auscab]

Ive wondered what happened since your last posts .
Nice work. It looks very good. lovely in that natural colour under shellac as well.
Rob

[EagerBeaver71]

Ive wondered what happened since your last posts .
Nice work. It looks very good. lovely in that natural colour under shellac as well.
Rob

Thanks Rob, Among other things I've not been too well but back on the mend now, touch wood!. I made plenty of mistakes to learn from but it was enjoyable. Next shop furniture will probably be a workbench of some sort. One thing I must say I can't believe I've never used shellac!, I'm totally in love with the stuff!, so much can be done with the stuff its amazing!.

[John Samuel]

Your tool chest is a work of art compared to my el cheapo ply units.

Lovely cabinet!