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So I have advanced out of 18th century furniture and decided to make an unusual mid 20th century cabinet. This is a replica actual size outdoor telephone booth made with a poplar frame, MDF lower panels and salvaged plexiglass containing four 31.25" sq shelves. We are using it to display my son's architectural models in our Americana themed basement.

AT&T's Airlight KS-14611 telephone booth, now an American icon, tells us so much about who we were and where we are headed. For me, it reminds me of Superman, Maxwell Smart, road trips and calling Mom to pick me up because my bike had a flat tire. It seems strange that the isolation provided by the phone booth really harkens back to a time when people communicated more in person.

The rails looked something like this:

A crosscut 1/4" from the end along the front (offset shoulder) with removal of this piece was needed to allow the tenon to fully seat due to the rabbet on the back side. This was done with my Stanley 358 miter box.

I still don't use or have a table saw. The rails and stiles have rabbets along the back to hold the panes. These were made with my Stanley 55 plane. The dual fences help make machine like rabbets:


The 54 mortise and tenons were made with a router jig.

Here's my SketchUp rendering which I learned to use for this project:



I used knockdown hardware to assemble the large panels.

For those without gray hair, this is what I was trying to replicate:


The top shelf is made of plexiglass to allow light through. Here's a link to my blog with more info about the non-woodworking aspects.

Gallery

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2,671 Posts
Nice job!!!
and paint it blue and what do you have? LOL
 

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Love it E'55.

Would make a great facade for my "shower booth",


aka. dumb waiter type lift to my workshop under the house…
 

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Interesting, thought maybe it was a Dr Who inspired project. Very cool idea.
 

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Thats ringing my bells !!

A funny:-

I made one some time ago.



But I left it out in the weather and it shrunk!

 

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But I left it out in the weather and it shrunk!

- robscastle
Just stand in the rain for a few years and you'll be able to dispose of your iPhone..
 

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Its actually a Uniden
old55 is going to be getting annoyed with us !!

 

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· In Loving Memory
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It is a very creative project. Nice work!
 

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Robscastle: good onya mate. That phone must have been pretty large before it shrank. What do you use the outdoor booth for? I have a phone in mine as well.


For the Dr. Who fans: the booth's original color is blue. I turned on the chameleon circuit for the U.S. audience.
 

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Elm55
The full size one is just a public phone, that I modeled the smaller one on.
It was build in 2015 as a bit of a challenge from other LJs but I think it ended up being a fizzer.
 
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