Harvey Ellis Magazine Cabinet

Great looking stand, super build

-- John @ Myrtle Beach

Very nice project.

Looks great, interesting use of loose tenons.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

This will turn out to be a very nice reproduction. Your use of floating tenons solves a problem in the design as documented by Lang. Perhaps I’ll build one of these someday and if I do, I’ll go to school on your technique!

-- SteveL

congratulations on another excellent piece, I hope you post the completd pictures once you apply the finish, that QSWO looks great right now, and will be even better with the finish applied.

-- "You get what you inspect, not what you expect"

That QSWO is absolutely gorgeous ! The whole piece is very well made and your joinery technique is a great idea : ) I can’t wait to see the finished piece !

jointery n. command shared between two or more branches of military; (hence) military command shared between two or more nations. Subjects: English, United Kingdom, Military, Jargon

-- You know you're getting old when you know the difference between you're (you are) and your (belonging to you) AND how to use them in a sentence .

Very nice! Your house is going to be quite well decorated if you keep this up. I’m in the middle of making a Limbert lamp table #240. Thanks for reminding me to finish before assembly (unless I fume it). I’ve used loose tenon joinery before. I think it’s a quite elegant solution. I’m thinking about using a sliding dovetail on something just so you can see it. I also like the figure eights for the table top. They keep the top on and lets the wood move. I’m still looking for my favorite finish too. Keep up the good work.

-- You can't control the wind, but you can trim your sails

wow im actually right in the middle of making plans to build this exact same magazine shelf. i got my plans from april 2003 popular woodworking magazine. only difference is they used rails down at the bottom on each side about 6 inches below the panels

while drawing it up in sketchup i realized that the way its built seems like it could be a problem since the sides are made from solid wood and there is no account for movement. the shelves are attached with dados so i guess if you didnt glue the shelves in place it might work but id still be worried about it. will the loose tenons as you used fix this problem? i was thinking about switching to plywood side panels to fix the problem

Based on several comments, I guess I need to clarify something; the floating tenons will only be floating unti I glue the whole thing up. After I cut all the dados and shelves to length I became concerned i did not have enough penetration into the side panels to resist much moment. The only element resiting racking are the little stretchers across the top and bottom. The splines or floating tenons were an after thought to get a better connection at these points, not to allow for differential seasonal movement between the side panels and the shelves. Because the grain on these goes the same direction, I’m going to assume these will move together.
As for the elimination of the stretcher at the far bottom as you mentioned, Mike. I did that for the very reason you mentioned; I did not know how to account for movement across the side panels and still retain the bottom piece without just leaving it completely loose and at that point it’s inclusion would have been purely esthetic. The other option would have been plywood construction which I like to avoid on these reproduction pieces, and besides, I can’t find QSWO plywood where I live. I would have had to had the sheets custom made.

To all that have posted comments: Thanks so much for all the accolades. It’s a good feeeling when your peers comment positively on your hard work!

you are most likely right about the shelves and sides moving at the same rate i hadnt thought about that. in my sketchup drawing i also eliminated the bottom stretchers because of the wood movement problem. i wish knew how to post a picture and i could show it if anyone wanted to see it