2 Projects from Storage & Shelving the Shaker Way

I like Shaker furniture & recently found a couple of projects in the book by Kerry Pierce titled Storage & Shelving The Shaker Way. I like making smaller projects & decided to make the projects with a couple of changes. With some nice Cherry laying around for the Wall Cupboard project & some pine for the Small Chest I got started.The wall cupboard in the book is made of Spanish Cedar, I used some nice grained Cherry. The one in the book used box nails for assembly. I did the same with the exception of clipping the heads of the nails to resemble old hand forged nails. The latch for the cupboard was a bit too small for my bigger clumbsy fingers so the latch was slightly enlarged & lowered. This is a very small cupboard (about 12” X 15”) & the latch was to close to be practicle. It’s so small it would only be practicle for a Medicine Cabinet or a Spice Cupboard in an old fashion decorated home. The battens in the book were too wide & used up too much of the interior space so I scaled them down too. My cupboard is finished with Honey Oak Danish Oil.

The other project I chose was the small box. It’s a simple project with easy joinery but looks nice. This is also a very small box being about 13” X 16”. Instead of painting this box I used a Red Oak Stain. The lid in the book used molding around the edge. I chose to use a single piece of wood for my lid & routed the edges. Battens were also added to prevent future warpage of the lid. For hardware I used “mortise free” hinges but I mortised them into the back of the box anyway, for a tighter fit. I also torched some bright brass chest handles to make them aged & added them to the box.

-- Frank, Florissant, Missouri "The New Show-Me Woodshop"