| Project by jeff_wenz | posted 344 days ago | 3488 views | 15 times favorited | 11 comments |  |
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This was my first commissioning for a furniture piece. The proud parents of a college graduate wanted to give their son something that would last.
First of all, I have to give credit to fellow LJ’er Jonathan Szczepanski as I used his Hope Chest design as my inspiration.
The project commissioning was for a place to store and display guns (mostly handguns, but he does have a couple rifles). He did not want a safe, nor did he want glass for people to see them. He did want some type of lock to keep the average person from getting into them. My solution was to use a hidden magnetic child lock from Rev-a-shelf.
The size is 4’ wide by 64” tall by 20” deep. It is constructed of Maple plywood. The trim and doors are made up of maple, walnut trim and some beautiful birds eye maple veneer from Joe at www.veneersupplies.com. Finding the quality of the veneer in 18” width is a find, in my opinion.
The top is made of walnut plywood with walnut edging. As what is becoming one of my trademarks, I slipped in a 1/4” piece of maple to separate the plywood from the walnut. This provides a perfect transition and adds some contrasting detail (pic #3).
I used some halogen under-cabinet lights (3-way touch dimmer) from Lowes. I also wired in a pressure switch from Rockler which turns off the lights when the doors close.
I had a local custom woodworking and antique restoration shop spray the finish for me as it was too large for my shop to handle. Curtis and his team did a wonderful job and gave it a better finish than I am capable of.
I had a local glass shop cut some ¼” glass. I incorporated an arch in the front of each shelf to go with the arch theme for this project. I believe he said the finish was “bronze”. Smoked would have been too dark for what I was going for. The shelves are held in place by some locking glass shelf supports sold by Lee Valley.
Some of the features I like include the slide out rifle storage (pic #4). Just your basic heavy duty drawer slides accomplished this. I also like that there is no external hardware. Also, I like to incorporate secret or hidden compartments into my projects. This one is no exception (pic #6).
This was delivered and setup yesterday. The graduate is thrilled with it. He loves the magnetic lock and the secret compartment.
I hope my fellow Lumberjocks enjoy it, too.
More pictures can be seen here and here.
-- Jeff, North Carolina
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11 comments so far
Tokolosi
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614 posts in 524 days
#1 posted 344 days ago
Great looking cabinet Jeff. The sliding rifle storage is neat and your secret cabinet design may have solved a problem I have been working on.
-- “There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.” ~ JRR Tolkien
ShaneA
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3964 posts in 767 days
#2 posted 344 days ago
Really nice. The birds eye is beautiful. Congrats on a great build.
gfadvm
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6635 posts in 859 days
#3 posted 344 days ago
That is not only beautiful, the design is amazing with many unique features. I love the slide out rifle rack, the hidden compartment, and the incredible veneer. You did a super job on this!
-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm
jeff_wenz
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112 posts in 1719 days
#4 posted 344 days ago
Tokolosi,
Yeah, I always try to look for “wasted space” to incorporate a hidden feature. In this case, I knew I wanted to recess the lighting, which provided me dead space to work with.
-- Jeff, North Carolina
jeff_wenz
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112 posts in 1719 days
#5 posted 344 days ago
gfadvm,
I’m not sure if you can see it in the pictures, but I put some foam down where the butt stock will sit. Also, I have some rare earth magnets behind the felt so the rifle barrels will not move around when the unit slides in and out.
Thanks for the nice remarks.
-- Jeff, North Carolina
cabmaker
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1029 posts in 978 days
#6 posted 344 days ago
Jeff, looks like you hit a grand slam if this is your first paying job ! enjoy the journey! JB
eddie
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4587 posts in 783 days
#7 posted 344 days ago
thats one beautiful job you did on that gun case ,
-- Jesus Is Alright with me
devann
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1718 posts in 861 days
#8 posted 344 days ago
That’s some fine joinery you did on this cabinet. I like the design and the colors you used too. A real nice looking piece.
-- Darrell, making more sawdust than I know what to do with
BTKS
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1919 posts in 1633 days
#9 posted 344 days ago
WOW.
Excellent execution throughout this project! That is some amazing veneer.
-- "Man's ingenuity has outrun his intelligence" (Joseph Wood Krutch)
Knothead62
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1692 posts in 1130 days
#10 posted 343 days ago
That is beautiful! Love the birdseye maple! Just a word here- displaying guns is not a good idea. One person tells another, ad infinitum, and pretty soon the wrong person hears about it and Poof! The guns are gone. I think that is what happened to me in March, 1970. 12 guns gone- three belonged to my late grandfather and were rare.
Steel lockers or safes are the only way to go for storing guns. I had a friend who built a house with a reinforced concrete room, steel door, and an ingenious electrical security system (read that 220 volts). He had a warning sign.
-- Regret- the feeling you get just after you do something really stupid.
jeff_wenz
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112 posts in 1719 days
#11 posted 290 days ago
Here is a picture with some stuff in it.
-- Jeff, North Carolina
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