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anyone done this / is this cheating? ;)

2K views 12 replies 10 participants last post by  jerkylips 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I need a bigger filing cabinet for home & was thinking about taking on the project, but time is at a premium right now with a 6 month old.. We have an office furniture manufacturer here in town that has an outlet where they sell returns, dinged up items, etc., very cheap. I was measuring my filing cabinet at my desk at work to get some dimensions & noticed that the ugly industrial drawer fronts are actually just screwed on & look like they can be taken off pretty easily, so it got me thinking, maybe I could pick up one of these cheap & build new drawer fronts and a carcass to cover up the metal. Has anyone done something along these lines?
 
#3 ·
I can't recall doing anything like that myself but I sometimes confuse myself. I can't see anything wrong with it though. It's your stuff, do what you want. If other people come around and give you a hard time about it, throw them out! This just might be a case where metal makes a better "core" that would be hard to match with wood without expanding the outer dimensions or reducing the inner dimensions.
 
#7 · (Edited by Moderator)
Sounds like a very resourceful means to an end,go for it.

One of the toolbxs in our machineshop is made from a,then new,24×24 by @36 high…..HVAC furnace plenum.Its got a factory pwd coat in a shade a little lighter than Kennedy's Brown.Put an Oak FF and drwrs on it….....It gets way more thumbs up comments than any of the storebought bxs 'round here.It's the "blend" of metal N wood.Good luck,BW
 
#8 ·
Even if it is cheating, it will look good until you do get the time to do something else.

You can always call it a design feature to increase fire protection levels! It's all in the way you look at it.
 
#9 ·
Its not necessarily cheating, although if your going to build a carcass to cover the cabinet. I think you'd be better off building one from scratch. Unless by carcass you mean to skin over with 1/4" plywood and panel adhesive to cover the cabinet. I've often thought of skinning my refrigerator with ply.
 
#10 ·
I'm with Gregn. I've worked in custom shops that occaisionally wrapped file cabinets and desks to match the rest of the interior millwork. It would be pretty obvious to anyone what you did once they opened a drawer. It would never be considered 'cheating' unless you claimed to have built the unit entirely by hand. By the way, there ARE file cabinets manufactured in the 1940's entirely of wood, even wooden compound slides. (the war effort made metal scarce) and I've seen quite a few still in use today.
 
#12 ·
I think we need to examine the word "cheating" and what it means to you.

My job is to solve problems that have wood in the solution. By "wood" I am including things like veneer, MDF, Melamine, and yes, even plastic laminate that sticks to wood.

For others, the job might be to solve problems only with wood from a tree (excepting, of course, the towering plywood).

Some think veneer is a lie because it, with its substrate, is not "solid wood."

Drawing the line is quite personal. Once you've drawn the line, it's easier to define what side of the line is "cheating" and what side is "playing by your rules."

Kindly,

Lee
 
#13 ·
thanks for all of the feedback. The "is it cheating?" was tongue-in-cheek. I think it probably makes sense in my situation. We recently got ripped off by a local business to the tune of $4000+. L O N G story, but I'll just say thank goodness for insurance. Anyway, the thing that saved us was having the paperwork we were given by the store, but I really had to dig to find it. It made me realize that we need to do a better job of organizing our stuff, so getting this done sooner than later is a priority. I think I'm going to pick up the cabinet, then I'll have a little more breathing room to make it look good..
 
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