I'm running out of pieces of furniture to make for my own house so when I get the opportunity to make something interesting for someone else I'm happy to oblige. In this case this was actually a house warming gift for my brother who moved in several years ago but it took a few years for him to decide what he wanted and then a year for me to get inspired and then a year to get around to finishing it. He provided the basic specs of three sections for stereo equipment, records and CD's where the CD's would go in the drawers. That was the most nerve wracking part. I was pretty sure I had enough room but wasn't 100% sure until I installed the first drawer.
The main carcus is made from Sapelle with a two part Rubio mono-coat finish. Although this finish is fairly expensive in the small quantities I'm buying it in it's actually for floors so it should hold up well. The back is a single piece of 3/8 inch birch plywood and I chose Classic Avocado for the paint colour. The general style of this piece is mid-century-modern which was a common colour at the time. It goes really well with the darker wood. I wasn't worried that he wouldn't like it because you can't really see it once you fill it with stereo equipment. It was more just a fun detail.
The drawers were where I decided to go a bit modern. Sort of. I have a CNC and this particular pattern is actually called 'hand carved'. It replicates the action of using a round gouge to hand carve a surface. In this case it was done with a 3/4 inch bullnose bit. The only tricky part was that I also had to inlay some Sapelle into the drawer front so that I could make the hole deep enough to act as a drawer pull. It's an oval carved from the front and then a bigger oval from the back. The drawers are 3/8 finger jointed. The drawer fronts and case are the same wood but the carving gives a lighter feel to it.
The base isn't complicated but it took a bit of time to get the proportions right. I started by curving the sides in but it left a weak point on the outside edge so I went convex instead. I also had a bigger rail at one point but wanted a lighter look. I cheated the rail slightly higher and have two cross pieces on either side. It attaches with some bolts from underneath. The compartments are 20" vertical and horizontal and are all the same size. The depth is 18 1/2" and the drawers are sized to max out the space. I used the CNC to cut the shelf pin holes and there are holes in the back for running wires. This was a fun project.
