This bespoke sideboard was commissioned by a client who wanted a piece of furniture made using traditional cabinet making techniques throughout, so it would be an heirloom piece, to be passed on to his children. It was developed for a specific space within the clients dining room, to hold the family silverware and crockery.
The sideboard took inspiration from the architecture of a Japanese temple roof, as the client has lived in Japan for many years, where he met his wife. This idea is realised through the cabinet tops upward flowing curved chamfers on both sides, as well as the mirrored oblique grain patterns of the sideboard doors.
From the beginning of this project the emphasis was on craftsmanship and honesty of construction through the use of exposed joints. The tapering legs and through wedged tenons give weight and solidity, countered by the flowing grain direction on the drawer fronts and under arching chamfer on its top.
The sideboard’s design allows a comparison between the carefully selected timbers, highlighting the striking contrast between the rich Black Walnut and the light Sycamore. The simplicity and honesty of the design result in a strong, yet elegant statement.
Materials: American Black Walnut and Sycamore
Dimensions: L:2250mm H:980mm W:550mm
Finish: Oil
Guide Price: Please enquire
Where better to keep your precious items than in a beautiful handmade keepsake box?
The design of this piece references a Japanese roof with its downwards running lines on the top. The simplicity of the design shows off the contrast between the dark Bog Oak and the lighter Brown Oak
Bog Oak is a rare wood that has been buried in peat bogs and preserved from decay for thousands of years. The wood is stained dark brown/black by tannins in the acidic bog water. The complexities in removing and drying this type of oak make it one of the most luxurious and expensive timbers in the world.
We can make bespoke keepsake boxes to order in sizes and timbers to suit your requirements and preferences. Please enquire to discuss timber and inlay combinations.
Materials: Bog Oak, Brown Oak
Dimensions: L:290mm W:130mm H:75mm
Finish: Oil
Guide Price: Please enquire
From the beginning of this project the emphasis on craftsmanship and honesty in its construction through exposed joints and use of grain direction was at the forefront of the design of this walnut sideboard.
With tapering legs and through wedged tenons giving weight and solidity, countered by the use of grain direction on it drawers and under arching chamfer on its top. All accentuate the Japanese Temple feel to the piece.
The centre drawer laid out for silverware with sycamore and dark navy baize placements.
The scooped division between the drawers allows a passing glimpse of the through dovetails, which leads down to the sculpted tapering handles.
Every surface, panel, door and leg was sanded through the grits to 180g during the making of the sideboard. Now I sanded again starting at 180g working up to 320g.
Everything was given one coat of Osmo polyx oil 3032 and left for 10 minutes, so the oil penetrates into the walnut, then any surplus oil was wiped off.
Twenty four hours later, I rubbed down every surface again; this time with 400g paper and applied a second coat of Osmo oil.
This process was repeated using 0000 fine steel wool, in between the coats of Osmo, until four coats of oil was applied to all surfaces and five to the top.
After the oiling was complete, it was left for five days in the finishing room.
The final job was to polish every screw head on the back panel before taking the sideboard to the photographer and then wrapping it for delivery.
The walnut top, which was jointed and left to settle for more than a month, was sanded and cut to size.
The curves which gives the top its 'lift' were marked on and the excess material was removed with a number of spokeshaves and a hand plane. A small pencil round detail was added, with a small block plane, to take the sharpness of the corners.
Yours truly fitting the doors and discussing the handle details with a friend I trained with.
Here I added a little angle cut detail to the door handles. Small details like this really add to the piece.
Fully assembled!
During the glue up process the drawers are checked for square. Then the clamps are removed and the drawers laid on a flat surface for the glue to set.
The following day I started fitting the drawers, by planing of the excess material on the sides, starting at the back and working forwards.
...until the ends fit like below. Then it was a matter moving forward along the drawer sides removing more excess material.
And repeating the process on all the drawers until the were all fitting snugly.
After that I prepped the quarter sawn Oak for the drawer bottoms, which had been glued up a few weeks earlier and left to settle.
Fitting the drawer bottoms with a sycamore centre drawer muntin.
I then planed and cleaned up the front of the drawers to get a complete view of the through dovetails. All the drawers were then disassembled and sanded. Finally all the internal surfaces were waxed, polished and the drawers reassembled.
