Dark Chocolate and Sponge Cake (22)

I had in my mind that the smallish side panels which sit in the middle of the latticed cabinet sides were not too much of a time sink, however I was quite wrong about that. These panels have a raised field which is then slightly sunken inside the boundary, and have a pentagonal opening in the middle. Machining the pentagonal opening, once the milling machine’s spindle was centered on the rotary table, was relatively straightforward. Probably the most precise pentagons I have cut, come to think of at, all due to the tool at my disposal.

The drawing of the cabinet, being in Sketchup, meant leaving off certain details which involve curved beading and so forth, as that is best left aside when using Sketchup. I had been mulling over various ways I could detail this component, and before starting the work on the actual panels, I prepared a mock-up:

The opening is raised around the pentagon and there is an added cuban Mahogany liner. I am still somewhat uncertain as to whether to go with that combination, which would be consistent with much of the rest of the cabinet, or to use a different wood. Some candidates which come to mind:

• shedua (which would match the drawer fronts in this cabinet)
• bubinga (tying this cabinet in a minor aspect to the one made previous for the client)
• holly (making the opening as bright as possible)
• gabon ebony (making for a strongly contrasted liner)

We’ll see how that plays out, however the leading candidates as of today are the Shedua and the Cuban Mahogany.

Here I’m mid-way along hogging most of the material out to leave the raised (and sunken) field:

It is raised up 3/16″ (4.75m) from the panel tongue and sunk down 1/8″ (3.2mm) from the beaded edge treatment.

Here’s how the first quartersawn Honduran Mahogany panel looked after roughing out was complete:

The remaining work on the re-entrant corners and a portion of the raised pentagon will be a task for a few chisels and a good chunk of time:

After a while the corner starts to take shape:

As the train pulled into the station, late afternoon, the two panels were at the 90% mark, needing another going over when my mind is fresh (not today):

Another view:

The liner is next, and again, not happening today. I got some work done on the drawer sides however (more on that in a future post).

The side panels need to be taken right through to completion, with the liners glued in the pentagonal openings, and the finish applied, before they can be placed into the latticed side frames for glue up. One of those ‘hurry up and wait’ sort of deals. Hoping to complete these parts within a couple more days and get the side frames glued up.

All for this round- thanks for visiting this blog, and if you have any thoughts or questions to share, please feel free – otherwise enjoy your day! Up next is post 23.