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Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)

author-gravatar Timmy2Hands May 31, 2016

I was inspired to do this little cabinet after looking at some of the great James Krenov’s work. I needed a skill building exercise and this piece has a little of everything, dovetails, mortise and tennons, frame and panel, drawer fitting, and even some curves.
Dimensions:
Overall 18” tall x 8” wide x 6” deep
The box is 13” tall and the stand is 6” 
Wood species – Hard Maple, Spalted Curly Maple, and Walnut.

Here are some pics durring the build.

Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)

I hope that this helps show the scale of this piece. The cabinet is not very big.

The picture next to the cabinet is 8 1/2" x 11"

Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)
Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)
Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)

The hinges are from Lee Valley. Letter B on the list.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/hardware/Page.aspx?p=40606&cat=3,41241,41249

Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)
Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)

The drawer is removable with a round finger hole and has mitered corners.

I felt like it needed something in the drawer so I filled it with walnut and maple shavings left over from the cabinet.

Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)

I just finished marking out my dovetails and getting my tools ready to start cutting and I thought this made for a nice picture.

Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)

I use a shop built magnetic saw guide to keep the angle of the pins and tails consistent.

Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)
Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)

I normally remove the waste with a coping saw, but this was a skill building exercise so I chopped the waste on all the pins and tails.

Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)

With all the dovetailing complete I started working on the door. It's the same frame and panel construction as my previous weather station project.

Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)
Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)

Now I started moving on to fitting a small shelf in the piece.

I had just heard Matt Kenney give a tip about gluing on the protruding part of the shelf instead of trying to cut the small corners to fit around the dado. As i was trying this I thought that doing it in walnut as a contrasting accent would look nice.

Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)

I also got to work on the mortice and tennon joinery for the stand. I think that small scale M&T work is more difficult than if the pieces were larger. On a small scale even a tiny inconsistency looks enormous.

Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)

Finally I was able to get the legs shaped and the door fit.

I then decided that shelf needed something else, so I made a little drawer to fit the space and used some left over spalted maple as an accent piece on the drawer front.

Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)
Photo of Small Krenov Inspired Cabinet (Hand Tools Only)

1 comment

Another amazing project! I like your magnetic dovetail jig.

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