Wild Wall Cabinet

I just completed a project I had been wanting to do for a while. A simple wall cabinet that shows off some of the marquetry that I do and also used the laser. I have always been drawn to the simplicity of Shaker-style furniture. Although I like the simplicity, I think a few additions of some marquetry is excellent. Not too much, but enough to elevate the piece just a little.

This cabinet is adapted from one that was in Fine Woodworking. I made a few changes to the dimensions and changed the door design a little. Instead of using lap joints, I use Festool Dominoes (because I can). I still used dovetails on the case, but the Drawer is mitered corners. I sometimes feel that we use dovetails just to impress other woodworkers. I really like the clean look, and I don’t think this cased needed the dovetails. I decided a little too late to not use them in the case.

The marquetry is an elementary tree that I positioned halfway on the door. The door uses maple veneer, and the tree is in cherry. I used my laser to cut out the design in the maple and in the cherry and then fitted the two together for the final piece. I then used a vacuum bag to glue the veneer to the sub-straight. For an added touch of detail, I laser engraved the same full tree on the drawer front.

Overall I am thrilled with this piece and will probably do more like it. It really didn’t take a lot of time and was kind of a background project for me. Every time I was out in the shop, I did a few minutes of work on it. It’s only really about 8-10 hours of work in total, but I spread it out over several weeks.

I also used this project to up my game on photographing my pieces. I actually set up the scene, used lighting, and my Canon 80D camera with a 50mm lens. A little help from my son Andrew and I think the photos came out really well. I can’t wait to do more.