Karen's Cabinet

I had been kicking around the idea of building a small wall mounted cabinet for about a year. I really admire the late cabinet maker James Krenov, and the way that he let his philosophy of woodworking influence his design. I wanted this cabinet to be a nod to his legacy while I pushed myself on new techniques and design. I don’t typically make nice things for myself (outside of shop furniture), so when my girlfriend Karen said that she didn’t want anything for her birthday, I decided I’d put this design to use.

About a year prior to making this cabinet, I found a very nice piece of walnut from my local supplier. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it, but a nice board is hard to pass up. As luck would have it, this board was the perfect size for building this little cabinet. James Krenov believed that using hand tools allowed the cabinet maker to be more connected to the work that they did so I tried to adopt that belief in the cabinet’s construction.

James Krenov using a spokeshave to add a curved profile on a piece of stock. Photo credit: Jim Budlong via thekrenovarchive.org.

After breaking down the board and doing some rough milling using some machines, I pulled out my hand tools, sharpened them, and got to work. The cabinet’s door and the top and bottom of the carcass have a gentle convex curve that spans the width of the cabinet. These sorts of curves, while I didn’t quite master them on this piece, are typical of the sort that you would see in James Krenov’s work. I put this curve on the panel by taking very slight passes on a large hand plane until the curve was symmetrical and easy on the eyes.

The joinery is where I deviated from Krenov’s typical approach. Where Krenov would usually use dovetails, I decided to use brass dowels. I felt that this would add some lightness by providing relief to the dark, pronounced grain of the walnut. I did the same on the small drawer sides on the inside of the cabinet.

Aside from the brass dowels, I wanted to add another brass accent on the drawer. I decided to take some brass stock and inlay it into the opening.

I wasn’t sure what my girlfriend would be storing inside of the cabinet, but knew that it would be on display and likely used to store something of significance. Not knowing what exactly she’d like to use it for, I outfitted the interior of the cabinet with two small shelves which sat upon adjustable brass pins. The brass pins could be relocated easily, allowing her to make adjustments as she saw fit. I added a bullnose to the shelves to add some delicacy to them.

Karen uses the cabinet to store her perfumes, some jewelry, and some mementos of our relationship. She affectionally named the cabinet (as she does most of the things that I make her), and says that using the cabinet and the items held within is the best part of her morning routine. I wasn’t sure what she would use the cabinet for, and to be honest, I wasn’t terribly concerned about it, but the way she describes using it is exactly what I had hoped for when I was building it.

This is probably what I would consider the first piece of art that I made as a woodworker. It was the first purpose that I designed to express myself. This is Karen’s Cabinet or Stevie (Nicks).

30” x 10” x 6”, walnut and brass, finished with oil and urethane.