Tom’s Bubinga Sideboard

I found this amazing Bubinga at Soboba (in Santa Barbara) and knew I’d find a special project for it. There was enough for most major parts. The amount of figured wood limited my ability to completely match horizontally and vertically, but I am pleased with the outcome.

Sideboard begins as a dovetailed case. Double thickness sides let me make the half-blind dovetails the easy way. That approach also means the sides and legs are flush on the inside, with a slight reveal on the outside. Vertical dividers have through tenons let into mortises top and bottom. Case is joined to the legs with various stub tenons and dovetails on the outsides of top and bottom pieces. Legs have a very slight taper. This case is so bloody heavy that I was afraid to remove much material from the Padauk legs.

Doors are hung using Soss “invisible” hinges which I discovered thanks to Marc’s video of the Gadget Station. This created a problem since the discovery was made after all else was assembled, of course. Without a face frame, the legs interfered with the doors. So last minute taper and rounding of the outside stiles was necessary. Oops. Drawers are hand-cut dovetails with solid bottoms. Inside material is Philippine Mahogany. I had planned to use ebonized something for the pulls but eventually decided to use Padauk which darkens quite quickly and visually ties to the legs rather than creating a separate contrast. Back is composed of ship-lapped slats in grooves at bottom and held at the top with a simple molding strip.