Murat’s Jewelry Armoire

This cabinet was my first big project. The toughest part for me was preparing the lumber since I do not have a planer, bandsaw or thickness planer. Also I wouldn’t have room to place them :) Unfortunately, there is no store that sells ready milled lumber. So, I had to buy rough lumber and mill it at a local shop. However, the end result did not please me. I had to wind up changing the project dimensions.

I used bubinga (inspired from your gadget station) and hard maple. I wanted to use figured maple but was unable to find any around here. The top and bottom pieces were dado jointed. The drawer shelves are doweled. The right side of the chest is for earrings. All four racks can be moved thanks to neodymium magnets. The left side of the chest is for necklaces. In the center there are five drawers. The bottom two drawers are bigger than the top three. The drawers have separators for rings, watches, bracelets, etc.

When you use a scraper on bubinga you get a very nice golden shiny surface even without finish. For the finish, I used wiping varnish (thanks for your formula) and applied four coats. After it dried I used antic wachs for wax all surfaces, especially on the drawers to ensure smooth movement.