Homemade rustic pipe cabinet

[bluenoser]

About 8 years ago, when we bought our first house back in Nova Scotia, I made a bathroom stand for the wife out of old knotty pine. wasn't necessarily the prettiest but we like the "rustic" look so it worked great for us. Well we've since moved 3/4 of the way across the country, then 4 or 5 times since then, and we've decided we no longer want to use it. This leaves me with an abundance of recyclable materials to go along with some free time. I'm no carpenter but I really enjoy attempting to be a wood worker. I sold most of my tools when we moved from Nova Scotia so have just the basics (palm sander, ripsaw, box saw, coping saw carpenter's plane, etc, and a lot of elbow grease).



Started out by ripping it apart and seeing what I have to work with. Wife had wanted me to make a paper towel holder to hang under the sink, so a couple minutes on pinterest and rummaging through my scrap wood box I threw this together.



Then I had an idea, I have a nice big cupboard to keep my pipe tobacco in, but my pipes just sit there on a shelf, looking sad and in need of a nicer place to rest. So I drilled a couple holes, did a little sanding and lined up the rip saw and got started.



Loved the way the wood looked after a couple minutes under the sander. The stain we put on 8 years ago stayed in the grain darkening it, but the stain lifted nicely out of the rest leaving a beautiful piece of wood. Drilled out the grooves for the stems with 1 1/2 inch spade bit, and the grooves for the bowls out of 1 1/8 inch.



A little more trim around the bottom.



Put the doors together, using the hinges and knobs from the old cabinet. Very happy with how it's looking so far.



Decided to build a couple hanger shelves inside the doors, for a little extra holding power. All together there'll be enough room to hold 14 pipes with lots of extra storage room for cleaners, lighters, tools etc...



Threw all my pipes and a couple tins in to give a little perspective of it. Coming along pretty decent.



Rubbed a damp cloth over one of the doors to get an idea of how it'll look when I get a chance to varnish it. Was originally going to go with a glossy polyurethane but after doing this I think a semi gloss will look a lot better with the rustic style.




Still need to do a little finish sanding but it's getting there. I'm currently trying to track down some suede and nice upholstery tacks to finish off around the pipe holders to put on after I get it varnished. Was planning on waiting to post the pics up until it's done but I just so happy with how it's turning out that I thought I'd post up early. Hoping to have everything I need to finish it off by next weekend.

[jhedrick83]

That looks awesome!! Looks like you have a bit more talent than you let on.

[Tobias Lutz]

Very nice!

[Bruck]

Very nice work! & creative work with the hands and brain = stress eraser

[Nature]

Good work Blake! Very nice!

[WNYTONY]

Really nice job Blake. I love the presentation both of the pipes and tins below.

[GWBowman]

Blake, that looks great. It also makes a good argument that you may indeed be a carpenter, or very well could be.

[Lynn]

that is very nice work there, now 285 more an ya can open shop....

[projectsunfire]

That looks awesome!! Looks like you have a bit more talent than you let on.

yeah definitely some sandbagging going on here

[bluenoser]

Thanks all. I did a little wood filling and a little more finish sanding on it today. I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks when I get it varnished and get a chance to pick up the leather and upholstery tacks to finish it off. Will update with pictures when I get it done.