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Up-cycled Steampunk Wall Cabinet

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35 Mounted

I made this up-cycled Steampunk wall cabinet for Kathleen for Christmas. It uses wood salvaged from an antique wood filing cabinet.

Old Boards from a Filing Cabinet

1 Filing Cabinet Boards

The wood portions were taken entirely from these wood drawer sides I scavenged from an antique filing cabinet. They are pretty nice solid wood one half inch thick. I think its American Beech, but it could be Ash or Poplar as well. The filing cabinet was given to me by some friends who thought I might want to restore it. Once I started looking at it, it became obvious that it was pretty much beyond repair. So I scrapped it out for the hardware. These drawer sides I saved because they were solid wood and had a nice patina.

2- Ripped to width

The first thing I did was rip the boards all to the same width. This cut off the small grooves where the drawer bottoms slid into.

Making a Box

3-Back glued together

I used three of the boards cut to the same length and glued together for the front and back of the cabinet.

The sides, top and bottom were cut to the proper lengths, then glued and screwed to the back.

6 Sides glued

This is the completed box that is the base of the cabinet.

7 glued from back

Another view showing the back.

A center shelf piece was cut to length and shelf supports fastened into place.

11 shelf

Here the shelf is set in place. A narrow strip was also screwed and glued to the bottom of the front. This will be the mounting spot for the hinges of the door front.

A Front Door

12 front door

The door front has been set in place on top of the narrow strip in this picture.

13 Staining door
15 Stained box
17 Varnished box

Everything was then sanded and stained.

Adding Hinges

14 hinge blocks

These blocks were cut and stained.

16 hinges

These vintage hinges are the reason for the blocks. I had these in my inventory and thought they would look perfect.

18 Varnished door with steel supports
19 Hinges + blocks mounted

Here everything has been given two coats of varnish and the front door and hinges are mounted. Steel angle iron sides pieces were cut and mounted temporarily before painting.

21 opened

A view with the door open.

23 Top Edge Steel

A piece of angle iron will act as the latch and is set in place here on the top of the door.

24 Top Steel latch

A pieces of 1/4 inch brass will be screwed to the latch. Lifting the bar will allow the door to be swung forward.

26 Latch closed

Here the latch is set with brass supports is in place.

27 Latch open

Chains were added to support the door at 90 degrees when open.

A Unique Latch Mechanism

29 Painted latch closeup 1

A close up of the latch. All the angle iron has been painted black.

31 Painted latch closeup 2

The latch lifts like this allowing the door to be opened.

Pictures of the Completed Cabinet

32 fInal closed

A brass knob with numbered brass plate was added to the center/top of the door.

33 Final open

The complete cabinet open.

35 Mounted
34 Mounted

These two pictures are of the cabinet mounted to the wall in its final location.

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4 Comments

  1. jeffreysodemann

    Just blogged Kathleen’s Christmas present. It was done before Christmas, but it was a surprise so I waited till after to finish the blog.

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