Sliding-Door Sideboard

The design I came up with for this sideboard combines strong geometric shapes. The case is divided into thirds: banks of drawers fl ank a center section of open shelving. Two bypass sliding doors aren’t strictly necessary, however I like a sense of motion and transformation in otherwise static furniture. A separate base assembly lifts the case off the floor and allows light and shadows to play in the openings. For the materials, I worked with a co-worker who happens to be a sawyer, who happens to be the editor-in-chief of this magazine. That gave me access to plenty of air-dried walnut. Slow, natural drying preserves the range of colors and tones in walnut: chocolaty browns, veins that lean toward purple, and midnight mineral streaks. An added benefit is that the air-dried stock works much easier (in my opinion) than its kiln-dried brethren. Working with wide rough sawn planks holds particular delight. I get to find project parts within the board to fulfill project needs. Sometimes it’s color, other places grain pattern takes priority. Even the leftover sections can be used in the unseen parts of a project. I’ll highlight a few of these decisions as we go along with this project. There is a down side to using rough boards. You’ll end up spending more time in stock prep: cutting planks apart, jointing and planing parts to size, and gluing up panels. A quick glance at the final result shows you that I find this well worth the effort.

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