cabinet plans changed

[thewalnutguy]

When clearing off a shelf I came across a piece of red elm I'd forgotten about. It had been in the shop for several years, A little over 90" in length, 16+ inches wide, flat, straight, and clear grain. Did some head-scratching as to how to best show off this board, finally settled on using it for the two door panels on a cabinet. Built the cabinet from quarter-sawn white oak. The dimensions of the cabinet were dictated to a large extent by the dimensions of the red elm board. After getting the carcasses for the cabinet built, got to the point of starting on the doors to house the red elm, and discovered that in the time I'd taken to get the cabinet built the red elm board had decided to both curl and bow! When "found", a straight edge placed across the width of the board showed a maximum gap of about an eighth of an inch, but now the gap was closer to an inch, and a string stretched from end to end of what had been a flat board now reveals a gap of about two inches between string and board! Obviously a change of plans was in order, ended up using some cherry for the center panels of the doors and for the drawer fronts. Not how I'd planned, but I rather like the end result. Unfortunately the reflection from the shellac finish hides the quarter-sawn pattern in the picture [attachment=1718].

[fredhargis]

I love it! Red elm is another wood on my "someday" list as soon as I can locate some.

[Ken Vick]

Pretty cabinet and the cherry panels are set off nicely by the qs oak.  I would say you were lucky to find out about the misbehaving red elm board before rather than have it start moving around as you were trying to work it.  Elm has a reputation for this but this appears to be one of those impossible boards that comes along every once in awhile that can drive you crazy if it starts moving while you are trying  to work it.  Ken

[Stwood_]

25 years ago I saw a custom kitchen, which was all red elm. Very nice.


Red elm is hard to come by around here

[thewalnutguy]

red elm, like american elm, is just about gone in this area. The red elm piece that I'd planned to use was recovered from my woodlot after it had died.
I did a kitchen for a friend some years ago. They were discussing what variety of wood to use, they liked the red elm and the hickory I had on hand, but not enough of either for the entire kitchen. The solution was to use hickory for the face frames and rails and stiles, and the red elm for door panels and drawer fronts. This is a view of the island in the kitchen

   

[Steve N]

Darned if that isn't busy. I think I am a bigger fan of Cherry than Red Elm. Different strokes for different folks. Looks very well done though. Big thing is the ultimate end user happy?

Now that kitchen is awesome

[Cecil]

Darned if that isn't busy. I really like it.  Steve is right, different strokes for different folks.  

[RobertM]

Stunning! You've done an fantastic job!