Soul of Bespoke Cabinet Furniture Artistry

Soul of Bespoke Cabinet Furniture Artistry Benjamin works on both his own designs and client commissions.

Benjamin crafts unique cabinetry, furniture, jewellery, boxes, home wares and stand alone artworks in his small workshop studio in Healesville, Victoria, Australia.

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for A quick up date. All boarder lamination edg...
08/06/2026

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for

A quick up date. All boarder lamination edgings for the drawer box bases are glued and drum sanded. Im half way through cutting the miters and gluing them to the base frames.

After glue up I'll trim the edgings flush on the upside router table using the trim hold jig that I've used plenty of times.

After this I'm going to be final drum sanding all the major construction panels of the case, final trim the boarder edgings and start machining in the connection mortises/ other joinery sections. Ill start doing the final trim / drum sand to the drawer box cavity frames as well.

More updates. More progress.

Stay tuned for further updates.

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for Working out the specs to slightly beef out ...
06/06/2026

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for

Working out the specs to slightly beef out the outer edgings for the drawer box bases.

Mentioned in a previous post I talked about a few trouble shooting issues I was going to run into. One issue was the boarder frame. At the time of construction of the individual frame parts I was using an inaccurate calliper unknowingly ( about .3 to .4mm out). Before trimming the outside edge the rail/ stiles should have started at 13.5mm wide. I didn't notice this issue till all the miters had been cut and the stiles / rails were at their final oversized lengths. ( though in the long run still undersized unknowingly)

Also I wasn't accounting for a final boarder trim before adding the wenge edgings since I didn't think I was going to go this construction route with clamping up the frames. This method on thin frames can create a slight micro warp of about 0.2mm each side. ( mainly on longer pieces)

So after the final frame trim I wasn't going to have enough even cut play for the final final trim ( after wenge edgings are added). So I decided to add white ash laminations to slightly beef out the edgings.

This added feature gives an aesthetic nod to the other white elements ( lamination feature in exposed splines for the drawer boxes ( ill use left over laminations for this) , exposed lock pins and pull handle features. So its a win in the long run.

I cut the white ash laminations on the bandsaw slightly over 1mm thick. I ripped them down on the table saw and cut them to oversized length on dropsaw. I glued them to the wenge edgings than flush trimmed. Ill further drum sand them as a whole after the lamination process is complete. The thickness of the ash laminations will be brought to roughly around 0.6 to 0.8mm.

If purposefully adding this feature efficiency wise this lamination would be added to bulk wenge laminations then cut into strips. I unfortunately had to do it this way since all the wenge edgings were already made.

Ive almost completed this process so early next week ill be cutting the outer edging miters and gluing them to the base frames.

Stay tuned

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for Painters removable tool tray base has been ...
06/06/2026

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for

Painters removable tool tray base has been glued up, now out of clamps tap removed and any excess epoxy squeeze out. There was abit of a step in some areas ( worst sections 0.25mm) so all good. It will flatten out after running it through the drum sander.

The drawer box bases for the gold leaf case ( 1, 2, 3 and 4) and for the painters case ( 1, 2 and 3) now have all their outside edges trimmed and now ready to have the outer edgings added. ( ill talk about this in the next up coming post )

The removable tool tray base will have its outer boarder trimmed early next week.

Stay tuned for further updates.

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for Well the painters carry case removable tool...
04/06/2026

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for

Well the painters carry case removable tool tray base was fun dialing in. Ready for glue up tomorrow. Underside panels masked off and dry run went well. This is the last of the base panel assemblies.

The gold leaf carry case drawer box bases 3 and 4 have had the internal panels cut to size and are now glued to their boarder frames. ( currently sitting in clamp jigs)

Now onto adjusting the table saw trim jigs to trim the back and front edges of the previous glued up drawer box bases. Only skimming off about 0.2mm to 0.3mm ( removing any slight clamp warp to get straight edgings.) These are the same trim jigs I used to clean up the edges of the drawer box cavity frames before gluing on the outside wenge boarder edgings.

Ill need to make new removable fences / spaces suited to these base frames for the trim jigs. Like before cutting convex side first.

Heaps going on but making more progress.

Stay tuned for further updates.

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for Gold leaf drawer box bases 1 and 2 out of t...
02/06/2026

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for

Gold leaf drawer box bases 1 and 2 out of the clamp jigs. Ready to have the outside boarder edge lightly trimmed before Wenge edgings added.

The last of the tweak cutting done for the painters case drawer box internal panel bases 1 and 2 which they are now in the clamp jigs. Also drawer box base panel no 3 is cut and glued up in the clamp up jig.

Now working on drawer box bases 3 and 4 for the gold leaf case soon after this the painters removeable tool tray base.

Heaps going on but making more progress.

Stay tuned for further updates.

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for All the clamp up jigs are finished. I made ...
30/05/2026

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for

All the clamp up jigs are finished. I made a few extra sizes to speed up the gluing process. ( not shown on camera). I removed the clamp wedges from the previous clamp up jigs for the drawer box cavity frames.

Moving my way through the final cutting stages of the internal panels for the drawer box bases. Drawer box 1 and 2 internal panels for the base frames are cut for the gold leaf case and are now glued up. Ill remove these from the clamps next week, remove tape and light excess glue clean up. Using the spacer and adjustable screw approach means I can make 0.1mm or less cutting adjustments.

I just have a little bit of tweaking but I've almost fin cutting the internal base panels for drawer box 1 and 2 for the painters case. These will get glued up next week.

I decided to have the New Guinea Rosewood faces facing up in the clamp up approach. Reason so I can make sure all the gaps are closing up plus effectively remove the glue excess. Most of the glue excess on the base sections will go onto the tape. Worst sections of step ( which actually decreased when glue was added was ranging from 0.3 to 0.7mm ). In a few areas there was a tiny bit of panel flex which is why I added the mdf cauls at the top. I actually clamped one of the clamp frames to a torsion box panel because I found the panel had a bow in it which was transferring to the base panel frame. All flat now :).

This process is quite slow for cutting the panels but its ensuring I'm getting effective results within the 0.1mm range. Construction steps like this are heavily crucial. Slightly out creates a horrible ineffective glue up. So slow is fast.

Once all the drawer box base frames are glued up ill need to lightly trim the outside edges. ( potential panel frame flex) and add the wenge edgings. Same approach that I did for the drawer box cavity frames. Luckily I can use the already made trim table saw jigs just with different adjustable fences/ spacers.

Alot going on but Im making more progress.

Stay tuned for further updates.

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for Machining spline channels into the internal...
28/05/2026

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for

Machining spline channels into the internal panels for the drawer box / tool tray bases.

I machined the panels with the New Guinea Rosewood face down as the housing shoulder needs to match with the frame rails/ stiles. ( 1.9mm). I started with a shoulder of 2mm. Machined all the housings than adjusted by 0.1mm as splines were abit tight. Cutter says its 2mm but its more like 2.2mm

I kept the offcuts to use a test pieces.

Each frame I had to adjust the splines/ some stiles. Just abit of tweak sanding here and there. One of the trouble shooting issues I mentioned in the last post was that some of the oak splines were slightly tilted. ( I stopped clamping the splines down when I found some were tilting. It was only a few). This meant I checked every panel / frame parts ensuring everything sat flat with no potential tilt.

Im going to clamp these panels up with the New Guinea Rosewood faces facing down. If any spline sections are slighly loose everything will drop down thus creating a flat surface. Ill lightly sand these through the drum sander at 120 grit. ( after scraping away any epoxy excess. ) ill use clamp cauls to ensure everything stays flat while glue cures.

Im going to use the clamp up approach I used for the drawer box cavity frames. Ill layer the base with baking paper though this time. Ill grab the lock wedges from the other clamp jig platforms. Saving time in making new ones.

Ive just machined up the clamp station base plates. Ill need to machine another panel ( acts as the final size of base panel frame) which will be used to press up the clamp wedges to before screwing in. ( gets clamp wedges in the correct squared / parallel position. )

Once the jigs are completed ill cut the panels to their final size using the new micro adjustment jig for the table saw and drop saw. Ill do dry runs in the clamp jigs and adjust panels accordingly if needing to. I also need to cut the middle stiles / splines to their final length.

Heaps going on but making more progress.

Stay tuned for further updates.

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for All the drawer box / tool tray cavity frame...
26/05/2026

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for

All the drawer box / tool tray cavity frames have their outer wenge edgings flush trimmed. Next up will be final trimming/ light level sand. After that joinery time for the case floating tenon mortise connections, drawer box magnet catch housings, guide / rail connection spline housing, front cavity edging spline housings, back case stile housing and drawer box stop housings.

Ill put these on temporary hold and get a wriggle on with the drawer box base construction. Ill jump back onto the drawer box cavity frames while the drawer box bases are being glued up/ edging glue up.

So I adjusted the middle floating tenon mortise in the front/ back rails for the middle stiles. This is the base frame that wraps around the internal panels.

Ive cut most of the internal panels to the machine size I need. ( still need to cut the panels for the tool tray base). So for machine size I mean the panels are over sized by 2mm in length and width. Once I've machined the spline housings ill final trim the panels to their finished sizes. Ill use the trim jigs/ screw micro adjustment on drop saw for this, creeping up to the internal miter lengths of the rails/ stiles. Obviously spline housings made deeper.

The panels sit flush with the outer frame on the top face. ( New Guinea Rosewood ) but there is a step underneath on Black Walnut face. You can see this in last image tech drawing. ( few measurements have changed)

There is a step to accommodate magnet catch lamination plate but also so base frame/ paneling doesn't touch the surface it sits on ( workbench etc) for protection. As these drawer boxes need to come out of the carry cases and be used as mini tool trays.

Ill talk more about the next construction steps plus reasons for design of these drawer box bases / some trouble shooting issues in next post I know I'm going to run into.

Heaps going on but making more progress.

Stay tuned for further updates.

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for Cutting the last of the miters for the Weng...
23/05/2026

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for

Cutting the last of the miters for the Wenge edgings for the left and right side sections for the drawer box/ tool tray cavity frames.

After trimming the edgings flush these will go back onto the skim trim jigs on the table saw plus drop saw to bring them to their final dimension. I find on this scale there can be the tinest what seems like a bow after clamping. ( either slight differences in clamp pressure or slight differences in edging thickness). On large projects this is nothing to worry about just on this scale / specifications I have I have to be aware of this and prepare for it.

Now working on adjusting middle stile mortises for the drawer box base frames on the front and back rails. ( I mentioned this in a previous post. They are spot on now with no slight step)

Once these are assembled these parts will also be skim trimmed on the table saw jigs ( just make new spacer fence / adjustment spacer) before the outer Wenge edgings are attached. I still need to cut the internal panels to size and machine in spline housings.

Trimming the Wenge edgings flush on the cavity frames. Using the same flush trim jigs as before.

Heaps going on but making more progress.

Stay tuned for further updates.

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for Cutting the 2nd miter stage for the first l...
23/05/2026

More updates on the gold leaf and painters signwriting tool carry cases for

Cutting the 2nd miter stage for the first lot of wenge edgings that get glued to the drawer box cavity/ tool tray frames.

I made a long fence for the Dewalt drop saw to cut the Wenge edge miters. Nothing wrong with the Kapex I've just got it bang on 90 degs and dont want to adjust the set up so ill temporarily leave the Dewalt at 45 as I have a fair amount of mitered edgings to cut.

I glue the front and back Wenge edgings on first before cutting the last miter for the left and right side edgings / gluing on.

I used my longer Quick Grip clamps as my other clamps were creating too much flex to the frames. ( the frames are only just sitting slightly over 8mm thick ). I also used ply caul bars to limit damage to edgings.

After curing ill attach the side Wenge edgings.

Stay tuned for further updates.

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Melbourne, VIC
3777

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