I once worked in a cabinet shop which completely avoided working with metal. To my amazement, even the sharpening of hand tools was outsourced. I found this very difficult to accept because as an apprentice, sharpening my chisels, planes and scrapers was one of my FIRST lessons. When in any discussion involving metal, the classic response was to back away, palms up saying “oh no…we don’t DO metal here”.
*heh heh* Okay then guys…so this is your worst nightmare…..
I believe that to have a well-rounded knowledge of woodworking, one has to understand the basics of metalwork. Our modern designs require it, as does our tooling and hardware and this level of understanding doesn’t even scratch the surface for there are so many other materials, agents and finishes required to complete most contemporary projects.
For this particular project the client had chosen blackened steel. Needless to say however that the weight of a cabinet door alone wasn’t practical or safe, so we opted for blackening aluminium thereby reducing weight by 40%. The cabinet components are 1/8″ thick, skived and folded to give sharp edge details. And to keep all lines looking as crisp and straight as possible, we avoided welding (as heat causes distortion), opting instead for all components to be machine fastened.
If all this sounds like alot of work, it was. Being a woodworker, naturally I’d have preferred it was made in wood and sprayed with a Liquid Metal finish, but that wasn’t the criterea which the project called for and the end result was quite stunning.
The part drawings give an indication of the sheer number of bespoke parts required. Every part fitting and machine screwed together.
Photos courtesy of BLUBLK LLC
The fitting of these parts, represents the merging of experience, knowledge and CAD/CAM technology. There were no remakes, no costly delays to disrupt workflow.
Why?
Because our 20 year experience is dovetailed with thought, dedication and of course….SolidWorks®.
