Humidor Stock

7/8" purpleheart stock, milled and ready for through-dovetail layout

Prepping stock

We debated using this No. 40 Stanley scrub to give the box a hand-hewn look. This idea was quickly abandoned after a few passes over this extremely dense wood. Time to bring in the jointers and smoothers!

Prepping purpleheart endgrain is no joke!

The layout for the through-dovetails begins. Joints are cut at 1:8, centered on the inch. These cuts will be executed with a ripcut Japanese pullsaw.

We're tail-first guys at Bertha!

Beginning the first tail cuts. Put on some gloves, get your mental angles & prepare for battle!

Tails backsawn

Done freehand at 1:8 with the board vertical. Many advocate an angle but that always feels odd to me.

Tail paring begins.

Purpleheart is a worthy adversary but chips from the end fairly easily.

Tails cut x 1

The first set of tails emerge.

Transferring tails to pin board

The crucial step! We've tried various scribes, awls, pencils, etc. What works best for us is a custom-made flat edge knife.

Cutting waste from pin board

Pullsawing close to the lines in preparation for a long day of paring!

Chopping the pin board

Watching the show-face carefully!

Pins cut

Time for some fine paring!

Getting close!

Just a touch of paring left to go.

Closed!

Pins & tails intentionally 1/16" proud. These will be planed flush before final finishing.

Only one pin board left to cut

Blisters telling me that this will have to wait

Test cut for meter assembly.

I'm not looking forward to this 2 3/4 forstner bit hitting the ultradense purpleheart. Gauges fit expertly into this test hole.

Dry Fit

Prior to grooving the bottom receiver. Square with 1/16" proud pins/tails.

Dead-on to struck marking line

Intentionally a bit proud and will be planed down

Cutting the gauge receiver holes

Fifteen minutes a piece with a brand new Bormax!

Portholes complete!

inch'ish thick purpleheart is a stubborn foe

Grooving out the bottom receiver with the router plane

Groove is 3/8" deep to accept a 1/4" rabbet

Rabbeting the drawer bottom

I opted for a rabbet rather than the traditional panel-raised bottom. I wanted to maintain the square lines and sheer massiveness of the piece.

Dry fit

I was worried that the dovetails trimmed during the gluing process might sheer with disassembly. This was a stressful dry fit!

Glued up!

Dovetails are centered on the inch and really add up while your glue is setting. Titebond III and some good planning allowed it to go without a hitch.

Bottom view

Bottom fits well with a 1/4" of seasonal room

The top

Gluing up the clear purpleheart lid. A bit of cupping necessitated some extra time with the jointer plane.

Truing the lid with the No. 7

Early in the truing process. You can see the high points coming down.

Friction fitting the Spanish Cedar lining

I plan to friction-only fit the Spanish Cedar lining in case the box gets relegated to different duties in the future.

A look into the future

Gauges temporarily set and humidifier/computer in place. Planning to install lid with full mortise hinges. Debating whether or not to install plinth and whether to mold any surfaces. Stay tuned!

Trimming dovetails flush

A low angle No. 65 with a 23-degree primary and 28-degree secondary is about as far as I'll push the limits of the low angle. The thick purpleheard endgrain proved troublesome & there was mild fiber tearout.

Planing top endgrain

Whew! This endgrain is stubborn!

Fitting the plinth

1" thick purpleheart ripped and hand-jointed in preparation for plinth dovetails layout.

Cutting plinth dovetails

1/2-pin at base & single through-dovetail centered on the inch. The top will be 45-degree chamfered.

One plinth face tailboard completed.

This goes a lot quicker than box construction!

Plinth roughed and dry fit

Plinth was a little rockabilly & needed two corners taken down for a nice flat surface. I suspect this is a function of imperfect edge jointing by hand.

Plinth glued up around box

Box was elevated on a 3/4" platform with the edges lined by painter's tape. The plinth was glued up around the box then the tape was removed. This resulted in a nice friction fit. Next step is to chamfer the upper surface of the plinth and lower surface of the lid.

Debating finishes early in the process

I'm a big fan of shellac but I'm concerned about it's sensitivity to humidity. Shown right to left is 1lb. clear shellac, golden oak Danish Oil, Dark Walnut Danish Oil and pure Tung oil. As I suspected, I prefer the Dark Walnut Danish Oil and I like the fact that I can wetsand.

Sliding plinth carcass support

Designed to allow seasonal movement. Struts are screwed to the plinth through slots to allow movement.

Plinth installed

Nice piston fit

Hinge mortising time!

No laminate trimmer here, just chisels and carving tools.

Full mortise lock

We wanted a lock with a minimal presence on the humidor front. With the key removed, this simple round escutcheon is unobtrusive.

Mill your own!

I felt the supplied catch to be too flimsy, so we decided to mill our own from brass bar stock (otherwise known as a standard hinge!).

Plinth mounting strategy

We wanted the plinth to withstand wood movement in any direction. In addition to the sliding supports, the plinth is captured to the bottom on a brass pin.

Dry fit

Here's the completed case prior to finishing! Now onto the waiting game.

Penetrating oil application

After three wetsanded/one conventional application of Dark Walnut Danish Oil. Wetsanded 400/400/600-grit. The surface is glass-smooth and the color is a deep mahogany-purple.

Humidification Elevator

A Spanish-cedar lined Purpleheart-veneered solid purpleheart block (!?!) to elevate the Mr. Moisture humidification system.

Humidification System installed.

Spanish Cedar tapers 2-degrees to friction-capture the humidification block. Block is friction-fit into the case for removal (with some effort!).

Inside view

With humidification block and computer installed. This temporary computer measures and tracks inside-versus-outside humidity and temp. Once standardized, a smaller unit will be installed.

Finished! Outside view.

This beast weighs in at 32lbs.! The seasoning process has started on the Spanish Cedar.

Finished!

After one day of seasoning, the hygrometer is reading around 90%, WAY too high for cigar storage. We'll see how it reads after the seasoning process is complete.

Figured Mahogany False Top

1/8" thick figured mahogany friction-fit internal lid. An unplanned addition after the internal humidity began to cause lid cupping. (Hey, it's our first humidor). Future humidors will likely feature breadboarding or raised-panel construction with a laminated floating cedar panel.

Inside view

A handful of crummy cigars are introduced after seasoning (full wipe-down with distilled H20, two times per day for four days; diH20-soaked sponge for three days with humidification element introduced on the second day; two days of humidification element alone). This humidor pegs 72% with a 0.5% maximum fluctuation over a five-day interval. This is lower than our desired humidity (75% by personal preference) but very precise.

Finished (for real now)!

Solid brass Brusso handles (this thing weighs 30 pounds!) installed. The lid was planed with a small taper to allow deep-set hinge mortises with a more delicate front lip. Look closely and you can see a slight cup (sigh). This cup is settling down with the mahogany divider.

Rehab Side

An additional 40-cigar humidification element was added to the "rehab" side. It appears to give 2% favoritism to those cigars I'd like a bit wetter.