4/4 Walnut stock

We grabbed this 1" thick rough-sawn walnut for the linear hearwood streaks. The board is significantly cupped and far from clear, so a bit of machining is in order.

Ripped & Stickered

We're hoping some of the twist will release with these rip cuts. It's a trade-off...you have to joint the individual boards...but you have to surface plane less (hopefully).

Milled 4/4 walnut stock

Boards were ripped-and-flipped to settle the cup & will be rejoined with #20 biscuits.

Not this again!

Now you can see the cup we're dealing with! A nice No.7 jointer loaded with a Hock cryo makes relatively quick cross-grain work of this lid.

Getting close to true-flat

Nothing tames a high point better than a well-tuned No. 40 scrub. A host of antique planes with flatten this panel.

Hand-planed smoothness...

...is impossible to replicate by machine. Here, a Hock'd No. 4 has brought this panel to a surface ready for card scraping.

Before and After

The mated rough-sawn bottom will be covered by Spanish cedar. Compare this to the finish-planed top. Unfortunately, the beautiful swath of sapwood will be raised-paneled out of view. Perhaps just a corner will show!

Let's get these edges ready for jointing

Forget the powered jointer on these small lengths! The jointer plane will get us flat. A No. 3 smoother will "spring the joint".

Cutting Biscuit Joints

We're moving to the machines for this project while the blisters heal from the Purpleheart humidor! A bearing'd slotcutter will establish our slots for a #20 biscuit.

Bring on the gravy...

...the biscuits are ready!

Glue-up

#20 Biscuits and TitebondIII bring the joints home.

Individual panels

Now glued-up and ready for surfacing

Jointing small pieces

We built this jig to safely joint smallish boards that are unsafe on the jointer.

First look into the future

Brass-on-brass hygrometer and thermometer; Vertex solid extruded brass ball finial hinges and a computer with history feature. Two antique W. Butcher gouges made it into this picture!

Get comfortable for a long dovetail session

Preparing to cut 1/2-blind dovetails.

Dovetails cut/top panel rabbetted

A 1/2" tongue will be manually trimmed to fit a 3/8" dado within the case. This allows us to better tune the fit of this floating panel. In 7/8" stock, this humidor will be bulletproof.

Dry-fit

The case is dry assembled to check the fit of the panel. The panel thickness will be transferred to the inside of the case with a wheel gauge.

Departure!

This is the first of several modifications. The inside of the floating lid is lined with figured mahogany before assembly. This will allow the humidor-appropriate mahogany to float independently within the panel dado.

Gluing the figured mahogany "roof"

A light coating of Titebond III will hold the "veneer" temporarily. Two solid brass screws will anchor the veneer at the midline. Disparate seasonal movement will almost assuredly separate the veneer from the lid but the veneer edges are captured in the case dado.

Laminating bottom with 1/4" Spanish Cedar

The bottom is laminated on the groove-side of the rabbetted bottom (the reverse is true for the lid). This allows a thicker tongue of hardwood (versus very soft Spanish Cedar) on the weight-bearing (albeit a very light load) bottom.

A Mr. Moisture lid-mounted humidification device

This device is lid-mounted and will suit this project well. It allows easy access for refilling with PEG-wetting solution. It allows easy expansion to 120-cigars with a second element. It would be impractical and conspicuous on a flush-mounted lid (like our purpleheart version) but works perfectly here!

Prior to tongue-trimming

Note the tongues of the floating panels were cut long. This allows precise trimming and installation of "Space Balls". The target gap will be 1/16".

Post-trimming

1/16" reveal like we were shooting for. It turns out a small slip of sapwood is visible! We love little details like this that allow you to follow the piece from raw stock.

Detail

This is how it all goes together. Note that the top figured mahogany lining is captured by the dado. We didn't want to capture the bottom Spanish Cedar lining in the event that a tragedy strikes (mold) and it needs replacing. The side lining will be installed later for the same reason. If the top gets ruined...well...

Bombproof!

You can see how stout the construction is in this humidor. Wall thickness is greater than one inch. Your stogies will be well protected!

Massive Forstner Bit

Cuts the holes for the analog gauge cluster. These gauges have self-sealing silicone fins that fit a 2 3/4" hole snugly. 7/8" thick Walnut puts up a considerable fight even at higher quill speeds.

Dry-fitted

Dry fitting is practice for the anxiety-producing final glue-up. It's tricky business installing half-blinds and floating panels within the glue open-time. The only thing more stressful is ripping off the lid!

Glue-up!

Heavy dose of Titebond III waterproof glue, a deadblow mallet and nerves of steel! Clamps will be released after one hour.

Gauge test-fit

Preparing to rip the lid & getting an idea of the overall appearance.

Face Shot!

Trying to gauge the best level to rip the lid. The dovetails are slightly asymmetrical (something I personally like) & I don't want to trim a tail too thin.

Lid layout

This location will allow the humidification element to protrude 1/8" into the main carcass.

Ripped to within 1/8" of its life!

We ripped the lid partially, leaving an 1/8" tongue that will be handcut with a Japanese backsaw. This method prevents the kerf from closing and skewing the piece of the tablesaw fence. It, of course, leaves a small tongue of wood to be removed with planes.

Lid ripped!

Quite stressful. Glad it's over. Now onto planing the mating surfaces smooth as glass.

Trimming the sawcut

A small amount of waste material must be removed by hand. Here an antique knuckle-joint block plane starts the job.

Hinge mortises

A lot of people are curious about router planes. We don't use ours very often but when you need it, nothing else will do. Here, the depth of cut is incrementally increased until the desired mortise depth is reached.

The router plane...

...does a nice job, don't you agree?

Hinges installed

Now, the location must be transferred to the lid & similarly mortised.

That's all for today

We've all made mistakes (costly ones) when installing hardware. When we start to feel tired, we quit!

Hinges Installed

This was a little trickier than expected. We usually don't use ball finials & the tolerance requirements are quite demanding. A millimeter off & the fit of the lid would be glaringly bad.

Rough-fit lining detail

As you can see, the lid's Spanish Cedar lining is 1/8" proud (and the case's is 1/8" short), so the fit is air-tight. These liners have yet to be planed to final finish.

Hinged Lid Fitted

The fit is excellent. The gauge holes have yet to be cut in the interior Spanish Cedar lining (which is figured, unexpectedly!). Note the hand-cut chamfer on the case with faceted edges. This allows an easy finger-hold without a gaudy look.

Fettucini anyone?

Trimming the spanish cedar lining to fit. The No. 6 is set for a big bite. The No. 7 is set for a shiver.

How fine is your humidor?

How's that for some remarkable Spanish Cedar? I've never seen anything like this before & was shocked when I opened the box. The lid is lined by figured mahogany and the Spanish Cedar has more figure!!!

Spanish Cedar Lining

Lining a box like this is actually fairly involved. Here are all the pieces that had to be hand-shaped to line just the sides!

Assemble...then disassemble

Hardware and lining removed in preparation for finishing. We don't have a dedicated finish room, so this means cleaning the shop first!

Preparation for finishing

Ready for the Danish Oil! The entire box is random-orbiter sanded down to 400 grit (Abranet). Three coats of wetsanded Danish Oil will be applied. The commissioner, Dr. S., prefers a natural, low-luster, touchable finish. Therefore, a tint-less danish oil will be implemented.

First flood

Box is sanded to 320 grit, flooded with natural danish oil and wetsanded at 400 grit.

Second wetsanding

The wetsanded slurry is removed and a second wetsanded coat is applied at 400grit. We would typically perform coats 2 and 3 at 600grit but the owner of the box prefers a matte surface.

Second wetsanded coat

The surface is still quite dull from the wetsanding but the streaming grain is starting to pop.

Third wet-sanded coat/ 1st sandless coat

Again at 400 grit, eight hours, then a thin spitcoat without sanding.

Reassembled

After a 2nd thin coat & 8h dry-time, the box is reassembled. It will dry for three days in a makeshift laminar flow hood before a coat of microcrystalline wax is applied.

Assembly

The spanish cedar panels are reinstalled with centrally-located brass screws. The digital thermometer/hydrometer is attached to a metal plate by the integral magnet. The humidification element is attached with industrial hook/loop tape. Not that the lid opens 180-degrees so that the figured mahogany panel can be used as a staging area. Plenty of room to grow in terms of humidification.

Assembly

We absolutely love this figured mahogany panel. We'll use this method again! The lines are intentionally simple and traditional. The finish won't be taken much further in terms of build or gloss.

Rear of the case

The rear of the case provides an interesting contrast to the grain-matched front panel. The extruded brass ball finial hinges are simple and traditional.

'tis the season

The seasoning process begins with a sterile natural sponge soaked in distilled water with polyethylene glycol (Mr. Moisture).

Maxed out

After 24h, the humidity is reaching a maximum of 90%.

Alongside his big brother

The walnut humidor is deceiving in its capacity, as there is no plinth and the humidification device is lid-mounted.