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PAT R I C K W A R N E R
A Stylish
Credenza
SYMMETRY AND SUBTLE SHADOW LINES give Patrick Warner’s maple and yellow satinwood office
credenza a dynamic visual rhythm. The same piece could serve as a buffet or as a case for audio and
video equipment.
A STYLISH CREDENZA ■ 11
three as you wish, could be mounted on I decided early on that the whole thing
hinges or pocket-door hardware. would be solid maple with a top and accents
You could also easily move the piece into of yellow satinwood. I planned a fairly sim-
a living room, and use it to house audio and ple box carcase lifted off the ground by a
video equipment. The center section could separate and removable base. I hoped the
have a swiveling television slide installed, base would lend the piece an airy feeling
and a drawer or two could be added at the and avoid the impression of immovable
bottom of the side sections for tapes. In weight that such office furniture often gives.
this arrangement, tambour doors would be I knew that the case inevitably would be
an apt solution. They could be made as a dragged across a few floors, so I designed
pair that wrap laterally and meet in the the base to be strong, though light, joining
middle or as three separate doors that track its legs and rails with dovetail tenons rein-
vertically. forced with machine-threaded knockdown
If you wanted to use the cabinet as a fittings and hardwood corner braces, as
display case, you could fit it with glazed shown in the drawing on the facing page.
doors, glass shelves, and, possibly, a glass For aesthetic reasons, I wanted the slid-
top. In this arrangement, you might want ing doors in the same plane. So I left the
to make shallow, traylike drawers, or simply center section of the case open to give the
install bottom-mount drawer slides on the doors a space to slide into. I also decided to
shelving. And interior lighting also might run the doors on a removable track. They
be in order. would be installed with the track, avoiding
the usual loose fit of sliding doors and the
wide clearance required at the top to lift
J OINERY D ECISIONS them out. The doors could be removed by
Once I’d resolved the configuration and unscrewing the track and sliding it out.
dimensions of my credenza, I set to work I chose a two-stage joinery method for
on the anatomy—what the parts would be the corners of the carcase. In the first stage,
and how they would be joined. Whenever I I joined the sides and subtop and bottom
build a piece for myself, I view it as an with tongue-and-groove joints across their
opportunity to experiment, so I tested a full width. After the carcase was together,
number of ideas in this credenza that had I routed out wedge-shaped recesses with a
been brewing as I made furniture for less dovetail bit and filled them with yellow
indulgent clients. satinwood, as shown in the drawing. I make
the recesses and the loose wedges with mat-
ing router templates. These floating wedges
AROUND BACK. A half-lapped
open frame is all the back
have the appearance of dovetails, and the
the cabinet needs. It is joint is nearly as strong. I used the tech-
tongued around its perimeter nique in a spirit of adventure to explore the
and glued into a groove in decorative advantages it offered, and I cer-
the carcase. The back affords tainly didn’t exhaust them. You could also
excellent clamp access during use any carcase joinery you like on this
glue-up. piece, from true dovetails or finger joints in
solid wood to the range of possible joints
in plywood or medium-density fiberboard.
I wanted to leave the back of the case
largely open but give the piece resistance
to racking stress. So I made a frame at the
back of 212⁄ -in.-wide members joined to
each other with half-lap joints and to the
case with a tongue and groove (see the
photo at left).
into carcase.
DOOR DETAIL
A STYLISH CREDENZA ■ 13
For the vertical dividers, I chose tongue- recedes. I wasn’t out to do anything star-
and-groove joints for the subtop and bot- tling, just to use what small devices I could
tom with the tongues stopped so they to tie the piece together visually as well as
wouldn’t show at the front. There’s no real structurally.
glue surface on this joint, so I screwed the
dividers in place with #10 twin-thread How thick is that?
screws driven through the subtop and You could make this credenza using 34⁄ -in.
bottom. These wonderful screws contradict material for nearly all the parts. In a dim
the old saw about not screwing into end room, it would be hard to tell yours from
grain: They get great purchase in a hard- mine. But when light hit the two credenzas,
wood like maple. they’d look quite different. I constantly play
When it came to the subtop and the with thicknesses of material. Variations of
bottom of the carcase, I looked for a way to as little as 13⁄ 2 in. between adjacent boards
make them that would simplify the glue-up. can be perceived. I made the top and subtop
Instead of edge-joining them into panels each a shade under 34⁄ in. and did the same
and proceeding in the usual way with an for the bottom and the door track. I made
increasingly frantic case assembly, I chose to the sides 131⁄ 6 in., so they didn’t seem too
install them as slats. I machined tongues skinny by comparison with the doubled
and grooves along their edges and tongues elements at the top and bottom. I used
on their ends and dadoed them to accept 5/8 stock for the dividers to show that
the tongues of the vertical dividers. When their structural role is subordinate to the
it came time to assemble, I first joined the sides. There are no strict rules governing the
sides, the back frame, and the rearmost slats thicknesses of different elements, but if you
of the subtop and bottom. Having only an play around with the size of parts, you’ll
open frame for a back greatly simplified the find the overall appearance of the work can
clamping. And once that initial assembly be subtly controlled.
was clamped and squared up, I could then
insert the rest of the slats at my leisure. A Proud of it
rare, tension-free glue-up. Varying thickness is also useful in parts that
The top went on when the case was fin- are viewed face-on rather than from the
ished. I made it of yellow satinwood and edge. On the sliding doors, I made the stiles
1
attached it with screws through the subtop. 1⁄ 6 in. thicker than the rails, leaving them
A STYLISH CREDENZA ■ 15