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Humidor just completed

handyman dave

handyman dave

Newbie - Still old but not dead yet!
Joined
Dec 3, 2007
Messages
661
Just finished this and thought some of you might enjoy seeing it. It was commissioned by a BOTL in Virginia.

This is made of first growth (virgin timber) yellow pine that I salvaged as stair treads from a 125 year-old farmhouse that was going to be torn down. The paint and ground-in dirt on the stairs was so abrasive that it made short work of a set of planer blades! (Yikes!) There are some patched nail holes that are unavoidable in material like this.

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You can see the door latch at the middle, front surface of the side.

I resawed the board with the best figure and "book-matched" the two halves for the front door.

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The interior is fully lined with Spanish cedar. The seal around the inside edge of the door is so effective that when the latch is released, the door is slowed in opening as the air squeezes in around the door edge.

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The drawers are 3" deep and have slides extended beyond the drawer backs so that they can be completely accessed without the drawers falling out of the humidor. Notice the "book matching" of the Spanish cedar drawer fronts.

He will be picking it up this Friday and, although he has seen pictures as it progressed, I trust he will be pleased by the final product.

Nothing fancy but simple, unique and effective.

I have some wonderful first growth American chestnut salvaged as floor joists from a courthouse here in PA that would make a beautiful humidor. American Chestnut is now virtually extinct because of the imported Chestnut blight. Perhaps the next humidor will be out of that special material.
 
I am ALMOST done with a home-coming present for my father; in humidor form! I take it to the glass store tomorrow to put the glass in!
Chris
 
Very nice work... how long did this project take you? I was planning on trying to build one but time is something that I wish I had now a days!
 
That's really awesome, the amount of history in the boards adds a ton of character. Excellent work!
 
Well done, as usual Dave. As to the used wood, how do you acquire it?
 
AdriftPanda said:
Very nice work... how long did this project take you? I was planning on trying to build one but time is something that I wish I had now a days!
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Because I do this for a living I can take the time. This one took about 30 hours of construction time spread over 2 1/2 weeks. That does not count the hours it took to salvage the boards in first place, which I did myself. It does, however, include the hours necessary to dig every piece of metal, nails, brads etc, out of the stairs before risking saw, joiner and planer blades.


jasiu1234567890 said:
Good job. I want to build humidor too. Show more photos, please. :D
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I don't know what else you would like to see. Construction was very straight forward. I did use dominoes to reinforce the main joints in the box. I will post some of the inside of the drawers if that would help.

NullSmurf said:
Well done, as usual Dave. As to the used wood, how do you acquire it?
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I knew of the fate of the farmhouse because a friend lives nearby. I spoke to the owner who let me salvage whatever I wanted. I took the stair treads and the doors as they really had the only usable wood for my purposes. I still have the doors BTW.
The chestnut came from a retired shop teacher who had acquired it 40 years ago. He used some of it but had about 400 bd ft left and had been storing it all this time. He finally decided it was time to get rid of it and a friend gave me the "heads up." It is mostly beams and large floor joists, 2 1/2 x 10, etc. So, after you pick all the metal out of it you have to resaw and dimension what you need. he first piece of it I used had 70 pieces of metal in it! :angry: By the time I got them all out I was so disgusted with the time spent that I decided the wood was worth at least $100 a board foot! :laugh: The second piece wasn't quite as bad but the time and effort to render salvaged material usable really can push up the cost considerably. The end product does make it worth it.

I have several hundred feet of beautiful curly and tiger maple boards that would make extraordinary, eye-popping humidors if anyone was interested in that.

edited for typo
 
I just realized that this is for my buddy Earl . . . he will be extremely pleased!!
 
Earl's already issued the invited to enjoy some turkey hunting and a full humidor. After seeing this bad boy, I may have to make the trek up to VA!!!
 
Very nice job. I notice things like uniform gap around doors and the little details that many don't see. In your case, you've done an excellent job. Nice work.
 
Humidor Minister said:
Very nice job. I notice things like uniform gap around doors and the little details that many don't see. In your case, you've done an excellent job. Nice work.
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Thanks! Careful measuring, cutting and fitting really matters in the quality of the final product, as you well know. I enjoy making things fit correctly and am happy that someone such as yourself notices the details that make or break a project for me. Happily, this one turned out reasonably well. (As you know, one is never completely satisfied, perfection being an always unattainable goal, but working towards it is what makes this work so much fun.)
 
I like the choice of the exposed hinges to take away the "boxy" look and the corner details are perfect. Fit & finish is exquisite.

What are the dimensions?

Very nice closing mechinism...explain that with a few close up photos on both the door and body.

How will Earl get power inside for humidification?...or is this set up for static humidification?

Great work Dave.
 
handyman dave said:
Humidor Minister said:
Very nice job. I notice things like uniform gap around doors and the little details that many don't see. In your case, you've done an excellent job. Nice work.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Careful measuring, cutting and fitting really matters in the quality of the final product, as you well know. I enjoy making things fit correctly and am happy that someone such as yourself notices the details that make or break a project for me. Happily, this one turned out reasonably well. (As you know, one is never completely satisfied, perfection being an always unattainable goal, but working towards it is what makes this work so much fun.)
Click to expand...

We are our own worse critics. :thumbs: I really like the old growth woods. Did you know that all the old growth wood in the USA only totals up to 7% of the total of live trees in the country. You'd have a hard time finding pine with such nice figure as whats in your doors now. Again, nice work. :thumbs: :thumbs:
 
I may have to take the plunge on one of these next time I strike it rich, Dave. I'm a Pennsylvania native and it would be an honor to have a humidor made of native Pa. wood.

Beautiful work.
 
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