Building a Cabinet with Hand-Milled Live-Edge Juniper

My wife asked for a shoe rack for her birthday and I obliged.

I originally thought I’d use some of the old weathered barn wood I’ve slowly been using up for the last few years, but I didn’t have enough.

So I decided to mill boards from some old juniper logs I have.

I cut one 5/8” slab for a drawer front, and a few more 7/8” slabs for the cabinet itself.

I used a scrap piece of 1/2” ply for the back to make it easier to square up the box, and because the thought of milling and then ripping and joining more juniper seemed unappealing and not a wise use of time considering it wouldn’t really be visible.

The box is assembled with glue and pocket screws (you may notice my hard work aligning pocket holes to work around the live edge of the juniper sides went out the window because in my haste, I drilled the holes on the wrong side of the ply).

The shelves are attached with pocket screws as well and at a slight angle downward top create more space because the depth was limited by the log size.

On a whim I decided to attach the top slab with wooden pegs—I drilled the holes deep enough to pound the pegs in flush so I wouldn’t have to trim/sand them and mess up the rough cut finish… except I didn’t estimate well enough on a few and had to cut them anyway.

I used a table saw jointer jig and crosscut sled to cut the various juniper pieces, which is still tricky without a straight edge to align on the sled wall.

I built a really simple drawer for the top with guides made of scrap walnut and a handle made of a juniper branch. I was very much winging it as I went on this part… more so than on the rest of the build. But luckily it turned out well.

The bad thing about rough cut wood is that it’s impossible to be precise; the good thing is that you can’t really tell it’s not precise.

Finished with tung oil, which I think makes juniper look really good with some more contrast in the difference colors.