gun cabinets

[dns1764]

ok so my mom took over the gun safe with all the baby pictures, leaving all my guns in their carrying cases. My brother is moving out this weekend, and i have a bit more room in the mancave. i want to build a gun cabinet. i plan on building it out of cherry, and want it yo hold 6 long guns and a coulpe pistols. i really like the glass door and saw one with an angled display for some handguns (link attatched).

I havent really made any furniture before, but am confident i can build it. I was wondering if anyone has built their own, or if you have plans. also what should i be looking at for material costs?
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/woodworking/1273026
any help will be greatly appreciated

[ZeroLogic]

I build furniture part time and as a hobby. Cherry is going to cost you. I always buy lumber from the local saw mill to save a lot of money. At the mill they leave it rough sawn which will need to be further planned down to desired thickness. Some saw mills will do this for you for an extra cost.

Over here cherry runs about 4.50 a board foot (1x12x12) for select. 2.75 for common. Common has a knot or two or some defects in it. A rough ball park for the amount of bf you'll need for that is around 75. But don't quote me that's just judging by the picture.

I could write a book on what to do just from my experience. What tools do you have? Do you have any previous skills working with wood?

I would skip over the cherry and go with maple. Its cheaper by a lot and easy to work with. Plus you don't have to tear up every time you make a mistake. You can achieve the color you desire with dye and or stains.

Now what I do before I start a project is measure the space you can put it in. Make sure it can fit between doors. Then the height, width and depth of it. Once you find that out sketch a few drawing of what you are looking for. IE bottom drawer layout molding way the door look ect ect. Next throw it all together in a scaled plan. I always show what type of joinery I use in almost every part of the project. Just by looking at that, the kind of joinery I would shoot for it mortise and tenon and tounge and groove.

Before you do anything, I would try to find a local mill. You do not want to buy the material from a big box store because you will pay. For me, a 1x8x8 piece of red oak would cost in the range of ten bucks. From Lowes or Home depot it will cost about five times as much.

After you located a mill, look at pictures, gather up ideas.

If you have any questions you can pm me if you want. Sorry if the info was just scattered around I'm in a bit of a rush.:p

[dns1764]

thanks a bunch.
as for tools, i think i have everything covered.

i will just draw up my own plans to suit my needs. Maple does sound like a better wood cause i do not have a thickness planer so i will need to buy dimensioned lumber.

i plan to take pics of the progress, but wont be able to start it til nex weekend

[ZeroLogic]

Alright. Good luck with it. You can see if the saw mill will plan the lumber down to 3/4 or whatever you need. Then you can rip a straight edge on it. PM me if you got any questions.

[nskukalek79]

Make sure your guns are oiled well, I've seen a few guns that were kept in carry cases and they are covered with rust. The cases hold the moisture in them so be careful....a little oil goes a long way

[CJM]

Since its already covered what materials and stuff, I thought I would add its nice to have a glass door on it.

If you go down to a glass shop, or maybe on the net you can get a really cool looking door with a logo of some kind etched into the glass. Something like a nice buck or ducks or something would look cool, Ive seen it before on some of the cabinets they sell at the store.

[dns1764]

Down the road I might look into a dehumidufier for it or at least a spot that is hidden for the moisture absorbing bags. the etched glass is a great idea but i want to keep this build on the cheap, so it may be added later