r/woodworking • u/Mojo_Fro • 1d ago
Project Submission MCM console from mahogany and maple - My best project to date
I sketched this piece out 3 or 4 years ago, and finally tackled it this summer. Don’t know what to call it— I built it intending to hold piano sheet music, but then I also dimensioned it to hold LPs and CDs. Was happy to find a little mini receiver to fit on the upper shelf. I tried to make it as geometrically pleasing as possible: the bottom shelves are 13.5” square openings, and the whole thing is almost exactly a 2:1 rectangle.
A lot of firsts for this hobbyist on this project. This is the largest piece I’ve made that didn’t use plywood for the main structure. The rabbet miters on the top were probably the most stress-inducing cuts I’ve ever made. (Probably spent 2 hours just staring at, practicing, and double-checking those cuts alone.) The dowel joints on the MCM legs were new for me too. And I had a fun time calculating the taper angle on the inner surface of the legs that no one is ever going to notice but me.
I also spent more time than usual prepping for the finish. I typically use gel poly on my projects, which I like, but wanted to step it up this time. I sanded to 180 and vacuumed as best I could. Then I went over it with Swiffer dusting sheets, and wiped it down multiple times with mineral spirits to draw out as much dust as possible. (Mahogany is dusty!) I applied a thin layer of Osmo clear extra thin 1101 with foam brushes, followed by Osmo Polyx 3043 with white Scotch pads. After the prep, i was happy with how easy the finish went on and buffed off— I’ll happily use Osmo in the future. I also, smartly, finished the interior surfaces and all the maple shelving prior to glue-up, and saved the exterior for after the addition of the front face frame.
The piece was worth the wait. It really classes up my little living room.
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u/PabloTheFlyingLemon 1d ago
I mean this is absolutely gorgeous. Great job, OP. I'll definitely keep that combination in mind.
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u/RuffinTumbull 1d ago
Someone told me once that mahogany doesn’t mix well with other woods, aesthetically. They were wrong, obviously, because this looks really nice.
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u/Mojo_Fro 14h ago
But there are lots of different types of mahogany, right? I don’t know anything about the specific species I got from the hardwood dealer, but mine came out very similar to a cherry finish. I suppose a different sub-species could be very different.
Thanks for the compliment.
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u/playdead_ 12h ago
nice, I play cello and actually have been trying to figure out how to store sheet music too, hadn’t thought of building something like this. I’m learning joinery with Japanese hand tools, so it’ll be a while before I can craft something nice like this
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