This was going to be a nice little DIY thread with lots of photos and step by step details. that was the plan till I formated the CF card without downloading the photos first. :banghead:
Now all I can do is show some pics of the almost finished product.
Nikki asked me to build a hood for a soon to be 30 gallon seahorse tank.
She wanted it to match the oceanic cherry/mahogany finish so i decided to make the hood out of solid cherry, and 1/4" cherry plywood for the panels.
Lucky for Nikki I had plenty of cherry scraps left over from a giant cherry bookcase I made last winter.
So the idea was to make a hood with solid wood that had no end grain showing. That's the edge of the board. If you look at all the corners you will see it's all 45 degree miter joints meeting each other. This took some extra steps at the table saw and the miter saw, but it was worth it.
The hood was stained with a dark cherry stain first, then a mahogany stain. The real color of cherry is a very light wood. To get it to the "cherry" finish people think of it has to be stained. To protect the hood it got several coats of a waterborne lacquer sprayed on. Even with the saltwater the hood is well protected and should last quite a long time.
The photo i have is without the hardware. i used some brass hinges to attach the door flap which were mortised into the frame. Then I glued a nice shell to the door for a handle. to attach it securely i used a two part epoxy. I don't think the shell will ever come off, but Nikki will have to keep me updated. She will also have to post a photo with the shell, I never got the chance to get a shot of it before she picked it up.
Now all I can do is show some pics of the almost finished product.
Nikki asked me to build a hood for a soon to be 30 gallon seahorse tank.
She wanted it to match the oceanic cherry/mahogany finish so i decided to make the hood out of solid cherry, and 1/4" cherry plywood for the panels.
Lucky for Nikki I had plenty of cherry scraps left over from a giant cherry bookcase I made last winter.
So the idea was to make a hood with solid wood that had no end grain showing. That's the edge of the board. If you look at all the corners you will see it's all 45 degree miter joints meeting each other. This took some extra steps at the table saw and the miter saw, but it was worth it.
The hood was stained with a dark cherry stain first, then a mahogany stain. The real color of cherry is a very light wood. To get it to the "cherry" finish people think of it has to be stained. To protect the hood it got several coats of a waterborne lacquer sprayed on. Even with the saltwater the hood is well protected and should last quite a long time.
The photo i have is without the hardware. i used some brass hinges to attach the door flap which were mortised into the frame. Then I glued a nice shell to the door for a handle. to attach it securely i used a two part epoxy. I don't think the shell will ever come off, but Nikki will have to keep me updated. She will also have to post a photo with the shell, I never got the chance to get a shot of it before she picked it up.
