McIntosh L12 Cabinet Build Log

[ForrestFire]

To the OP: truly a beautiful job and results. But really? A difficulty of 5/10?!? You have the tools, skill and experience and it still took you 3 tries and you rate it as average? Getting tight, even always closed 45 degree miters is a skill all its own (and the reason most are veneer). I’d also be curious as to how well it has withstood the effects of heat and humidity changes over time. I would fear shrink and swell and opened seams. With proper planning, a nice waterfall grain can be done with veneer. Only the look of the front edge is compromised.

Heres the thing. At the end of the day, its a box with 2 holes in it.
A basic box with butt joints is about a 2/10 on the difficulty scale. This is just a basic box with miter joints.
Along with vintage audio, I am into DIY sound systems. Art Welters Syntripps' are far more difficult of a build with compounding miters, CNC'd phase plugs, and 3 speakers jammed in a tiny box. So 5 out of 10 seemed appropriate to me.

I did find it easy to do the miters tight by using a 45deg chamfer bit. Nailed them every time, so that made it easier.

The failures of the 2 attempts before were part of my learning experience, as it was my first time template routing inside radius corners. Nowadays, I learned to template the parts where the grain direction is generous, and use an oscillating spindle sander for the inside corners. Don't let the tools fool ya, I'm still fairly new to woodworking.

As far as how well it has held due to humidity/heat, Not a single visible gap or any shifting. I let my boards acclimate for a while before I used them, which helps. Still looks as good as the day I finished it!