I'd done eight or ten projects that were basically flat faced boxes, be it an actual box, a plywood carcass and face framed cabinet, several frame and panel solid wood drawer units, wall cabinets, etc.. FLAT was getting to be a bit limiting. But curved surfaces seemed just too complicated to even try. A Bombay dresser, with all its curves, while interesting, presents just too many joinery complications / challenges for a relative newbie to woodworking like me.
BUT - a simple coopered door or a pair of coopered doors for a small cabinet - something to keep in mind for a future project.
If you have a router and / or a router table you know that router bits proliferate. Like any other tools, if they don't have a home they tend to wander all over the shop, finding less than obvious places to hide. Time spent finding them is time lost for actually woodworking.
So, when one of the woodworking magazines had an article on making a small cabinet to hold router bits, it became my next project. Basically it's a four sided box with MDF pull out shelves with tempered board bottoms riding in grooves in the sides of the box. Mount it on the wall behind the router table and all my bits would have a nice, convenient home. Right away I decided to add a hardwood edge to the front of each shelf and have it fit in stopped dadoes. That would look much better than seeing the edge of the MDF and tempered board. I have a habit of starting out with a quick and dirty project and progressively making it more and more complicated. This one was going to keep that streak going.
Here's the starting point for this project.
Simple right?
Made an MDF prototype using pocket screws to hold things together, rounded up my router bits, drilled a bunch of holes for them and had this.
Three shelves for bits seemed sufficient so the extra space at the bottom was perfect for a pair of drawers. You need a drawer or two for bearings, router wrenches, allen wrenches and what not.
The shelf unit with drawers also just begged for doors. Doors keep dust and spiders and other stuff off whatever is stored on the shelves inside. Since it needed doors why not try making some coopered doors and get some experience making some curved things. ( see how things evolve from simple to complicated?)