DIY Mineral Drawer Cabinet

If you are looking for a cheaper alternative to expensive drawer cabinets for your reference mineral specimens and you have reasonable carpentry skills, check out the attached photos of a cabinet I made recently from an old steel office filing cabinet.

The sides and top are clad in solid pine which is available as composite boards from most DIY outlets. The drawer fronts, plinth and knobs are all solid pine and the card slots are from the original drawer fronts. They are finished in acrylic eggshell with a coat of PVA for toughness.

You can pick these old cabinets up on the internet and in junk shops and they are very tough and compact. I can get up to 350 specimens in 2" x 2" card trays into my first cabinet but the one pictured has some deeper drawers for larger specimens.

I intend to make a couple more for myself so why not have a go yourself. They provide relatively tough, compact and even fire-proof storage for you mineral specimens.

RooP!

Rupert
Very nice work...You must be mighty handy...unfortunately way beyond my competence...
John

Thanks John...Yeah! you'd have to be fairly competent and confident with hand and power tools. However, if your organising and measuring skills are ok then you could make a cutting list and get a skilled person to cut all of the timber for you. It wouldn't take long and you could do all of the finishing/sanding by hand.

The rest is really just assembly, with a bit of drilling, screwing, glueing and decorating. You don't have to do the fancy moulding, just keep it simple.

Cheers,

RooP!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2012 09:22AM by Rupert Harrison.

I think there are cad programs that cabinet makers use that once the piece is designed on the computer, it will automatically generate a cut list. if you want one.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Not sure if that was directed at me Rock, but thanks. I'll have to stick to purchasing:)

I have purchased over the years many steel file cabinets, blueprint cabinets, storage units etc. They are great for storing specimens, since the drawer bottoms don't sag like wooden ones. I use them just the way they are, some need painting. I do woodworking too, but only out of necessity (like on my house). Am I just being lazy?