Buying Spanish Cedar/need advice - Updated with pics of trays
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Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 3,402
Well, I have some wineadors up and running, and now I need shelving - just wondering if anyone who does this kind of thing has any websites they use. I don't need much, just enough to make 3-6 slatted drawers that are 2-6 inches deep to hold all my singles
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Wood Projections out of Miami (I think) will sell you custom size pieces. I'm about to order two 2'x1' pieces to make two of the three shelves for my wine cooler. Each piece of wood will cost $10 and shipping is $18 so its $38 to my door. I might go ahead and throw in the last piece of wood and make it $48 for all the wood I need. Spanish Cedar is hard to find but this place supplies sheets of it to B&M's or customers building walk-in humidors. I spent all day on the phone trying to find the cuts I need. They'll do it and ship it. Def worth a call!
Never would I do something myself that I can't afford to screw up but its like working on my cars I have a greater understanding of them and feel better about it when I do take them to a mechanic because I've done much of the work myself and know them well.
If he fails at making his own drawers at least he will have gained the knowledge of what really goes into it and will be less adverse to paying the money for a pro to do it AND will be able to hold an intelligent conversation about what he wants. JMO
I bought a 8'x5"x1" board of kiln-dried spanish cedar at a local lumber store for around $50 (board was $30, cutting it in half width-wise, then again length-wise, so I had two 8'x3"x0.5" and two 8"x2"x0.5" boards, which was an extra $17), and I now have three, 3-inch deep, drawers to stow my sticks.
Now, they ain't real purty, but they each measure roughly 12"x13.5" and hold around 100 sticks each.
If I had hired someone else to make these, I'd be waiting a few weeks, and probably paying somewhere between $150 and $200
When it's all done, I'll have 5 boxes that are 3-inches deep, and one that's 2-inches deep. Each one is made of Spanish Cedar that's 3/8" thick, and measures 12"x14". The slats on the bottom double as rails that hold the boxes in the wine cooler, and measure 14 6/16" long.
It takes a few days for the cedar to season, so every time I create a new box, I need to leave it empty for a few days, and just keep the sticks in some ziplock bags until the trays are seasoned:
Basic Box:
Box bottom:
The 3 built so far (I intend to sand off the pen marks eventually; not a priority right now):
Pic for size comparison; that's a 5 Vegas Classic Box
Proof is in the pudding; this is a box of 25 Joyo de Nicaragua Dark Corojo Antano, 25 La Glorida Cubana Series N, 25 Diesel Unlimited d5, and 25 Diesel Unlimited d7 - 100 cigars total. The way I figure it, I'll be able to fit as many, if not more cigars in my wineador, if I use trays to store the cigars than if I play box-tetris.