Making a walnut veneered retail slatwall cabinet

I needed a cabinet for the middle of my shop that could provide retail space, but also allow a customer to sit down for an overview of their new laptop for instance. This has been on the to do list for some time now and I had a few sheets of walnut veneered MDF ready and waiting.

This will be a brief overview in picture form, but please see the video above for more details.

This was the design I came up with in Sketchup:

Extracting the 8’x4′ sheet from my storage shed:

Cutting the parts to size with a tracksaw:

Routing the slatwall slots. First a straight relief cut:

And then routing the slatwall t-slot:

Crosscutting to size:

Applying the iron-on edging:

Spraying lacquer (cold, damp day, and outside):

Complete disaster – the damp weather caused blooming where the lacquer combined with fine water droplets. Sanding back the lacquer to the bare wood. But being careful not to sand through the thin layer of real wood veneer:

Cutting slots for loose tenons (using the Festool Domino), for joinery and alignment:

Drilling for pocket screws to pull it all together:

Applying finish (second time lucky). Using Festool Surfix oil and wax combination:

Assembling the unit in my shop:

Finished article:

I’d love to hear you comments!