Mini Curio Cabinet

This small-scale curio cabinet is the perfect size to sit on a shelf, or in a bookcase.

- Dillon Baker

If you're like me, you spent your formative years outdoors climbing trees, riding bikes, scraping knees, and enjoying the offerings of the natural world. This newfound form of self-government often resulted in day-long excursions where various items were collected and brought home (some living, much to our parents' chagrin). These acquisitions were seen as tokens of liberation; a way to define our personalities, escape boredom, and satiate the endless curiosity about the world around us.

As an adult-believe, it or not still possess many of the items I collected in my youth. I needed a way to exhibit these relics, a place for the imagination of my past to converge in a tastefully arranged display.

My remedy? A miniature version of a curiosity cabinet. Follow along to construct your own scaled-down version of what the Renaissance aristocrats often referred to as "wonder-rooms."

Start with the Sides

Begin by cutting a rabbet on the front edge of the left and right sides of the case. Then, create the groove along the bottom (which houses the bottom panel). This can be done using the table saw or router with a 1/4" straight bit.

Once this is complete, create the opening on the panel by first tracing the outline onto the piece using a premade template. From here, drill a couple of pilot/relief holes to accept the width of the jigsaw blade. Next, rough cut the opening approximately 1/16" away from your layout line. Reapply the template using double-sided tape and proceed to clean up the opening using a pattern bit. To ease the edge, I created an 1/8" chamfer on the outside of the panel opening.

Next, create the grooves that house the glass shelf using the table saw. If feasible, use an 1/8" flat-kerf joinery blade. Otherwise, a standard crosscut blade will suffice.