I have been planning/dreaming about building a cabinet humidor for awhile now. I have some woodworking experience, but wouldn't consider myself to be a pro by any means. So, even though I would absolutely love to build my own, I was also considering purchasing a cabinet from Aristocrat.

I believe it was my wife that brought up the idea of retrofitting an old armoire. The flat screen tv has essentially put an end to the tv armoire. In my area alone, there are hundreds of these for sale at any given time and can be had for a few hundred bucks. So, I considered this since I believed I could get one cheap. The first problem I had with this idea, though, is that my first requirement of a cabinet is that it has to be solid wood. Solid wood furniture is quite rare, these days.

I looked around and I even went and looked at a few that I thought would be promising but didn't pan out for a number of reasons. I was resigned to either just building my own or saving up for awhile and having one built that would last me the rest of my life. However, I couldn't help but think retrofitting an armoire would be a fun and rewarding project.

Then, this fell into my lap.

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The wife really liked the look, which is pretty important since its going to be placed in our living room. The piece is solid oak with what looks to be a shellac/verathane finish. The construction seemed to be pretty solid. There are a few pocket screws, but mostly for some of the trim pieces.

I decided I would completely gut it, with the exception of the main shelf as this added some structural stability and also added to the look of the oak cabinet.

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The back panel... wasn't really much of a panel at all and was just crappy, flimsy fiber board that was stapled in. This would need to be replaced with a solid wood panel. The drawers came out, which also meant I was going to have to add a bottom panel as well. The doors and the carcass were in great shape and, honestly, wont be touched other than cleaned up. I may consider changing out the hinges with something a little more up to date. That is yet to be determined.

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Once I gutted the cabinet, I couldn't help but start to second guess my decision to take on the project for two different reasons. First, as you can see, there isn't much to the carcass and I started thinking I should have just started from scratch. Second, I was having a hard time figuring out where to start at that point. I pushed through.

I will discuss more of what my plan is in my next post. First, though, I want to share what my current thought process is on this project. I really didn't spend any money on purchasing this cabinet. I spent some money on spanish cedar, some other lumber, and a lighting kit. I have very little money in this project. I expect this humidor to be completely functional for a number of years. This humidor will be tight, look good (to me), and is going to be a lot of fun. I expect to sell it at some point and build something that is more of an antique quality. For now, though, I am going to enjoy this project and see what I can come up with and where I can learn from my mistakes down the road.

to be continued.
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More about my plan.

I purchased an led lighting kit, which I found on Amazon. I will be installing lights under each shelf as well as at the top and front of the cabinet. I also purchased a pressure switch from rockler, which will turn off the lights when the doors are shut. I should be able to hide the switch at the bottom and off to the side.

I will also be installing fans throughout. I will either buy the fans myself or use the set of fans that come with the Set and Forget system from Aristocrat.

This brings me to one of the decisions I still haven't made. I haven't officially decided on buying a Set and Forget system. I guess I am still considering beads. This has all I have ever used.

I thought it was worth bringing up here to discuss why I should consider just using beads. Do you guys have some thought on this topic?

For reference, the cabinet interior measurements are:
38'' wide
67" tall
21" deep

So, that should give me a gross volume of 30.94 Cubic feet.

to be continued
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To this point, I have built all my panels and have installed them. Now, to confess to a woodworking sin. I didn't use oak for my panels. I used maple. I had a lot of 4/4 maple in house already so I decided I would resaw this and glue up some panels. Both panels will be completely hidden. Sacrilege, I know.

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Funny, I cut down all my lumber to about 3/8" thickness. Then, I started looking around for clamps. I don't exactly have a lot of >40" clamps around. :-)

Then, I started resawing spanish cedar. You can see here that I have glued up a lot of the spanish cedar in the top section of the cabinet.

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I ran into a couple of problems with the actual glueup of the spanish cedar. First, I cut the spanish cedar down into 1/4" thickness by 3 or 4" wide slats, depending on the section. When glueing in the cedar, I noticed the pieces started to cup up a little. This shouldn't be too big of a deal and only I will probably notice it. I could sand it down, but probably wont. Next time, I will probably use less glue, instead of rolling glue on the entire surface. Second, because of the slight swelling, getting some of the pre-cut/pre-fit pieces to fit in the back didn't work out exactly. Not sure there is much to learn here other than to plan for it.

This is as far as I have made it. I hope to finish the bottom section as well as cut the wood for the doors. I will also buy the rails for the shelves and start more precisely plan the layout.

Thanks for any feedback.
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Awesome!
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Cant wait to see how this turns out.
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Wow, That looks great, Zach!
Can't wait to see the end result.

FWIW, the Set and Forget system is awesome.
My cabinet is roughly the same size as yours, and that's all I use in it. :-)
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That is a serious project, looks like you are making swift progress!
Keep up the nice work and keep those pics rolling in! Thanks for sharing.
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Keeping an eye on this. Been thinking of the same thing for years. I thought more of a china cabinet-type setup with glass doors. Just haven't come across a cheap one to work on yet.

Good luck, Zach!
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Very cool! Please keep us posted on your progress.
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I read, I saw pics, I got informed, overall I felt this is amazing great work so far can't wait to see this done.
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Great post, keep it coming!
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Looking good Zach, keep us informed......love all the details in the post.
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I suspected I would hear this, Dom. Thanks for the feedback :-)
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It has taken way too long for me to post progress of this project. I contacted Bob Staebell at Aristocrat Humidors, discussed what I was working on as well as what I thought my needs were. I provided the calculated square footage as well as discussed the compartmentalization of the cabinet. He worked out exactly what I would need.

Bob also gave me something I didn't expect. He gave me confidence in the project. I have to admit that I felt a little sheepish about contacting a master craftsmen regarding this retrofit. I wasn't sure how positive his reaction would be, even though I probably shouldn't have cared. However, his reaction was incredibly positive. He gave me some pointers and even told me that he has actually done a few of these retrofit projects himself.

Bob is just awesome. Pure class.

Here is an unboxing of a set and forget system he sent me.

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This is a complete kit. From the pic above, I received three reservoirs, Two independent fans, all the wiring, plus the digital Humidity/Temp readout unit. The instructions were complete and easy to read. I also received extra parts, etc. Everything you need for the humidification system is included. He even threw in some extra grommets for some holes I had to drill.

More to come.
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Its funny. I had been planning on installing three shelves in the upper compartment. I measured out where the shelves would go probably a half dozen times. Then, I drew it out. I couldn't seem to make a decision on what I wanted to do. The issue was that the shelves would be angled about 13 degrees.

So, I thought I would just try to do some layout. Don't laugh.

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Once I felt comfortable with the layout of the shelves, I started installing the sliding rails.

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You can also see I was able to hang the doors. I bought some much better quality hinges that close flush to the cabinet, but swing 110 degrees. They are also three dimensionally adjustable. This, for me, was really important. I expected I would need to make some adjustments over time.

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As you can see, I only have the slats in the shelves sitting on the shelf frame for the time being.

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Its starting to come together as you can see. At this point, you could expect I was getting pretty excited.
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Great progress man.. love what I see
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Dude, that thing is awesome.
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:-)
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Awesome job, Zach!
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Just keeps getting better!
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