Colin Barrett, Murray Bridge, SA

TV Cabinet
Tasmanian oak, meranti, luan plywood
900 x 900 x 600mm h.
Unit is in the shape of an irregular L

Materials
Tasmanian oak; largest piece from local salvage yard, some other bits from a friend who was going to use it as firewood.
Meranti; some offcuts from previous jobs.
Luan plywood also left over from previous job.
Particle board: This was obtained from a local cabinet maker; it was the stained and damaged packing sheets from a pack of particle board.
Originally I did not have enough material to make the doors; however the local salvage yard found me a few metres of Tasmanian oak flooring, enough to make the doors.

Methods
The local salvage yard has very little beyond oregon, jarrah and a few Malaysian timbers. The piece of Tasmanian oak I found was only a metre long and about 140 x 45, the pieces of meranti I had were even smaller.
The timber that I had was nowhere near enough to do the job I had in mind, so to overcome this I cut it up to make a veneer then glued it to the particle board. The machinery I had to do this with was a small old combination jointer table saw; a Durden Pacemaker purchased in 1960.
As far as possible I used the Tasmanian oak on the outer surfaces, the meranti on the inside. Even then there was not enough so I had to use the luan plywood on the left hand end on the outside.

Concept
The geometry of my TV viewing area dictates that the TV is best placed diagonally across a corner. The TV came with a low cabinet and fitted into the corner quite nicely; my problem came when I coupled the TV to a stereo CD unit. I had to place this on an old coffee table; this jutted out well into the room and was rather untidy.
It had always been my intention to build a unit that would accommodate both the TV and the stereo, obtaining the piece of oak inspired me to build a design that I had carried in my head for a long time.
Not having the training in draughtsmanship required to draw up a professional drawing a sketch on graph paper was all that I could manage; however I am happy with the results.