Just passed my carpentry exam, the maple and walnut cabinet is done

When I was doing my own small side project, turning a couple of wooden bowls, I ran into a similar headache with the wood movement. I was using some sycamore and maple, and trying to get the lip of the bowl perfectly even across all sides was a nightmare. The grain was running slightly differently in the diffrent wedges, and even with careful sanding, one section kept feeling a bit rougher than the rest.

It took me a while to figure out that I needed to really pay attention to how the humidity changes the cut wood. I started letting the blanks sit in my garage for about a week after they came off the lathe, just to let the moisture levels equalize before I started the final shaping. That small wait made a huge difference in the final finish, which was ussually where the little imperfections showed up.

I used an orbital sander, starting at 120 grit and moving up through 220. If you rush the drying process, you end up with tiny stress fractures that just won't fill in properly when you apply the oil finish. It really forces you to slow down the whole process, which is the hard part.

I ended up with a set of serving bowls that looked pretty good on the kitchen counter. The consistency of the edges was much better than I expected given how much I struggled with the drying time.

Those exam pieces are such a strange mix of relief and letdown when they're done. Mine was a little hall bench about ten years back, oak with mortise and tenon legs, and after the examiner signed it off I just stared at it for a week not knowing what to do with it. It ended up by the front door holding shoes, which felt like a demotion at the time but now I love it.

The curved door seam is what got my respect here. When I had to do a curved rail on my piece I chickened out and made it straight instead, and the examiner definitly noticed. He ran his finger along where a curve should have been and just said 'hmm'. I still think about that.

One thing I'd pass along from the hardware side: those plain brass knobs on maple can work loose over the years because the threads bite into such a hard wood. Mine needed a drop of thread locker after about a year of daily use. Nothing dramatic, just one of those things you find out from living with the piece.

Also, matching grain across drawer fronts like that is the kind of thing nobody walking past the cabinet will consciously notice, but everyone will feel it looks right. Good call spending the time there.

That curved seam sounds like the kind of thing that keeps you up at night. Did he clamp both doors togehter and shape them as a pair? I've seen that trick save people on matching profiles. Also curious about the finger pull, was that carved out with a router or mostly hand work? Three months of evenings is real commitment too, my garage projects always stall at the halfway mark when the evenings get shorter.