Converting a antique to a humidor

[Versus1ss]

Hey guys. I seen a few topics and decided that instead of buying a humidor I think I'm going to convert an antique into one. It was it's said to been made around the late 1800s from British style. It has a carving of a man lighting up a pipe on it. I






It will be delivered in a few weeks and I already started compiling the things that I will need to make this happen. I have been reading the other threads and will refer back to the them for more items that's I'm missing.

Building box within a box, hopefully with a glass front.

[laficion]

That Is a very cool antique cab. indeed , PLEASE keep us posted on the development.

Guy

[garbandz]

With the age of the antique I would strongly consider an insert that does not compromise the beauty of the piece.

set the shelves aside securely and design a drop in unit.

advantage as well is you could design a well sealing unit to require minimal moisture needs and be more air tight.

set the unit into a layer of foam insulation and sacrifice a little storage area.........

glass doors inside the unit would be something,see through the carvings..........

[Versus1ss]

With the age of the antique I would strongly consider an insert that does not compromise the beauty of the piece.

set the shelves aside securely and design a drop in unit.

advantage as well is you could design a well sealing unit to require minimal moisture needs and be more air tight.

set the unit into a layer of foam insulation and sacrifice a little storage area.........

glass doors inside the unit would be something,see through the carvings..........

Never considered that. Will keep that in mind.

[Optic101]

Nice piece, well done so far

Good Luck and Keep us updated.

[Carpenter69]

Garbandz suggestion is a great one. The piece is beautiful. Fantastic carvings on it. Believe it or not glass is probably cheaper than plexiglass. I'd hate to see a 200 year old piece destroyed or altered. Good luck with the project. Would love to see pictures.

[Versus1ss]

ok so since im in waiting mode i have come up with a million different ways of doing this. None are off the table and i am really trying to get a feel of which i would like to do. Here they are in no particular order

1, Leave the interior the same, seal up with silicon and weatherstrip and glass behind the front door openings. And once a certain level of consistency is achieved then use cigar boxes and S. Cedar for storing

2. Build a box within the box and use insulation.

3. Veneer the wall and seal up with silicon and weather strip and glass behind the front door openings. and use S. Cedar trays and keep orignal selves.

4. Seal up with silicon and weather strip keep original walls and build S. Cedar selves and glass behind the front door openings.

5. Veneer the walls and build S. Cedar selves and seal up with silicon and weather strip and glass behind the front door openings.

I have been just looking up S. Cedar venders and places to buy it like crazy. I dont have an issue altering the antique permantely as long as it looks good and functions effciently

[Versus1ss]

I know that there are many factors that go into this and sometimes the scenerios are great ideas in the mind but become crappy realities it comes to life sometimes.

[PigFish]

With the age of the antique I would strongly consider an insert that does not compromise the beauty of the piece.

set the shelves aside securely and design a drop in unit.

advantage as well is you could design a well sealing unit to require minimal moisture needs and be more air tight.

set the unit into a layer of foam insulation and sacrifice a little storage area.........

glass doors inside the unit would be something,see through the carvings..........

This is actually the correct way to do things... BRAVO!

I would remove the shelves and remove the back. Backs on antiques are often thin skins, nailed (poorly) and can be removed rather easily. If the antique is of any real value, you can save it in the event you wish to resell the item.

I would line the interior of the cabinet with Tyvek and further protect the antique. Solid wood furniture can crack from the asymmetric stresses of expanding and contracting components. You don't really want this to happen.

I too would build an interior cabinet that I would bring in from the back. It would have its own door on stout European hinges (like Blum) that could support the door with glass. I would not go gooing and gluing up the original door, as it would be used as a facade.

Depending on the ambient conditions in your home, I would decide on the control I need, of course I would use my own. If cooling was necessary I would incorporate the necessary BTU to cool a unit like this with TE coolers. If no cooling or dehydration was needed, I would stay away from it and set up a nice automated system based on a solid controller, active beads and active humidifier, IF the ambient calls for it.

That is a really nice project there. Take care, and good luck!

-Piggy

[cliff]

Cool cabinet, even cooler you're making a humidor of it!

How can you tell iTS from The 1800's?

(I love antique but Should read more books About iT haha)

[Versus1ss]

Cool cabinet, even cooler you're making a humidor of it!

How can you tell iTS from The 1800's?

(I love antique but Should read more books About iT haha)

Thanks. When it comes to the age i am just going off of what the antique dealer had it stated as... lol

[Versus1ss]

ok ok you guys twisted my arm...lol. im going to build the box inside. Should i be good with a 1/4 thick wood or should i push it to 1/2 since its larger.... Im pricing both S. cedar and Mahogany online now. And i will buy Tyvek to line the inside first.

[Versus1ss]

I too would build an interior cabinet that I would bring in from the back. It would have its own door on stout European hinges (like Blum) that could support the door with glass. I would not go gooing and gluing up the original door, as it would be used as a facade.

-Piggy

Not sure what u mean by this can u explain further. Thanks for the ideas

[PigFish]

I might draw something for you in CAD if I have the time, but not today… but the concept is simple, it is a box within a box.

You would therefore have two doors or perhaps 3 with 1 being your existing outer door. The other 1 or 2 could contain glass for you to see through and if there are 2 a stile in the center (which may detract) but would allow for them to be easily opened once the antique door is fully opened.

With the back and the shelves removed from the antique, this cabinet would slid in from the back and simply rest on the floor of the antique. it would be totally separate.

Cheers! -Ray

[Versus1ss]

ok so im looking at online and local woodshops... I love the conveince of being able to buy it locally but the Euro prices are quiet expensive so im debating.

[Puros Y Vino]

Be careful working with Spanish cedar. The dust can be toxic if it gets in your lungs. If you're doing any sanding, make sure you're protecting your eyes and wearing some kind of filter mask.

[Versus1ss]

thanks. I have read that somewhere before and will be doing the wood work at a wood shop on the military base and they are safety freaks so i will be wearing the full kit. lol.

[Versus1ss]

Chest gets delivered tomorrow

[ElJefeDeNada]

Stylistically, the cutouts in the door immediately brought the H. Upmann band logo to mind. Not that it adds anything to the technical aspects of the project. Just an observation that struck me immediately. Very cool antique that seems to cry out to be a humidor, Versus1ss.

[Versus1ss]

[Versus1ss]

ok update.... so i enlisted the master crafter and the base woodshop to help with the project since i obviuously want it to look professioanlly put together. I also purchased some led lighting for it as well. The wood will probably be a combination of Honduran Mo and Spanish Cedar. I bought my humidifier and it will hopefully this will all be complete by the end of Jan. here are some pics of my ideas and the lights. I will be sitting down to further discuss the project with him on the first week of jan.

[warren516]

I would not put the electical outlet inside the unit but rather mount it outside some how. In the event the power supply fries, all that acrid smoke would not be inside the unit with your smokes. Just a thought.

[PigFish]

Be sure to leave some room for the internal box to expand in the shell (antique). If you are going to use that active system to humidify, don't put the back (the original) back on the antique. You should also discuss the idea of anchoring the back, bottom and top with screws and not gluing them! When wood is attached in multiple directions of grain and is subject to swelling, it can crack. By using fasteners and not gluing the joints on some planes, you may avoid this.

Lastly, any system that is using an active humidifier such as this, must breathe. If it does not, the constant evaporation of the active source will be an over hydration problem. This is not theory but fact. You can seal the antique to protect it, but if the humidor does not naturally diffuse water somehow, your active system will lead to wet cigars.

I am an expert on solid surface humidors. This is certainly the case with them. Wood humidors, as long as there is some porosity, allowing the water to migrate from the source to the environment then you will be fine. This assumes that the environment (the ambient) represents a net dryer area than the humidor itself.

Looks like a great project.

Those little LED light kits are kinda' cool. I put one in one of my wife's antique curio cabinets. Don't leave them on all the time! Humidors will pick up heat from sources. So unless you keep your place cool enough to allow that heat to dissipate, electrical appliances, especially fans, lights and transformers (power supplies) will heat it up given time.

If the transformer is warm at idle, Warren (above) has given you good advice! You don't want heating elements inside humidors unless they are intentional and controlled.

Cheers! -Piggy

[Versus1ss]

[CanuckSARTech]

Looks like a great project.

I like the idea of the LED lights inside, if using glass inserts to seal off the front door. Agreed also with the box-inside-a-box approach; best for retaining the antique cabinet itself.

That Cigar Oasis unit might be just a bit much for the size of what you have there, but it all depends on how well you seal it up. I would definitely look at putting a 1/2 pound pack of RH Beads on each shelf to help buffer the RH.

Looks wonderful. Keep us updated. And thanks for sharing.