Keezer Build - Walnut and Anigre

[perkins98]

OMG that is fabulous.. Now I wish I had a keezer instead of a fridge..

 

[Beer-lord]

Without a doubt, the best keezer I've seen yet! If your beer is as good as your handiwork, I want to be your best friend.

 

[SoonerDoc]

That is really impressive. Nicely done!

 

[skibumdc]

LOVE the piston assisted top opener.
I've had the same idea brewing in my head for my keezer project but couldn't figure how to mount the bottom knuckle. Your idea of using an extended bolt for the factory hinge to hold the piston is brilliant.
Oh....and that veneer is beautiful and $

 

[purplehaze]

Nanitebrewing, Great job on your keezer wish I had those wood working skills.

Got a couple of questions for you about the gas shock you used. I am working on my second keezer build and wanted to use shocks to hold the lid open.

Did the mounting brackets come with the shocks you used or did you have to order them separate?

Is there a reason you attached the shocks so far to the rear of the lid?

Some one else on the forum attached his shocks similar to yours and they ended up bending the rear frame of the freezer. It appears that they were pushing the lid backwards instead of lifting it. I was thinking of attaching mine more towards the front of the lid to prevent damage.

Again that is a sweet looking keezer.

 

[wilceaser]

Stunning!

 

[Nanitebrewing]

Thanks for the kind words.

As far as the springs: The mounting brackets were separate, purchased from the same vendor on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004716UFM/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00470ZMHU/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
They have several types.

As for position, I just kind of went with where they would fit well with the length extended and retracted as well as the open angle I wanted. I think any further forward and they would not open the lid far enough. I haven't noticed any flexing or bending. These spring are 80 pound rated, I'm not sure if that is each or the pair. I still need to give some lift to the lid, but not much and the best thing is that they stop the lid from falling backwards.

 

[Frodnetso]

Absolutely beautiful work!!!

 

[Xtant]

Beautiful. That keezer has more character than any piece of furniture I own. Great job...

 

[shuckit]

That's how it's done

 

[buckley28]

The veneering of the panels and getting the curves of the legs laid out just right took some time, but I really like the how it turned out.

How did you get the bends in the wood? Also, what kind of wood for both materials?

I just showed this to my wife as I'm getting ready to build our keeper for the dinning room. She loves your build...now gotta figure out how to do the curves. Thinking maple, oak, pine or poplar.

 

[Nanitebrewing]

How did you get the bends in the wood? Also, what kind of wood for both materials?

I just showed this to my wife as I'm getting ready to build our keeper for the dinning room. She loves your build...now gotta figure out how to do the curves. Thinking maple, oak, pine or poplar.

The legs are not actually bent, but cut out of a larger blank - It was 5" wide and the leg width is 2" only the curve. I first made a template on the band saw and smoothed it out with a sander. I used the template to make all the legs the same - rough cut on the bandsaw and used a pattern cutting bit on the router table with the template to fine cut to the template.

The curved side panels are just fitted into a a groove in the legs cut with a router bit and guide. With the veneering, it stiffened the panels up so there were a lot of F-bombs dropped when I was bending the panels to fit them in the grooves.

As for woods - I love maple, especially with some figure - you may want to steer away from soft woods like pine or poplar for durability. Personally, I am not an oak fan, but it is a nice wood. Depends on what the suppliers in your area carry and if you have access to a planer. Maple and cherry should be accessible, CVG fir can make a beautiful panel.

I guess I didn't take many pictures of the leg build, but here is one of the blanks.

I hope your build goes well, and I'm more than happy to give any help you need.

 

[grfrazee]

Sorry if I missed it in the thread, but would you mind sharing how much this project cost?

That anigre is stunning.

 

[Nanitebrewing]

Sorry if I missed it in the thread, but would you mind sharing how much this project cost?

That anigre is stunning.

I can't say... my wife may read this.

But I think around $700 for the materials, wood, parts. etc. $350 freezer, maybe $500 for taps and hardware mostly that I already had.

 

[DLG]

Beautiful keezer. Can you tell me any tips for the veneer process. Im building a bar and was looking at some bubinga wood veneer for the top and possibly inside some panels.

Thanks

DLG

 

[BeardedIdiot]

Holy hellfire! That may take the cake as the most beautiful keezer on HBT (at least that I've seen so far). I bow down to your woodworking skills my man.

You should post some pictures of other furniture that you've built, since you said this piece needed to fit in with the rest...

 

[WhiteEagle1]

You dod a Damn good job on this project dude!

 

[Nanitebrewing]

Beautiful keezer. Can you tell me any tips for the veneer process. Im building a bar and was looking at some bubinga wood veneer for the top and possibly inside some panels.

Thanks

DLG

Veneering is tricky, I'd get a book at the library or something to read through. I use the 'cold press' technique where you slather the veneer in the cold press glue, attach it to the plywood substrate, and squeeze the air bubbles out. You them sandwich that between two thick sheets of plywood (with wax paper between so you don't glue your veneer to them) and clamp the hell out of it using cauls that are rounded in the middle so that the pressure starts in the center and pushes the excess glue out. See picture.

You also need to make sure the edges of each sheet of veneer are straight and even. I clamp the sheets between two pieces of wood and run it over the jointer. Then you need to tape the sheets together using veneer tape. All a lot of work.

There are vacuum presses that are handy, but expensive. It is basically a big bag you put the glued veneered substrate in and suck all the air out to squeeze the veneer down while the glue dries.

Hope that helps some.

 

[BeardedIdiot]

That's a lot of clamps...

 

[Xtant]

That's a lot of clamps...

It is.

I would also agree that he's created the most beautiful keezer on HBT...

 

[rekoob]

DUDE!!!! holy crap that is one heck of a fantastic job! you Sir just set the standard a bit higher for anyone wanting to create work of art!

AWESOME JOB!

 

[Phyrst]

Absolutely amazing. I'm in envy of your wood working skills. If I could do that I think I would quit my day job and just build keezers all day to be sold on Ebay. I bet you could easily fetch $3000 for something like that.

 

[Nanitebrewing]

Absolutely amazing. I'm in envy of your wood working skills. If I could do that I think I would quit my day job and just build keezers all day to be sold on Ebay. I bet you could easily fetch $3000 for something like that.

The materials cost was around $1500, I probably have 60+ plus hours into it as well. I'd need to get at least $5000 out of it to make it worthwhile.
Granted a scaled down or simpler version could be made for less.

I do dream of building these for a living but, I've got another business to run.

 

[emjay]

How does one pronounce anigre? In my head it sounds extremely inappropriate.

 

[RumRiverBrewer]

Your're a Pro. What a work of art. Thanks for sharing!

 

[SpookyAlmond]

ah-knee-gray is how ive been reading it. Beautiful build btw.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Holy hell Nanite.....that is beautiful! Fantastic work.....one of the best I have seen.

 

[Grayskyrider]

Now that you have been using this for a couple years, have you had any problems associated with the build? Anything you would change if you had it to do over?