After getting bit by the cigar hobby I found myself needing a humidor. Humidors are wooden boxes. I'm a hobbyist woodworker, so why purchase something I could make myself? And while I'm at it, why not make 4 or 5 of these babies, and give them away as gifts? So I did. It took me about 130 hours to create the 5 humidors (I am not fast) but they are beautiful, aren't they?
To start, I referenced the classic Fine Woodworking article (I think authored by Daniel Marshall) and watched some videos on how to do corner banding. I designed my own version, bought some nice African Mahogany, Spanish Cedar, and Wenge lumber, dug out some quilted maple and a bit of 1960's walnut paneling from my woodpile, and went to town.
The external dimensions ended up as 14"W x 9-1/4"D x 5-7/8"H. It'll hold maybe ~60 cigars, though ~40 seems to be the best for consistent humidification and crowd control. The quadrant hinges are from Brusso and fully 1/8" thick solid brass; I built these humidors to my usual bench-mark: They must last 200 years. Once finished and seasoned with the Bóveda seasoning packs, I put one into service for my own infused sticks and it's holding dead-on at an rH of 65%.
In some of the pictures you'll notice one of the humidors has a 1960's panel top instead of quilted maple. Large sheets of this paneling were removed from the living room of a good friends' home during a remodel earlier in 2015. I took some of that panel and worked it into the lid of his humidor as a Christmas present. He was of course amazed. "Why is it called 'Uvezian Vault'?" he asked, to which I replied: "The 'Uvezian' part is to honor the cigar that awakened me to the hobby -- a cigar you gave me -- the Avo XO Notturno. The 'Vault' part just sounded cool."
So there you have it; hope you enjoyed the woodwork porn.