media stand part 7: I didn't think there would be this many parts

Things are looking pretty good on the media stand, despite the actual mess I'm making in the shop.

I didn't have big enough plywood scraps to fit on the bottom of the drawers, so I picked up a $5 piece of hardboard instead. It's not as sturdy, so I used some scrap to make cleats for the board to rest on and cut the board to fit in the bottom.

With the table saw I probably should have cut a grove into each board to set a bottom into but this will work just as well. And will be a little sturdier too, that hardboard is not hard at all.

The middle is screwed, corners just glued.

Glued the board down to the cleats with cans to weigh it down.

And an hour later, viola.

It's ugly if you look at it from the bottom, but I don't think that's ever going to happen so who the fuck cares.  Plus, there's enough board left over to cover the back of the drawer openings like real furniture. Nice.

With the drawers basically ready, I trimmed a 1x12 to cover all three bottom openings and attach the corresponding sections to each drawer. I stained them to match everything else and eventually they'll get poly. The middle section is getting hinges to fold out instead of a drawer. I don't know what we're going to be keeping in this other than batteries but we're going to have plenty of room.

I also picked up a triple coat polyurethane thinking it would help make a sturdier finish vs putting on individual poly coats, and so far I'm not sure what I think.

It's definitely thicker than what I've used before.

I've put three coats on so far, and even though it's pretty smooth I'm not crazy about the satin finish. Oh well. I'm still loving how this has come together overall, but talk to me after I've figured out how to get those face pieces on the drawers.