Coopering — think of a barrel with individual staves joined together — is an efficient and interesting way to create three dimensional curved forms. We will work with straight staves, bevel them along their long edges to fit tightly against their neighbors, to build an elegant curved corner cabinet with a curved door. We will also fashion some moldings for our cabinets, and if you are really ambitious, you can build in a drawer too.

Construction of the cabinet before the staves are fit is not complex. It’s essentially glued and screwed together from the back, which is completely hidden once the cabinet is hung. I would strongly suggest you follow my plans the first time you build with this technique; for the next one you can taper the staves and see what challenges you run into. 

The basic cabinet has a single shelf (or two and maybe a drawer between them), a top, and bottom. The rest of the case is three parts — two sides, and a narrow back. Beveling and fitting each stave is where the real work of the week lies.