Organizing & Cleaning My Gun Cabinet
If you're like me, you may let certain things go, saying oh I'll get around to that but I don't have time today. It's called procrastination, which is a natural way to regulate happiness by avoiding something unpleasant. But when it comes to my gun cabinet, I have a habit of putting more things in there than I take out and sooner or later that will catch up to you and you will be forced to take action.
None of my guns are "Safe Queens" and they all are loaded. But I take good care of my guns, whether I'm at the range shooting them or storing them until the next time I get one out to carry or shoot. As I sit here writing, I look across the room and marvel at how much better it looks. I feel real satisfaction with a job well done.
There was only one way to organize my gun cabinet. I was going to need a bigger cabinet, or a second cabinet to store all of my accessories and ammunition in. I knew that a second cabinet would work better for me, so I began looking. A friend of mine has an Antique Auction business where he liquidates estates about six times per year and it just so happened that he had an auction coming up.
Now I realize at first glance one might think, "that doesn't look like a storage cabinet for gun boxes, magazines, speed-loaders, extra grips, holsters, gun tools, ammunition and other gun related items." It is true. This cabinet was not designed for my specific purpose, but I love it and it actually does what I needed very well. Tip: Never, ever think for a minute that you can store your gun stuff in a closet that is shared with your wife. Just don't try it. Unless it's long-gun boxes stored on a really high shelf.
Believe it or not, I know where everything is. My wife is a clean freak, but she stays away from my gun cabinet. Once a year I will take everything out and clean and organize as I put it back in the cabinet. This system works for me, at least until I accumulate more stuff than my cabinet can possibly hold.
Finding just the right cabinet for your guns and accessories can be a challenge, but there are some really great cabinets and storage safes available on Amazon if you prefer modern and you really don't want to spend a small fortune. And if security is a concern, you just about have to go modern.
How cool is this? Very cool in my opinion, as unconventional as it might be. I'm just getting things settled in and figuring out what will work best, but I can already say that I'm enjoying this cabinet very much. In fact, I can say with confidence that I believe the French are as good at making cabinets as Americans are at making guns. At least back in the day when this was made. Think of the quality that has allowed this cabinet to reach the ripe old age of 150 years old and still look and function like this!
Get a second cabinet... for all of the stuff that was crowding my guns. So I went to an antique auction and bought this beauty. You could probably guess that the guy that loves old guns would also love an old cabinet to store his gun related stuff in.
My entire weekend was taken up with this project, but I enjoyed every minute! And I'm really pleased with the end result. We are two weeks away from a Presidential Election and I have to say that this project provided a distraction that has been very good.
One reader suggested that my new cabinet is a Semainier Chest...
A semainier is a French Ladies Lingerie Chest and would have seven drawers, one for each day of the week. As you can see my cabinet has six drawers, but two of them are replaced with a hidden Secretary, so no, it's not a semainier! The French word "semaine" literally means "week" and a Semainier Chest must have seven drawers, one for each day of the week.
Escritoire Bureau? Perhaps, but I like to call it my Gun Stuff Cabinet. Out of curiosity I researched it a bit and found an almost identical piece not in nearly as good condition as mine located in Sofia, Bulgaria that was labeled 19th Century French Marble-Top Secretaire Bronze Decoration Napoleon III Period.
Secretary can describe an entire piece or just a section of a piece of furniture. Technically, the term secretary only describes a section of this piece of case furniture and is not a term to describe the complete piece of furniture like the antique dealer in Bulgaria is doing. I found a second one in Vero Beach, Florida but the condition was terrible. Antique cabinets are like old guns, in that if you have to rebuild, replace parts and refinish you lose a lot of the value.
One reader inquired about where to get the acrylic handgun display stands, so here's a link to the Countertop Gun Display Clear Acrylic.
