English-Made Gun Cabinets, Shipped Worldwide
Gun cabinets and gun room joinery hand-made in our Suffolk workshop and shipped to Europe, the United States and beyond. English cabinetmaking, in English oak, walnut and mahogany.
Why an English cabinet
The English gun trade is the reason people want an English cabinet. The guns themselves come from a tradition that is unarguably ours, and a great many collections outside this country contain English guns. It is a natural instinct to want the case to come from the same place.
It is also a question of craft. What we make is furniture first: quarter-sawn oak showing medullary ray, walnut book-matched across a pair of doors, mahogany under French polish, mouldings and cornices drawn to the proportions of the room. That is cabinetmaking of a kind that is increasingly hard to buy anywhere, and it is what we do every day.
And unlike almost everybody in this category we publish our specification and our prices. If you are commissioning from three thousand miles away, knowing exactly what you are getting matters considerably more than it does from thirty.
How an overseas commission works
It begins the same way as any other: send us your gun list, photographs of the room, and dimensions. From that we can give a realistic price before anybody commits to anything.
Drawings follow. Because we cannot drop in for a second look, overseas commissions are drawn in more detail than domestic ones, and we would rather over-communicate at that stage than discover a problem after a container has sailed. Full-size setting-out is done on the workshop wall exactly as it is for a Suffolk job.
The piece is made, finished and fitted out complete in Suffolk. Where a cabinet has to break down for shipping we design the joints for it from the outset, so it goes together on site without compromise rather than being cut about at the last minute.
Crating is made to suit the piece. Everything is documented for customs, and we work with freight partners who handle furniture rather than general cargo. The difference matters when the contents are hand-polished.
Shipping to the United States
We have freight partners handling shipments to the US, and an English-made gun cabinet is a straightforward thing to send. It is the shipping of furniture, not of firearms.
One point stated plainly: firearms storage law in the United States is a matter for federal, state and sometimes local regulation, and it varies considerably from one state to another. We are English cabinetmakers. We do not advise on US requirements, and nothing we make is offered as compliant with any US standard.
What we do is build to a specification we publish and you can check: steel over 2mm throughout the lined carcass, laminated anti-bandit glass from 21.5mm where doors are glazed, folded steel doors, and five-lever mortice locks to BS 3621, which is a British standard. If your state or your insurer requires something specific, tell us at the drawing stage and we will say honestly whether we can meet it.
There is a second route worth knowing about. For a number of overseas clients the right answer has been our cabinetmaking built around a security unit sourced locally, so the certification is the one their insurer recognises and the furniture is English. Two rules apply as they do at home: the unit stays fixed to the structure of the building, and our joinery never obstructs its locking or its fixings.
Europe and further afield
For Europe we will generally deliver and install ourselves, in the same way we do in the UK. It is a longer journey and it is priced accordingly, but the advantage is that the people who made the piece are the people who fit it.
Where that is not practical we ship, and provide setting-out drawings and fixing details for a local joiner, staying on the end of a telephone while it goes in. We would always rather do the fitting; where we cannot, we make sure whoever does has everything they need.
We also work in the superyacht sector, which has taught us a great deal about joinery that has to travel, go through an opening it barely fits, and then survive movement and humidity once installed. Those habits carry across directly to export work.
If you are somewhere we have not mentioned, ask. We have sent work a long way.
What travels
Glazed cabinets
Dentil cornices and fluted pilasters in quarter-sawn oak.
Antiqued finishes
Finished so a new piece sits with older furniture rather than against it.
Fitted runs
Larger runs designed to break down for shipping and reassemble on site.
Wellington chests
Cartridge and accessory storage, matched to the cabinet.
Solid timber
Fielded and arched panels in the English tradition.
Interiors
Racks drawn around the collection, whatever it contains.
Questions we are asked
Can you really ship a gun cabinet to the United States?
Yes. We work with freight partners who handle furniture rather than general cargo. Everything is crated to suit the piece and documented for customs. A cabinet is furniture: this is the shipping of joinery, not of firearms.
Will it meet the requirements where I live?
We do not advise on requirements outside the UK, and we will not claim compliance with standards we have not tested against. What we publish is exactly what we build. Tell us what your state, country or insurer requires at the drawing stage and we will tell you honestly whether we can meet it.
Can you build around a security unit I buy locally?
Yes, and for a number of overseas clients that has been the right answer. You get certification your insurer recognises and English cabinetmaking around it. The unit stays fixed to the structure, and our joinery never obstructs its locking or its fixings.
Do you install overseas?
In Europe, usually yes. Further afield we ship and provide setting-out and fixing details for a local joiner, and stay available while it goes in. We would always rather fit it ourselves.
How much does shipping add?
It depends on destination, size and whether we travel. We quote it as a separate, visible figure rather than burying it, so you can see what the piece costs and what the logistics cost.
How long does an overseas commission take?
Longer than a domestic one, mostly at the drawing stage rather than in the workshop. Allow a few months from first contact, and more for a fitted run. Starting the conversation early costs nothing.
All gun cabinets
What we make, what it costs and how a commission runs.
The specification
Steel, anti-bandit glass, locks and fixings, published in full.
International clients and yachts
Our wider work for overseas clients and the superyacht sector.
Send us your gun list
Send your gun list, photographs and dimensions, and we will come back with a drawing, a price and a shipping figure.
Start a commissionFurther reading: gun room security, and what the rules actually say (UK). Requirements outside the United Kingdom vary and are a matter for your own regulator and insurer.