9-drawer tall dresser -- FINISHED

Art

Just caught up on the project, it looks great! No one mentioned the obvious alternative of a stool until the kids hit their growth spurt! Probably better than them climbing on the bottom drawers to get to the top ones. :D

Are you getting any father son shop time as part of the project?

Jay
 
Almost there...

Arggh, don't you hate projects that drag on?

First there was the little matter of summer vacation. Then there was another project that needed to get bumped to the head of the line. Then there was just other stuff going on in life to prevent me from getting at this one...

But we're almost there. I finished mounting the drawer faces this weekend. And let me tell you, this is the last time I do raised panels on the table saw!!! (I've done it before on one or two and it was ok, though things burned a bit here and there. But on a big job like this - 9 drawer faces! It was a bear and a half.)
dresser1.jpg

Note the colouration on the top four drawers... as you can see, three of the drawers came from one board of maple, and are noticeably darker than the fourth drawer, which came from a different board. Oh well, that's the fun in working with wood. I expect that to mellow a bit with age and eventually not be so noticeable.

I need to wrap trim around the top, and around the bottom, and Bob's Yer Uncle. Okay, not really. Since I don't spray, I'm sure that it'll still take me a not inconsiderable amount of shop time to get the finish applied.

...art
 
3000 words... (or 3 pictures)
dresser-fin1.jpg dresser-fin2.jpg dresser-fin3.jpg

For a finish I tried something new and used Watco brushing lacquer -- I don't (yet) have any spray option. It went reasonably well, but the smell was very strong, good ventillation (and a respirator/mask -- which I used) is mandatory. Not sure if I'd use it again, it was a bit "sticky" for brushing. I should have maybe thinned it a bit.

There is a bit of colour variation on the drawers. I'm fine with that, as I think it adds a bit of character, shows that real wood is NOT 100% uniform. The top four drawers are a bit funny. Three of the drawer fronts were from one board, and the fourth was from another (considerably paler) board.

For anyone contemplating making one of these, I do have one bit of advice: make it about 1-1/2" narrower. I designed the overall dimensions, but didn't really work through all the secondary dimensions carefully. The result was that the drawer bottoms -- for the large drawers -- needed to be 30-1/2" wide. However, baltic birch comes in 60x60" sheets, and there is NO efficient way to get a 30-1/2" piece out of that! :bang: I "solved" that by running a strip of cherry down the middle of each drawer bottom. This gave some reinforcement for such a wide drawer (not sure if it was necessary or not, we'll see) and by dividing the drawer bases into two pieces each a bit less than 15" wide, it was much easier to use the baltic birch efficiently.
 
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Hi Art :wave:,
I have been waiting for this one.
It has turned out very nicely.
I appreciate your base projection on the sides and the front. Your drawer fronts work so very well as do the green turquoise knobs. Your side walls are handsome too. Worth signing your name and the date somewhere and if you choose, a note on the wood as to the purpose of this piece, then clear cote over your message. do it soon or you may forget.
Worth waiting for. :D
Shaz :)
 
I appreciate your base projection on the sides and the front. Your drawer fronts work so very well as do the green turquoise knobs. Your side walls are handsome too. Worth signing your name and the date somewhere and if you choose, a note on the wood as to the purpose of this piece, then clear cote over your message. do it soon or you may forget.

Base projection? :huh:

The knobs are ceramic ones from LVT...
02w1641s1b.jpg
We gave our son a few choices -- Many knobs are quite pricey, especially when you need 18 of them !!! -- and he actually picked out something that we thought was pretty classy. I half-thought he'd go for the bright plastic colours.

And I sign and date everything. Usually on the back or bottom or somewhere inconspicuous. In this case, I signed the back. Moreover, since I wasn't that thrilled with the brushing lacquer, I just covered the back with lacquer as well, since I was just using up the can. So my name should stay there for the life of this piece.

best,
...art
 

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