dresser project

well, back at it again. i wasn't too happy with the side frames, and the way that the hand routed dadoes came out. so, i cut the parts for new sides, to a newer design that i liked better. got them planed and ready to go, when i decided to do the panels differently. i decided to go with bookmatched panels instead of plywood. also, found a good setup for the stacked dado blades for the thickness of the drawer frames.
 

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Coming along nicely Dan. I applaud your willingness to remake parts that didn't meet with your approval. I have finally learned that when something isn't quite right or goes just plain wrong that I am generally happier if I just stop and "make a new one" that is more like what I am really after. Thanks for taking the time for the detailed build journal and ride-a-long.
 
planed the panels down to a touch under .25", and did a test setup of the side. with that out of the way, glued up one side, then the other. next, the thinning out of the drawer frames.
 

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trimmed down the long rails on the drawer frames to 2 1/2". then cut all new stiles for the frames, and got them planed to thickness. now, what to do with the leftover frames? i had an idea...
 

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got a bit more out of the way today. glued up all 5 of the new frames, quite a bit lighter than the old ones.
 

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bit the bullet on this one, and set up the dado stack, and got the cut to right where i wanted it, snug, but with a touch of room. then i made certain that i did not cut the wrong side, and did the first cuts, and found that i had to do a repair on one of the sides. went on to do the second cut, and after the glue set up, did the other second cut. with that done, did the third, fourth, and when it came to the fifth cut, ran into a problem. the problem was the space between the feet. some times the woodworking gods smile upon us, and i found i had an odd bit of scrap that was the right width to be flush with the bottom of the feet, but had to be trimmed to fit. much to my surprise, it worked! now was the time to do a test assembly! remember that i said that some times the woodworking gods smile upon us, this time they laughed themselves sick. note, that all of the frames worked just fine with the test cut, not so with the real cuts. after a few hours of frustration, saying a few bad words, looking for an even bigger hammer, finally got the beast together. i guess i will be doing some light sanding with 80 grit, to take the ends down a cat hair. called it a night after this.
 

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second set
 

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with some time on my hands (so little of it mine today), i took some 80 grit to the ends of the frames, and now they fit like advertised. then, i went home and got the top, and sanded it on both sides. after that, applied the dye to the bottom (only the areas that will be seen), and the top. reassembled and set the top on the case, and gave it the coat of sanding sealer. pretty soon, all of the parts that need finishing, will be finished, and brought home for final assembly.
 

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start of today's fun, added a second coat of gel stain to the top. if it is nice out tomorrow, i'll be spraying the coat of seal coat. then in the next couple of days, the shellac.
 

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set up to spray outside today, and it worked really good. right up until the bubbles showed up. waited until they had set, and then sanded them down. only problem with that, is that they pulled the finish up, right to the dye level. now it turns out that it is a dark finish with a few hundred red spots. started to try to sand back to the bare wood, but not working very well. i was thinking about using the bottom of the top, then i remembered the inclusion, so that rules that out. any ideas on how to remove the shellac finish? i figure that if i get back to the bare wood, i can start the process over again. with that mess out of the way, i reassembled the case with the drawer frames in the right places, and got the measurements of the openings for the drawers.
 

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