Chock full of Greene Dresser

[Rennie Heuer]

I have a client in CA who is a big admirer of Greene and Greene. He'd like me to build an entire house full of furniture for him but he does not have an unlimited budget - wish he did! So, when I do build a piece for him he wants to include as many Greene features as possible in the design. In this case it is a dresser. For a dresser it is not really large, measuring only about 32" tall, 44" wide and 16" deep. It is based on the Fremont chest of drawers designed by Darrell Peart (in fact I purchased the video course and a full set of template through Mark Spagnulo - the Wood Whisperer). So far the course has been very interesting and informative.



I essentially cut off the two bottom drawers of Peart's design along with shrinking the overall dimensions. I can use the purchased templates to make new templates that scale to my design. In the end the only design elements that are left that are taken from the original design is the cloud lift drawer divider, front rail, and the top portion of the legs - and even those are modified to a degree. Then, to top it all off, we added a mirror.



The design my client settled on includes elements from the Gamble house, the Blacker house, a Japanese Tori gate, and even a little Stickley. We joke that I would be hard pressed to find a place to add another detail! The crest rail on the mirror is fashioned after a Tori gate. The trim on the end panels is from an exterior detail on the Gamble house. The waterfall legs and mirror supports as well as those little brackets supporting the shelves all come from the Blacker house. The tsuba shape of the top is from the Gamble house dining table and the slots cut in the back splash is something ink can be found in several A&C designs including Greene and Stickley. The top has ebony and copper accents.

The entire piece is walnut and walnut veneer plywood with the exception of the crest rail which is Koa. The 'medallion' below the crest rail will hold a small authentic Tiffany tile.

 

[Tom Niemi]

This will be a fun follow along

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Construction started with the legs. They are from 8/4 stock. I had to cut the arched bracket into the top of the leg prior to adding the waterfall detail. The waterfall detail is added on a router table with the help of a specialized jig I built. After routing the full length profile I added the waterfall but had to modify the jig as I forgot about the bracket - so I cut out a little. Oh well.





Quite pleased with the outcome and very pleased with the new router bit - a 1/2' radius double bearing pattern bit with an angled cutter so it slices rather than chops and allows my to route 'uphill'.

 

[Leo Voisine]

So - This is an EXCLUSIVE Winding Winer Workshop custom design by Rennie Heuer of Family Woodworking.

This is a One and Only design not available anywhere else on this planet.

I am HONORED to have a small tiny presence in the final product.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Next step in the process is to add the side rails to the legs for form the end panel sub assemblies. The first order of business was to create downsized jigs from those I purchased. For the cloud lift detail I simply shifted the center line 1" in either direction.


I traced out one side of the pattern 1" offset to the right, then offset it to the left and traced the other half. Then, after band sawing the waste I used the same approach to routing the final shape. Now, since there is a bottom stretcher that has the cloud lift on both top and bottom, and I wanted a 1" offset between top and bottom, I simply used the full sized template to make a 'negative' template.



Rails and stretchers done.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

So - This is an EXCLUSIVE Winding Winer Workshop custom design by Rennie Heuer of Family Woodworking.

This is a One and Only design not available anywhere else on this planet.

I am HONORED to have a small tiny presence in the final product.

I was saving your accolades till I got to the end trim, but, hey, credit where credit is due!

 

[Robert Horky]

Looking good and will be watching it progress.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Got the front and rear rails done yesterday. The process of making the templates for routing the profiles was similar to the sides but this time I had to stretch the profile rather than shrink it.

 

[glenn bradley]

Moving right along. Are the rails joined to the corner verticals with floating tennons?

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Moving right along. Are the rails joined to the corner verticals with floating tennons?

The cloud lift rail will be. Since the other divider rails are notched around the leg I can't domino those to the leg. A shortfall in the planning. Looking at options. Pocket hole on the underside of the rail is one.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Another project to mark as favorite to come back to it.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Today was sub assembly day. Got the back and the end panels done. I'm really please with how this project is going. Perhaps I learned something on some of the previous projects.

Also please with the $90 per sheet 1/4" walnut veneer ply. Some nice grain matching. BTW- The back is upside down in the clamps. Since the back is the back, I really did not make an attempt to balance the grain.

 

[Tom Niemi]

Love that book match in the first pic, awesome

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Love that book match in the first pic, awesome

It’s duplicated on the other end as well!

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Finished up the end panel assemblies today. First order of business was to make the Gamble trim. I re-sawed some walnut to about 3/8" thick (thickness was not really important. I just wanted it as thick as possible) and then glued them into panels. Leo was kind enough to laser cut a template for me. Once glued I used my drum sander to flatten them. Final thickness comes later.


I double sided taped the template to each panel then cut away the waste with the band saw.


Then I could take it to the router table and, using a 1/4" spiral flush trim bit, get to the final shape.


Once they were both done I gave the face side a 3/32" round over before heading back to the drum sander. I carefully sanded down the backs of each piece till it was a little under 1/4" thick.

Shout out to Glenn for the advice on using E6000 adhesive. Sticks like nobody's business and it will stay pliable enough to withstand a little wood movement.

 

[Tom Niemi]

Those are awesome Rennie

 

[David Johnson]

Wow what a talent. I see all kinds of mistakes I could make. Very nice Rennie.
David

 

[Robert Horky]

Great detail. Excellent execution. Lots of team support.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Been a while since I updated this thread. Mostly because I have been slogging my way through the drawers. As you might imagine Those cloud lift drawer fronts are a challenge. I finally got them all in place and even. The under mount slides were nearly as challenging as the drawers themselves. These are from Lee Valley. Not my favorites, but the choices for 14” undermounts is somewhat limited.

Here is a pic of the fronts just set in place. I took this prior to several days of work getting it all to fit.


One of the challenges was the top drawers. Because of their shape the slides need to be mounted on two different planes. I thought I had this problem licked by adding a ‘false’ bottom on the taller side. Looked great on paper. When I went to install the hardware on the drawer the shortsightedness of my plan became glaringly obvious.


As you can see the hardware was not going to clear the drawer dividers. Time for some serious WWGD.

The solution I came up with was to eliminate that part of the hardware and screw the slide directly to the drawer. Knowing I would be taking this out a dozen times making adjustments I decided to use a threaded insert fr the attachment. Final adjustments on that side are made with shims.


Not everything is a challenge. Here’s the end with a coat of oil.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

I also got started on the top. It has a copper inlay and ebony accents. First the copper. I got this handy little base from Tool Curve. It rides in my track saw track. Tolerance is pretty good and it slides smoothly in the track. I used it to plow the 1/8” x 1/8” groove for the copper.


There is also an ebony spline at each corner, purely cosmetic. The router with the 5/16” wing slot cutter was just too tippy and finding a lime marked on the top to start and end the cut was just not practical. So, in the continuing saga of a loaf of bread is the mother of the airplane, I came up with this ugly jig. It self squares on the top, limits the travel of of the router, and supports the router base. Worked great.