MBR Vanity

[glenn bradley]

Moving right along after the slab hallway table, it's the master bedroom vanity project. As usual I am starting the journal early so as to keep myself moving forward. The vanity will have a family resemblance to the MBR blanket chest and dressers but will be made from walnut. This is version zero which has passed muster with SWMBO.

The plan is for a wall mounted mirror over the top and a magnifying mirror for all of those mysterious things that our loved ones do when getting ready to go out . The drawers are still under discussion. This is a simple Hambridge graduation scale that may or may not get adjusted. Drawers will be overlay, not inset. Same height drawers got vetoed and I cannot say that I am unhappy about that. Graduated drawers have always looked better to me but, what do I know?

 

[glenn bradley]

OK, one of my favorite parts . . . material selection.

Checking the north wall rack.

Checking the west wall rack.

I think I have a couple of good contestants for the top. I would turn this into four boards and glue up the 48" x 23" top.

I am also considering resawing from a single board to get a figure match.

I better go have a cup of coffee before I get ahead of myself.

 

[glenn bradley]

Some drawer adjustments per the client's request.

Time to add / tweak some dimensions to the conceptual drawing and pull some more material.

 

[glenn bradley]

Here is where I usually start; an exploded diagram with general dimensions. This helps me select material and mark out blanks.

I keep a chalk holder in my apron.

This leg template is serving on its third project.

Legs have insides and outsides and lefts and rights so I'm generous with my layout info.

I am able to get the four legs . . .

. . . and I only leave this much spoil. Nearly all of it will be useful for something else.

Sometimes the trick is using the shape of the part to eliminate defects.

All bandsawn out; not perfect but, close enough to template route.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Watching! Curious as to why you chose to go with the beveled door fronts. Interesting detail.

 

[glenn bradley]

@Rennie Heuer - The vanity is physically and visually "between" the other bedroom fixtures. The cherry dressers have inset drawer fronts and the sapele headboard has beveled overlay drawer fronts. The walnut vanity will sort of bridge the gap visually and material-wise .

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Ahhhhh. I see.

 

[glenn bradley]

So, a little template routing.

When one side is done I tape the template and the blank to keep things aligned. Remember these are not cut to length yet. The length to the floor and to the top are set by the "shoulder" of the arc.

Here everyone is template cut.

The stop block references off the shoulder of the arc.

And now everyone is happy.

Oh sure, I feel all saucy right now but pretty soon the frame and panel and mortise and tenon work will start and things will really slow down

 

[glenn bradley]

I am trying to pull a lot of these smaller parts out of scraps from the off cut bin. I don't like to just mill usable material into saw dust so I will resaw wider pieces. The off cut can be used for inserts in "scrap boxes" that I often make between projects; especially near Christmas.

I was getting some sluggish feed rate at the planer. I realized I could not remember the last time I waxed this baby. Of course we ALWAYS unplug our machines prior to sticking our hands in the ugly parts.

I replaced the serrated outfeed roller on this machine with a rubber one some years ago. Just a bit of DNA and a paper towel take care of cleaning that up. Some Johnson's Paste Wax takes care of the bed.

All working well now. I finish milling the stiles for the side F&P sections.

Everybody cut to final dimensions. Time for the tenon and groove joinery.

The end tenons will interface into the upper and lower stiles. The grooves will accept the side panels.

 

[glenn bradley]

And on and on we go . . . My usual use of set up blocks for marking gauge settings.



The shop made depth gauge makes setting bit heights easy.

We were discussing this type of push block a while ago on another thread. Sorry, I lost track of it.

At any rate it makes keeping narrow pieces square to the fence easier.

I always have a dummy block or extra part to use for set ups.

Once I know where I am going I can run the balance of the parts through with confidence.

Same goes for opposing joinery cutter set up.

Always important to remember which face is your reference face.

That way everything lines up.

 

[glenn bradley]

Dust collector is back up and running so we're off . . . This is my typical setup for resawing things up to 8" or so.

I am resawing some spoil off of some 5/4 stock. I will use this spoil as veneer for the leg area of the vanity. It will be laminated to a plywood slab that will support the left side of the drawer guides.

Even though the stock I have is not what you would call rough-sawn it does vary in thickness more than would be usable as-is. Once resawn at the bandsaw I take the off cuts and drum sand them to a reasonably consistent thickness. I will vacuum these to a plywood substrate for the left side of the drawer carcass.

A few passes and I think I have enough for my needs. If I need a few more pieces or a better color match I have a rack of thin off cuts that I can draw from. This is where I am for now.

 

[glenn bradley]

I am trying to use up some shorts on this piece as there will be a lot of "secondary" material positions that will not show; inside or behind the drawer case and so forth. Here I am grooving the upper and lower rear stretchers to receive the back slats.

I use my standard resaw setup to cut some thinner stock from some odd cutoffs from a previous project. There are checks and splits but the size of the parts I need should be able to be taken from around the defects.

I believe I have enough here. Cut to rough length and being edge jointed before being ripped to width.

I rabbet alternate edges to allow a lap joinery on the vertical edges of the slats. Still not cut to final length. I want to be able to work around the defects as much as possible.

I have an old multi-beading bit I picked up at a woodworking show back in 2005. I cannot believe how much use I have gotten out of this thing.

This profile will echo the profile used on the headboard that will be in the same room.

The slats kind of go together like so.

Again I am using up scraps on this so will have to do a bit of fiddling with the color matching. I have a wide array of Transtint dyes so this is generally not a problem.

 

[glenn bradley]

Boy, that was a close one. I was using pieces of like milled scrap for setups. I boogered an end and so moved the stop block. Fortunately I noticed or all my slat prep would have ended up this short.

Got that resolved and now on to the router table to rabbet the ends of each slat.

You guys have seen my "bundle-o-sticks" before. I use these to let me quickly and reliably setup the spacing between back slats.

This gives me an actual measurement so I can prepare for assembly.

I will use the same sticks during assembly so everything should be same-same . Now I have to see about some of that color matching. I only really care about the pieces that will show in the knee space of the vanity sitting area. Some slats will be behind the drawer case and never seen. These are things I do on my own furniture that I never did when building for someone else. It is kind of liberating

 

[glenn bradley]

For lots of semi-identical parts I tend to use felt pen dots (although more than about 5 get problematic), alphabet, or roman numerals to keep things in order.

Once cut to final length I ended up with a batch of oddly decorative kindling for the fire pit.

I try to do the simple things first. Before I broke out the dye I tried some Watco Dark Walnut to color the really sappy slats; the two on the left, not the one on the right.

It seemed to do the trick. The piece on the left is Watco'd, the piece on the right is plain with a wipe of mineral spirits to simulate how it will look once the overall finish blend is applied.

Some other pieces were a bit more stubborn but a little Transtint dye took care of that.

They should even out well once the overall color and top coat is applied.

 

[glenn bradley]

Most of these are color matched well enough to take the colored next coats. The two on the left need no additional colorants at this stage.

I cut the top and bottom rear stretchers to final length.

When I cross cut the legs to final length I forgot to transfer the position marker so I had to do the "which leg goes where?" dance again.

I normally avoid using machine surfaces as work surfaces but I needed something long enough to let me get the clamp heads off the surface.

When I have to transfer markings on stair-stepped parts I will mark the thinner parts first. Then I slide a setup block up to that line.

I put some other thing like this little double square against the block and transfer the mark.

And you get this.

I setup these auto-adjust Bessey toggle clamps for use on the Domino Table some time ago.

With my advancing arthritis issues they have been a god send.

The "come and get it" wireless doorbell I have set up for LOML is ringing so I will take a break for a bit and then get back at it.

 

[glenn bradley]

I sometimes want Dominoes that are outside the usually available. They are easily and cheaply made out of scrap.

I do use TaylorTools commecrial Dominoes for standard sizes because they are well priced and easy.

I join the rear stretchers to the legs with 3 tenons at each joint.

Hmm, things are not lining up correctly???

I find that some of my panel spacers are not consistently 1/8". The cumulative error makes itself known. What's that old saying? Measure twice . . .
I fix that and move on to the stopped grooves that will accept the rear panel slats at the left and right legs.

Please, please, always make sure your machine is unplugged if your hands are going to be near the cutters during setup.

This is my usual for long stopped grooves.

That gets me here.

And the dry fit is now a success.

I will splash on some pre-finish to assure that no bare wood appears during seasonal wood movement. Then it is off to the oldest grandchilds football game and some lunch.

 

[glenn bradley]

Life intervened for a bit but in a good way; grandkid events and visits. I got the mortise and tenon joinery for the front legs and front stretcher done. The stretcher is quite thin to allow for one's legs to slide under the top when seated at the vanity. The lateral strength will come from the leg to side panel joinery which you will see soon.

This has come up now and then. When making straight cuts I don't really care if the guides are in play or not. A bit of effort during machine setup pays dividends down the road for a long, long, time.

Another example of the same thing. I am not trying to show anything in particular. It is just that if I am not cutting curves I really don't care about the guides.

We end up with a stack-o-blanks. Since they have been face jointed and then parallel planed you get to edge joint or rip to width "downhill" every time; no restrictions.

I always "witness mark" things. I am pretty sure I remember where I am but, I do get interrupted and witness marks let me know I have gotten to where I need to go when milling, hand planing, rasping, etc. A few pencil strokes are cheap insurance.

And here we are face jointed and planed as well as edge jointed.

I use some double-stacked feather boards for resawing. There are a lot of ways and products that help with this; pick your favorite.

I want 1/2" floating panels when I am done so I will resaw to 9/16".

Like so.

Again with the witness marks at the planer. I use the previously trued up faces as the reference surface for the planing after resaw.

Here is a great example of witness marks telling me that 17/32" is not enough. I adjust and forge ahead.

I end up with nice book-matched panels.

The wide ones will be on the outer end panels. The narrow ones will fill in the inner panel and I will end up with a matched pair to spare.

 

[glenn bradley]

Moving on to the frames for the side panels. I use a scrap of melamine hardboard that came from some commercial bathroom cabinet or something for a template. The yellow thing is one of a 4 or 5 piece template set I bought at a woodworking show way back when. The silly things come in handy way more often than I ever expected.

I use the spindle sander fence trick to help me make a nice smooth transition on this thing.

This will work.

I draw the curve with a white pencil.



Cut it out close on the bandsaw, use the spindle sander fence and end up here.

I am always surprised at how many parts go into our furniture.

I haven't even made the drawer case, drawer boxes, false fronts, or pulls yet.

 

[glenn bradley]

I know there are mixed reviews on these and there should be. Hand tools are very tactile; hand held powered routers are as well IMHO. What works for one may not be right for another but, I digress . . . . I love this Veritas medium shoulder plane. I do fit tenons with a chisel as well but I love me some shoulder plane .

Ruler stops come in a lot of flavors. I don't know if Garrett Wade still make theirs but, they are my favorite.

I find them really handy for centering things. I measure from one side and mark.

I measure from the other side and mark.

Even if I am off a bit.

I still have a very usable mark to keep me moving forward.

I like using chalk because as I move through the process I can remove the marks with a damp paper towel or rag and re-mark.

Here is a dry fit with the flush floating panels.

I am bushed. I think I am still experiencing food-coma hangover from turkey day. We'll see if I get anything more done today

 

[glenn bradley]

Not a lot of visible progress at this phase. Gluing up the side panels.

Check for square, always check for square.

Sorry this is blurry. This just shows the little blobs of silicone glue I put in the panel grooves to act as custom space balls. The silicone sets up very slowly so once you have glued up the frames you can micro-adjust the panels. The next day they are well set but still allowed to flex over the seasons.

This seems like a lot of clamps.

But I have a lot . . .

. . . and have developed the attitude that if I would like another pressure point on an assembly . . . why not