MBR Vanity

glenn bradley · Sunday at 12:00 PM

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 · Sunday at 1:21 PM

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 · Monday at 9:11 AM

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 · Monday at 11:31 AM

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 · Monday at 12:26 PM

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

glenn bradley · Monday at 12:42 PM

@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

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Rennie Heuer · Monday at 1:26 PM

Ahhhhh. I see.

glenn bradley · Monday at 2:02 PM

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 · Tuesday at 12:44 PM

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.