Art Mulder
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- 3,383
- Location
- London, Ontario
Just a bit more than a year ago I finished a 9-drawer tall dresser for #1 son.
The plan, all along, was to make a twin of that dresser for #2 son. I had considered making both at once, as I know that I could save a lot of time on machine setup. But with a modest basement shop, I just didn't think I'd have the space to have two large carcasses on the go at once. I was also concerned about the size of the project just getting me down also.
In the end, it was a good thing, as I learned a few things with the first dresser which resulted in a change of plans for the 2nd dresser. The biggest change was that I made the dresser about 2 inches narrower. Let's just say that since Baltic Birch comes in 60x60" sheets, designing a drawer box that requires bottom pieces that are 30-1/2" wide just leads to many, many headaches (and wasted wood).
The other big change was using a vertical panel raising bit for cutting the drawer fronts, rather than a table-slaw sled/jig. That was discussed also in another FWW thread.
Anyways. At this point I'm basically finished. I'm just going to wait 5 days or so for the finish to cure/harden before putting on the knobs.
It is approximately 56-1/2" tall, by 32" wide, by 17" deep. The top, and rails and stiles are solid cherry. The side panel is maple plywood. The drawer fronts are solid maple. I wasn't that thrilled with the brush-on lacquer with the last dresser, so I uses shellac followed by my old-standby of WB Flecto Varathane on this.
One interesting tidbit was that the shellac was a leftover rattle-can of shellac from a previous small project. I wondered how well the rattle-can would work,and it worked very well. Heck of a lot easier and quicker, than the subsequent ~3 coats of brushed-on varathane.
Yes, that is some sapwood there in the back of the top. I built the top way back in the spring -- this was a long project with lots of pauses -- and I honestly can't recall if that was intentional or not. I wouldn't be surprised if it was intentional. It's almost above eye-level, and will likely almost always have stuff on it.
On the other hand I dug up an old photo of the top when it was being glued up:
And the sapwood is really hard to see. So it might have just been an accident. Wouldn't be the first time that I got surprised by how some cherry aged on me.
When it gets moved into the room, I'll take some more photos of the piece beside it's (Fraternal) twin.
I knew this would be a long project, so every time my 9yr old asked me when his dresser would be finished, I would tell him that he'd have it by Christmwas. Whew, made that deadline under the wire.
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ETA: Scroll down, it's finished now and "installed"
The plan, all along, was to make a twin of that dresser for #2 son. I had considered making both at once, as I know that I could save a lot of time on machine setup. But with a modest basement shop, I just didn't think I'd have the space to have two large carcasses on the go at once. I was also concerned about the size of the project just getting me down also.
In the end, it was a good thing, as I learned a few things with the first dresser which resulted in a change of plans for the 2nd dresser. The biggest change was that I made the dresser about 2 inches narrower. Let's just say that since Baltic Birch comes in 60x60" sheets, designing a drawer box that requires bottom pieces that are 30-1/2" wide just leads to many, many headaches (and wasted wood).
The other big change was using a vertical panel raising bit for cutting the drawer fronts, rather than a table-slaw sled/jig. That was discussed also in another FWW thread.
Anyways. At this point I'm basically finished. I'm just going to wait 5 days or so for the finish to cure/harden before putting on the knobs.
It is approximately 56-1/2" tall, by 32" wide, by 17" deep. The top, and rails and stiles are solid cherry. The side panel is maple plywood. The drawer fronts are solid maple. I wasn't that thrilled with the brush-on lacquer with the last dresser, so I uses shellac followed by my old-standby of WB Flecto Varathane on this.
One interesting tidbit was that the shellac was a leftover rattle-can of shellac from a previous small project. I wondered how well the rattle-can would work,and it worked very well. Heck of a lot easier and quicker, than the subsequent ~3 coats of brushed-on varathane.
Yes, that is some sapwood there in the back of the top. I built the top way back in the spring -- this was a long project with lots of pauses -- and I honestly can't recall if that was intentional or not. I wouldn't be surprised if it was intentional. It's almost above eye-level, and will likely almost always have stuff on it.
On the other hand I dug up an old photo of the top when it was being glued up:
And the sapwood is really hard to see. So it might have just been an accident. Wouldn't be the first time that I got surprised by how some cherry aged on me.
When it gets moved into the room, I'll take some more photos of the piece beside it's (Fraternal) twin.
I knew this would be a long project, so every time my 9yr old asked me when his dresser would be finished, I would tell him that he'd have it by Christmwas. Whew, made that deadline under the wire.
----
ETA: Scroll down, it's finished now and "installed"
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