Sunday, March 11, 2018

Bedroom Chest of Drawers in the white

Slow and steady progress on the chest of drawers for the past couple months. Today, I've got it pretty close to ready for the milk paint. overall dims are 59,1/2" L 32,1/2" H and 20" D.

This began in sketchup initially. The idea was something very very simple where I could learn about frame/panel casework with a hard-to-do-for-me interior webbing to hold 9 total drawers. it has to hold our non-hanging clothing, and have the smallest possible volume for our bedroom. I chose poplar because it's cheap and works fairly easily, and will be painted using a thin black-on-red painting schedule with a oil topcoat.

I was negligent taking photos of progress up to here. just picture 400 board feet of poplar getting milled and cut to final dims and a few draw-bore m&t joints

here we see the lower rail piece, along with the interior webbing layers mortised into the sides. I created 1" tenons on the webbing pieces to draw-bore the whole assembly together. it works pretty well and requires no supplemental clamping. I wish I had decided to do this for the bottom rail members as well, but it did not occur to me at the time.

notice the little stubble tenons on the top of the 4 posts. these will receive the top of the carcass! indeed, I wanted to avoid having any sort of skirt around the top, and instead use the top as a structural member. it adds a lot of worry to the overall build but I like the reduction of stuff going into this assembly.

here I've put together the vertical webbing materials, which will be attached to the horizontal members via stopped dadoes that were not easy to set up on the tablesaw. Also a first glimpse of the top. I camber my finest Japanese smoother to lightly scallop the top captured panels and add a pleasant texture to the top.

now is the worrisome business of through tenons from the posts into the top. tape helps to clearly show where to place the cut

here's an interesting shot of the underside of the top. mortices cut, dadoes also cut for vertical drawer webbing.

notice the sides where the panels need to be let in. I used a track saw with a guide to make these cuts. worked OK, better than minding a screaming router!

here, I've glued the top into place and made it permanent with some splayed wedges. ain't going anywhere now!

Now fitting the vertical webbing into place. I just used glue to hold them in.

So begins the DRAWER SAGA. I 1/2" side and back thickness mated to 3/4" fronts using thru-dovetails on the back, and half blind in front. worked okay but they were kind of gappy.

an old cheap-o 1/2" chisel that I re-ground to help beaver out half-blind DTs (-:

I really wanted to try some carved/inset handles for the drawer pulls. my process would be to carve out a recess in the drawer fronts, and then glue an exterior shell that could be carved in-situ. I prototyped a few at first. the totally smoothed ones were OK, but in the end, Sarah and I wanted something a bit more faceted, so I opted for the latter style. it was easier to make for sure, but the facets are kind of pleasing to hold onto, as opposed to a perfectly smooth piece.

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