A Chest of Drawers

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

dzj

Established Member
Joined
29 Jan 2013
Messages
1,942
Reaction score
3,971
Location
Serbia
I built this chest of drawers over a period of a few months, when I had nothing better (more lucrative) to do in the shop.
I thought it might be interesting as a broad-stroked summary of steps necessary to build a traditional (5-6-7-8) CoD. It’s not a historically accurate reproduction, as the construction of the drawers is of a later date and the drawer dividers are also a more ‘modern’ take on the matter.
Regarding wood, I used European Walnut for the carcass, Spruce and Poplar as secondary wood.
The drawer fronts and feet are Walnut veneer on Walnut substrate. Cedar of Lebanon would’ve been nice for the drawer bottoms, but unfortunately, none was to be found.
I used machines, power and hand tools, whichever got the job done with greater speed and less effort. Sadly, I had to cut the drawer and carcass dovetails by hand.
 

Attachments

  • 10.jpg
    10.jpg
    36.7 KB · Views: 510
  • 09.jpg
    09.jpg
    53.1 KB · Views: 511
  • 08.jpg
    08.jpg
    52 KB · Views: 510
  • 07.jpg
    07.jpg
    46.1 KB · Views: 511
  • 06.jpg
    06.jpg
    69.4 KB · Views: 510
  • 05.jpg
    05.jpg
    82.8 KB · Views: 510
  • 04.jpg
    04.jpg
    58.7 KB · Views: 510
  • 03.jpg
    03.jpg
    43.7 KB · Views: 511
  • 02.jpg
    02.jpg
    50.2 KB · Views: 511
  • 01.jpg
    01.jpg
    29.2 KB · Views: 510
...
 

Attachments

  • 29.jpg
    29.jpg
    44 KB · Views: 494
  • 28.jpg
    28.jpg
    46.3 KB · Views: 494
  • 27.jpg
    27.jpg
    45.1 KB · Views: 493
  • 26.jpg
    26.jpg
    59 KB · Views: 493
  • 25.jpg
    25.jpg
    55 KB · Views: 494
  • 24.jpg
    24.jpg
    45.1 KB · Views: 494
  • 23.jpg
    23.jpg
    48.1 KB · Views: 494
  • 22.jpg
    22.jpg
    45.6 KB · Views: 493
  • 21.jpg
    21.jpg
    59 KB · Views: 493
  • 20.jpg
    20.jpg
    67.9 KB · Views: 494
The photos could’ve been better and I certainly missed photographing a step or two, but on the whole, I think it’ll be a good enough deterrent to anyone considering making something similar. :)
 

Attachments

  • 38.jpg
    38.jpg
    84.1 KB · Views: 493
  • 37.jpg
    37.jpg
    52.6 KB · Views: 493
  • 36.jpg
    36.jpg
    64.9 KB · Views: 493
  • 35.jpg
    35.jpg
    55.4 KB · Views: 492
  • 34.jpg
    34.jpg
    47.5 KB · Views: 492
  • 33.jpg
    33.jpg
    50.1 KB · Views: 493
  • 32.jpg
    32.jpg
    54.5 KB · Views: 493
  • 31.jpg
    31.jpg
    68.1 KB · Views: 493
  • 30.jpg
    30.jpg
    57.5 KB · Views: 493
Wow, that's lovely! Proper construction, carefully selected real wood.

May I ask if it's for yourself or as a commercial job? Over here I get the impression that the market for a new piece like this is tiny - we still have so many good old pieces that can be bought for less than the cost of the materials.
 
A commercial job. Rare as hen's teeth.
There's a lot of Biedermeier, Alt Deutch, Viennese Secession, but few pieces like this.
Often times, as you say, can be bought for less than the cost of the materials.
 
Many thanks for this dzj. A beautiful piece of furniture. Just by coincidence I'm in the very early stages of building one myself and am uncertain of certain elements of the design. The details you show in your photos are a huge help.

John
 
Nice job, well constructed. On a piece like that, I would have used oak as a secondary timber for the less 'showy' interior parts, particularly for components that wear such as drawer sides and runners - Rob
 
woodbloke66":2xyd6dku said:
Nice job, well constructed. On a piece like that, I would have used oak as a secondary timber for the less 'showy' interior parts, particularly for components that wear such as drawer sides and runners - Rob

I had offered to use Oak, but this was what the client could afford.

Regarding the use of Oak for drawer linings. Historically, it was done on upper-end pieces, although, a quick search of online galleries, will show that there's a few deal-lined pieces still around.
It is interesting though, this question of wear you mention.
If both the interior and exterior wood is of a harder variety, there would be less wear, but it would be equally distributed. Over time, this would mean 'saddles' might form in the corners of drawer openings and they are a pain to repair. On the other hand, when Pine meets hardwood, the drawer sides will wear and that's an easy fix.
Can't say what's better. If I was making the piece for myself, I'd probably go for Oak. :)
 
Back
Top