Dresser

[REN]

I’ve been wanting to construct a dresser for years. I’ll post progress as I go. Ash, Beech ordered from British Hardwoods ,and I’ll use the odd bit of oak that left over from other projects.
Here are the photos of sketches of the proposed dresser. I just use them as a guide and things may change as I go.

 

[rogxwhit]

It's genuinely refreshing to see pencil and paper being used, with no sign of Sketchbook tyranny! I know this is furniture, but if it was in the realm of joinery there would be no mention of centimetres - the British building trade eschews them and goes from mm to m directly - it saves a lot of confusion. Inches of course are fine, if a bit more laborious!

Interesting that you're mixing species. This could add life to the project. My observation is that native, or even temperate, hardwoods co-exist in a piece quite happily. I once saw something where the maker had laminated sycamore and mahogany and the result was jarringly ugly.

 

[recipio]

Beech is a very bland wood and never found in traditional furniture. You can use ash certainly but it's prominent grain makes it difficult to finish. Something close grained like cherry or maple/sycamore would look better IMO.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Beech is a very bland wood and never found in traditional furniture.

You might be surprised at how much beech was used in traditional furniture. A common one was to use beech as a basis for faking up mahogany, with reproduction chair frame parts, for one, being a pretty common use back in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Although I was already aware of this use the knowledge was reinforced during the time when furniture repairs and restorations were a significant element of my working life.

As to the proposed dresser, beech will work, of course, and it's true that it's sometimes rather bland, but that's not always the case. Slainte.

 

[Lorenzl]

British building trade eschews them and goes from mm to m directly

Engineering tends not to use cm either; my teacher said cm are for dress makers.

I work with university graduates and they always use microns and cm, it dives me up the wall. "Can you take 100 micons off this?"

It is funny as I am of the age of metric and imperial and others of my age I work with like me with tend to work with mm up to say 1m and the swap over to feet and inches.

 

[Adam W.]

Europeans work in centimeters and it confuses the hell out of me.

 

[REN]

Thanks for all comments.
Pencil and paper has always been my first choice (probably an age thing ) when planning a project. Didn’t want to get tied up learning new digital stuff. Also prefer to put the cash into the wood itself.
I do find that my first sizing / spacial awareness is in imperial measurements, again an age thing , although I am able to think ah! 150mm is 6 inches , 30 cent is 12 inches or so.
The plan is to paint the beech parts and show the ash as polished. I choose Ash and Beech because I’ve always worked in pine and MDF In the past to keep the cost down. Now I can stretch to the cost of hardwoods and am lucky enough to live near a great source of hardwood supplies ( British Hardwood , who deliver ) . I want to enjoy the experience of working with great timbers.
However, I didn’t bear in mind , just how heavy hardwoods are. I have loosely constructed the bottom section (photos soon) and am surprised at the effort required moving carcass off of one saw table on to another . I use a triton saw table for rough sawing and a kitty for precision cuts. The project is too big for my very old workmate, an original! So I use the Triton as my bench.

 

[rogxwhit]

Engineering tends not to use cm either; my teacher said cm are for dress makers.

Yes, dress makers, and people who buy furniture from Ikea ...

 

[REN]

An update on progress of the dresser. Only the bottom plinth and the side panels are glued, the rest are free to take apart. I do hate glueing , it always seems a fraught exercise. The draws are beech fronts and oak sides.

 

[REN]

Update.
Dovetails on draws finished, as yet unglued and no bottom. Just a bead on the front edge of the side panels to route (photo of the proposed bead test piece shown in the photo ). Then moving on to the bit of woodwork I hate, yes hate. Is it just me who hates this ? It always seems fraugh. Getting all the clamps on, keeping things square and wiping off excess glue. Have been putting glueing off for awhile now. Only the side panels and base plinth are so far glued.

 

[REN]

Photo of proposed

 

[REN]

My apologies for problems posting photos.

 

[rogxwhit]

Good to see the progress. Yes, glue-up can be stressful no matter how much forethought has been done. But take it on wilfully as a challenge that must be won! I think it's the only job during which I cannot be interrupted, and God help anyone who tries.

 

[REN]

Thank rogxwhit,
Yes, no interruptions ,clamps ready to hand . Jar an brush ready,
Managed this time to add the photo of the beading sample I intend to route (before glueing) on the side panel fronts and also where the two doors close together . Yet to make thee doors.

 

[rogxwhit]

Are you going to have that flat outboard of the bead on the final production? It seems an odd detail. And the result might be finer if the quirk was narrower ... it's often a downside with router cutters that you're limited to what's in the catalogue and what you have, compared to a spindle where you can quickly knock up a special ...

 

[REN]

Your right a smaller quirk would be much better. I am limited to the router bits I have available. Thanks, you have made me re-think. I will have a go at filing a cutter for a scratch hook I made awhile back for another job. The photo is of a glass door with bead that I’d like to copy.
Can’t seem to load photos. I wonder if I have to choose photos from library before writing. Will add the on the next reply.

 

[REN]

SScratch

 

[Jameshow]

Amazing project esp for a garage workshop!

Inspirational! Keep going!

 

[rogxwhit]

Yes the width of that door bead looks about right. It's a good plan visually if the quirk width matches the gap between the door leaves ...

 

[REN]

Made a start on a test piece. Fashioned a cutter which I will need to modify to reduce the quirk. Took an hour to scratch a shape which is a bit of a worry as the final project with the upper part of dresser included will require about 15 or so feet of scratching ! I’m lucky to have a patient nature, but the time required to complete the moulding is excessive.
Will have a look in the wealdon tool catalogue to see how much a router bit will cost.