Oak chest of draws.

[REN]

Photos of a oak chest of draws I made a couple of years ago. A lot of work and it took quite awhile in the making. I wanted to make something out of quality wood ,bit of a revolt against cheap MDF, chipboard mass production furniture. The oak came from BRITISH HARDWOODS, in Crosshills, near keighley. They let me sort through a stack of timber to find stable pieces showing nice figuring.

 

[philip sewell]

Nice piece Ren. What have you used for the drawer sides? They look a bit light for oak.
P.

 

[REN]

Sorry, should have given more details. Just simple well chosen pine. I thought it would contrast well. Was going to use beech, but didn’t have enough stock.
R

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Ah ........... a chest of drawers.

 

[philip sewell]

Ren.

This is only my opinion so disregard as you wish but you’ve made such a good job of this piece and you’ve used a quality hardwood.

Pine isn’t very hard wearing and over time those drawers will bind because the grooves have widened (I appreciate this will happen with a hardwood but a hardwood will wear much more slowly).

I don’t think it’s what any maker would use on a hand made piece especially having gone to the trouble of hand cut dovetails which also look very good. Pine to my mind doesn’t match the quality of the rest of the piece.

Please don’t be offended, as I say only my opinion.

Phil.
tooleypark.com
bespokehandmadeboxes.co.uk

 

[REN]

Yes, Phil I quite agree with you there’s no excuse I should have used better wood. What was I thinking? If I was making the draws again I would have made the effort to obtain better wood.
Absolutely no offence taken. In fact you remind me to stick to my rule that if it’s worth doing then do it properly!
I visit Japan mostly every year ( but obviously not at the moment). Seeing the amazing craftsmanship there makes me want to do my best, no matter how long it takes. It’s the result that counts.
It’s a good job I never had a career as a cabinet maker as I would never have made any money….far to slow working.
Roy

 

[pe2dave]

I love the proportions.

 

[Ollie78]

Ren.

This is only my opinion so disregard as you wish but you’ve made such a good job of this piece and you’ve used a quality hardwood.

Pine isn’t very hard wearing and over time those drawers will bind because the grooves have widened (I appreciate this will happen with a hardwood but a hardwood will wear much more slowly).

I don’t think it’s what any maker would use on a hand made piece especially having gone to the trouble of hand cut dovetails which also look very good. Pine to my mind doesn’t match the quality of the rest of the piece.

Please don’t be offended, as I say only my opinion.

Phil.
tooleypark.com
bespokehandmadeboxes.co.uk

A way to avoid the problem of the softwood wearing is to use a low friction UHMW plastic tape on either the runner or the wear surface of the drawer side.

I like the style of the chest, an unusual but pleasing proportion.

Ollie

 

[REN]

I have to be honest about the design. A trawl of the web some years ago turned up an American cabinet maker who had a similar design ,taller with an extra set of draws. Bigger overall in size. The cost was 6k dollars. Expensive but having made a similar one I understand the man hours involved to make one.
The draws run on walnut strips either size, which in time would be easy to replace if any wear occurs in the pine draw sides.
Roy.

 

[pe2dave]

A way to avoid the problem of the softwood wearing is to use a low friction UHMW plastic tape on either the runner or the wear surface of the drawer side.

Never heard of this @Ollie78 Any more info please?

 

[Ollie78]

Never heard of this @Ollie78 Any more info please?

It's just a low friction plastic tape with an adhesive backing.
Sometimes sold as slick tape or low friction tape.
It's quite thick and, well, really slippery.
Pretty handy for preventing wear, used in production lines and stuff.
I think Trend used to sell it for router tables.
3M definitely do one.

Ollie

 

[REN]

Good info on tape,thanks
I shall look for this tape. I think it might be useful to add it to my router ski jig to surface skim stock that’s too small to run through a thicknesser/ planer. Seem to be building more jigs these days.