Small Chest of Drawers

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MickCheese

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Almost finished this small chest of drawers. It began life as oak cupboard doors salvaged when we renewed the kitchen.
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I did not do a WIP as it was enough just to concentrate on the task in hand.

I decided I wanted a small set of drawers to hold my marking tools and maybe chisels.

The size was somewhat dictated by the size of the finished wood I could get from the doors. The stripes from the mismatched wood look much worse in the photographs than in the flesh.

It ended up 500mm x 270mm x 300mm tall.
IMG_5637a.jpg

The carcass is merely a dovetailed box, the drawer frames are set into groves into the sides. Everything is 10mm thick except for the drawer fronts which are 15mm. The size of the dovetails in the drawers were dictated by the fact the smallest chisel I have is ¼" wide. The dovetails in the carcass, I think are a little too chunky but I can live with them. I did make a small error when finishing the top with a ROS, on the top front right I just lingered a little too long and created a small depression that I then tried to fill but just made it worse than had I just left it. I may re-visit that and route in a new leading edge.
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On the first drawer I cut the dovetails then the groove to accept the drawer bottom into the front, then realised the grove will show at the sides so again some filler sorted them. On the others I made sure the bottom tail covered the groove.

I started with a plan to turn the feet and the drawer knobs but then found the knobs for 17p each from here so ordered 6 of each type and chose the flatter ones once I could actually see them, total bill £3.54.

http://www.tuxfordfurniturehardware...l-Knobs-for-Mirror-Drawers-Trinket-Boxes.html

Ordered Late Thursday, email on Friday to say despatched arrived on Saturday morning. So impressed with the service for such a small order, I had never used them before but will definitely use them again.

Finish is two coats of Fiddes Hard Wax Oil followed by a clear wax. Still need to finish the inside of the drawers.

Cost for the whole project was just the cost of the finish and the drawer knobs.

Just need some help with feet, I did turn these from mahogany but they just didn't look right. Not sure if it is the colour or the shape, I think it is both so I am thinking plain oak squares at each corner about 10mm high. Would welcome ideas.
IMG_5644a Foot.jpg

I would welcome your opinions on how I could have done better, although a long time DIYer I am still a novice at this type of stuff.

At the top I said this was to be a tool chest, well it looks like that may change as my wife has tried to nab it several times. I am pleased she is so enthusiastic about it as that actually says a lot. I am pleased with my efforts, I learnt a tremendous amount doing this and know that I could do a better job next time.
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Thanks for looking.

Mick
 

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xy mosian":1po4iivs said:
Well done! Well done! It looks good from here, but if I may have a look at stopped housings.

http://www.getwoodworking.com/news/article.asp?a=807

That aside it looks grand and you've got swimbo's approval too. Doesn't get much better than that.

xy

Yes, your right and I take that on board.

That was one of the lessons I take from this project. As it was supposed to be a 'tool chest' and utilitarian then I thought the full width housing would be OK but once I had them cut and fitted the drawer frames they just looked too raw.

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate them.

Mick
 
Nice job Mick, but....eeeeeeek!! is that strip of white stuff in the third pic the dreaded sap (you knew the comment was coming though :lol: :mrgreen: ) Looks good without the feet, finish the inside of the drawers with some Lemon Oil, available from Ax (nice stuff) Also on the pic where the drawer is on top of the unit, the framework that it runs in is visible, correctly done of course but as far as I can see there's no dustboard. It's not essential, but it's a nice feature to have a piece of thin stuff (usually a bit of 6mm ply) within the frame to act as a dustboard - Rob
 
Rob

That's not sap that's character! :lol:

Yes I will pay more attention to my choice of boards.

All started life as one of these
IMG_5654a.jpg

Either landscape or portrait so took a bit of cleaning up and the doors were not at all consistent in colour or grain pattern.

The camera really shows up every imperfection as the chest does not look as bad in the flesh.

You are right there is no dust boards, I did think about that and decided against it for a reason I now cannot remember, probably as it was more work. :wink:

I have really enjoyed doing this, my hand cut dovetails got so much better as I did each drawer. Strangely my half-laps were better then my through dovetails. By the last drawer they were fitting petty much from the saw.

I am now thinking about doing another similar one but this time in cherry and using what I learned doing this one to make it better.

Thanks for the feedback. I am very pleased with it and I know where I took short cuts or rushed something and they showed in the finished article.

Mick
 

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MickCheese":1p7rxryi said:
You are right there is no dust boards, I did think about that and decided against it for a reason I now cannot remember, probably as it was more work. :wink:

I have really enjoyed doing this, my hand cut dovetails got so much better as I did each drawer. Strangely my half-laps were better then my through dovetails. By the last drawer they were fitting petty much from the saw.

I am now thinking about doing another similar one but this time in cherry and using what I learned doing this one to make it better.

Thanks for the feedback. I am very pleased with it and I know where I took short cuts or rushed something and they showed in the finished article.

Mick
Dustboards aren't difficult to do, just run a shallow groove round the inside of the framework, doesn't have to be deep (say 4mm) as there's no load involved and then slide them in when it's assembled. This is a pic of the dustboard on a little elm cabinet I did a few years ago:

001SMALL-24.jpg


...and you can see the sort of thing I mean. 'Scuse the shot as it's not quite in focus :oops: The important thing to remember is that although the fixing of the dustboard/drawer runner assembly is fixed at the front (biscuit if memory serves) at the rear the drawer runner is screwed in place with a slot screw as the side of the cabinet is solid.

When you do the next one, take on board the learning experiences that you've gained making this one and try and build them (those positive experiences) into the following piece. It's something I try and do each time, but I don't always succeed...sometimes the job ends up going through the bandsaw :oops: as it just becomes a catalogue of cock- ups - Rob
 
This is a great project. I have the exact same door and drawer fronts in my kitchen that's being ripped out next year and I've been pondering what to (try to) turn them into. I'm looking forward to copying this if you don't mind :wink:, although I don't expect as good a result.

Rob....regards the dustboards... would the drawer fronts overlap the drawer bottom to fill the gap, and the dustboards then become a drawer stop? Or am I seeing it wrong?

Roy
 
doorframe":363lhvi3 said:
Rob....regards the dustboards... would the drawer fronts overlap the drawer bottom to fill the gap, and the dustboards then become a drawer stop? Or am I seeing it wrong?

Roy
Those black strips you can see in the shot are the drawer stops, sitting on top of the rail and just catch on the underside of the drawer front. The dustboards actually sit lower than the drawer rails that you can see in the pic...think of them as a sort of a plywood panel that's positioned in the middle of the rails. It's nothing fancy but adds a little extra if you're making a half-respectable piece - Rob
 
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