Finally: A chest of drawers!

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days but as you'll see I have made lots of progress.

Here is the picture I promised you in the last post. The case glued together with all the drawer runners.

I stained the drawer fronts before gluing leaving the inside parts of there drawer natural. I think it gives the piece a better look.

The deeper drawers require more clamps since the 1/2" poplar tends to cup a little.

Test fitting the completed drawers. Some of them require a little hand planing for smooth operation. I always wax the runners and bottom part of the drawers also.

I like this view.

I decided to put breadboard ends on the top. Not only does it look nice but it also helps keep the top nice and straight.

First you create the mortice and then the haunched tenon. The tenon is a little shorter than the mortice to allow for expansion across the width of the perpendicular top. The mortice is also a little deeper than the tenon is long.

This shows where I've marked for the square pegs on the breadboard. The pegs are functional since you use very little glue. Again for expansion and contraction.

First I drill a 1/4" hole and then square that hole with a chisel. Just the first 3/8" or so. I used a 5/16" peg,  rounded the end, then drove it in with a mallet.

After the glue dries I cut the pegs off then sanded them down. Makes a nice detail.

Here is the top stained and attached. I used 4 screws, one at each corner, again to allow for movement. The holes on the stretcher underneath were elongated. I also did a little edge treatment on the top with my shaper.

I used Watco dark walnut for the stain.

All done! I sprayed it with several coats of Sherwin-Williams Cab-Acrylic dull-rubbed laquer which has a satin sheen. I used their vinyl sealer as a sanding sealer. I ordered some new tips for my HVLP and the 1.0 worked great. Finishes have always been the toughest part for me but I think I have finally hit on the best combination of material and equipment. At least for me!

All that's left is the pulls which I ordered Wednesday. When those come in I'll post a picture of the chest in the house. Next up is Peggy's garden building which I'll start next week. Than Peggy's chest of drawers which is the same 'cept different. Stay tuned!

I'm back!

I've been busy the last few days working on the chest and it's time to post some progress. Once again I'll start with the weather report: It's great! Warm and sunny with just enough rain.

Here's all the pieces for the chest. All milled and morticed and tenoned.

Had to take 2 pictures to get it all in. Alder is the primary wood and poplar is the secondary.

Peggy helped me glue it together Sunday and it was definitely a 2 person job. This isn't the picture of the glue-up! I guess I forgot to take one. I'll post one of the carcass tomorrow. Sheesh!

Here it is with the drawer fronts all fit to the case. I spent today cutting and milling the drawer sides and backs and got all the dovetails cut. At the end of the day I started cutting and milling the material for the drawer bottoms. Should get that done tomorrow. I have to stain the drawer fronts before glueing the drawers together. Getting close!

And here is the first bluebonnet of the year! This is the plant that I posted the other day. Should be a really good year.

Stuff

Sorry I've been gone so long but I've been hard at work in the shop, working on the 2 bath cabinets as well as the 3 medicine cabinets.

Spent a few days making panels for the cabinets. The 2 drawer units are about 24" tall and 16" deep and 12" wide. Since you can't buy lumber that wide everything is glued up. 

Lots of panels.

This is the knotty alder for the 3 medicine cabs. Alder is very pretty and relatively inexpensive.

Since I had lots of dovetails to do I bought a new jig. It's the Leigh d4r pro. You can do variable spaced dovetails instead of being limited to specific drawer sizes. And as with any new tool there is a learning curve. I spent some time learning to use the jig and after a short period I was able to make some good joints. Should help with some up coming pieces I have to build.

These are some of the practice runs I did trying to dial in the jig; both through and half-blind dovetails.

This is the first effort at through dovetails on the jig.

This is the completed medicine cabs.

And the doors.

I decided to dovetail the cases on the drawer units and allow the joinery to show.

Here's a drawer dry fit.

Bottom of the drawer.

And a finished case.

Drawers done.

These will both get some castors on the bottom as per the customers request.

I'm going to put 3 coats of amber shellac and one coat of wax to give it an aged look. It's supposed to be really cold tomorrow so I might have to wait till Monday to finish. Have a great weekend!

Bench final and something new

Here it is: stained with Minwax red mahagony and one coat of oil. Over the next 5 or 6 days it will get 5 or 6 coats of my homemade wiping varnish. Should be ready to deliver by next weekend. I'll have to check Peggy's schedule to find out the best day to go.

Pretty sweet looking, huh?

This is the next project. Actually 2 of them. They are small drawer units for bathroom in Fredricksburg. One of the cases will have 2 equal drawers. The boxes are pretty simple but there are some details in these.

I have to match or compliment an existing antique the customer already has. It will be out of some knotty pine.

The drawers have these rabbeted drawer fronts with some half-blind dovetails.

There is molding to duplicate on the bottom as well as some rollers that will go on the bottom of the case.

Molding on the top also. These units will replace the plastic drawers you see in the background. Tomorrow I'll get started by glueing some panels together.  I also have 3 medicine chests that will be out of knotty alder. I have to draw those up tomorrow. Stick with me! Lots of stuff to build!

All I lack is finishing!

It's an old joke but in this case it's true. All I lack is staining and finish. I spent Friday fitting all the slats to the holes and Saturday doing all the sanding on the slats. 

Here's the bench dry fit

And 10 of the sanded slats.

Saturday evening I got the the first section glued together. I decided it would be easier to do one section at a time.

We had guests at the B&B this weekend so after breakfast Sunday I glued the second section together. After cleaning the shop (it was a mess) I glued the third section. I guess I didn't take a picture of that.

Since I've been talking about bluebonnets I thought I would show you how big the plants are getting. Very unusual for January.

No blooms yet but it won't be long.

And in other news, we had our first baseball practice yesterday! I am so ready for baseball! We practice at Schreiner  University in Kerrville. They are a Division 3 program with a new coaching staff and they have been very gracious in allowing a bunch of old guys a place to train.

This is Sammy. He pitches and plays second base.

Johnny getting some BP.

And here it is! First thing this morning I started shaping the head crests in the back.

Try to make it all flow together in away that makes sense.

Another view of the back.

Rear center leg joint.

I wondered for awhile the best way to blend the front. I kinda like this.

Center legs protrude just a little and then rounded.

Good view of that detail.

Nice lines.

Front leg joint.

Rear leg joint.

All of this shaping is done in the same manner as we have already talked about. Grinder, die grinder, rasps, and sanding. If you enjoy standing in one spot sanding for hours and hours, you will absolutely love doing this kind of chair.

Front center leg through tenon. This would have looked great with wedged tenon but I didn't think of that until just now! Next time. Tomorrow I'll go to Kerrville and get some stain and hopefully get it stained in the afternoon. I'll keep posting pictures of this till it's done.