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.

I'm Back!

I want to apologize for my absence. I've been doing some repairs at a house in Utopia and haven't been able to get much shop time in the last week. I still have couple more days on the repair job but I hope to get some time this weekend to further the progress of the bench. Peggy has other projects for me also.

                                       This is the sunset Tuesday. Just another day in paradise!

I glued the outside legs a few days ago (I think last Saturday).This shows about what the arm will look like.

Glued the center legs yesterday evening.

And just to show you no one is perfect, I'll tell a short story about this picture. The seat has been wanting to curl up on me since I glued the 3 segments together. I had it clamped to the bench for several days hoping it would straighten and it kinda was. I went to the shop on Sunday to work a little and found that the seat had split on this joint. Not a pleasant sight, but I didn't freak out! I was able to completely separate the joint and using my #5 plane I made a very slight bevel on both pieces- about 1/16" to nothing. The outside legs were already glued on making clamping to the workbench difficult, but it worked well. I glued the 2 parts of the seat back together, re-worked the leg joints, and the seat is much straighter; so it was happy ending. Don't tell Ronny Miller!

This afternoon I was able to shape all the leg to seat joints. This is a before picture showing the plugs in the legs. Front and back outside legs are glued and screwed.

I primarily use a die grinder with a 1/2" sanding sleeve followed by sanding with the random orbit. I also have a 1/2" carbide grinding bit for the die grinder for heavier removal.

I also ground down the tenons on the center front legs.

A couple of after shots.

This whole process took about 4 hours this afternoon.

Back legs are done also. Next is the arms but probably not till the weekend. Jesse thanks for your comment. If you get a chance, send a picture of the cabinet you're going to do. If I can be of any help just let me know.