Chest of Drawers Update

[woodguy1975]

Ok, guys and gals, I figured it is time for an update on the chest of drawers progress. You can read all about it on my website at

http://www.jsrwoodworking.com/index_files/Page840.htm

I've wrapped up the chest feet and base molding, completed the A/V cabinet doors, and started the process of making the crown molding for the chest.

Here are a couple pics of how the chest stands.

I've just got to shape the ogee profile to the top of the molding and the roundover to the bottom of the molding. You can see what the profile will look like. I finally got the shaper bits I needed. Since woodline put me on eternal backorder I had to go looking elsewhere. I found that Woodtek has the profiles I need and since WWS is close by I knew I would get the tooling before the weekend. They are far from the best bits, but they will be occasional use bits anyways. I have to use shaper bits because I need to invert the bit. Since a shaper bit can be inverted and spindle run in reverse it makes profiling the last bit of the crown very easy.

All 24 drawers have been fitted to perfection and sanded to 400 grit. All the is left to do is spray the drawer fronts and wax the drawer boxes. The top 4 drawers will get black velvet applied to the interiors.

Thanks,

John

 

[Monty]

Very nice -- the pics don't do justice!!!

 

[D L Ames]

Your COD is coming along nicely John.:icon_thum I really like the way the feet came out on it along with the base molding.

D L

 

[clowman]

The excitment is growing! I can't wait to see those doors on it. No.. wait, I can't wait to see the crown.. no.. I can't wait to see the finish... oh... I just can't wait. Superb work thus far John

 

[woodguy1975]

The excitment is growing! I can't wait to see those doors on it. No.. wait, I can't wait to see the crown.. no.. I can't wait to see the finish... oh... I just can't wait. Superb work thus far John

The customer was hoping for the chest for Mother's Day. I won't make that date, but I'll get it done before the end of May. All the hardware has been ordered with the exception of the hinges reorder. I found some nicer looking ones and am going to reorder those.

Thanks to everyone on the forum for the help on the feet. They really did come out perfect. The proportions with the center leg are just right.

Thanks,

John

 

[McRabbet]

John, All the effort you've put into this magnificent piece is really showing now -- the home stretch is always where the best come through! The legs are perfect for this chest and all of us will look for the finishing touches of hardware and finish. As Monty said, the pictures don't do it justice.

Rob

 

[NCPete]

That is one fine looking piece!

 

[JohnsonMBrandon]

Looking good John. Looks great!

 

[skeeter]

Looks great. Can't wait to see the finished piece.

 

[cskipper]

Excellent work, as always!

 

[cpowell]

Looking good, John.

You've made a lot of progress since I saw it the weekend of the Charlotte WW show.

I looked at the pics on your site and noticed the setup for the TS cove cut. When making the cut do you push the stock for the first half then pull it through? I've wanted to try that technique but have been hesitant because of the exposed blade and a clamped on fence. Still, the results look pretty darn good!

I also like the planer sled technique and will store that in my memory band for later on.

Can't wait to see the finished project pics.

Chuck

 

[woodguy1975]

Looking good, John.

You've made a lot of progress since I saw it the weekend of the Charlotte WW show.

I looked at the pics on your site and noticed the setup for the tablesaw cove cut. When making the cut do you push the stock for the first half then pull it through? I've wanted to try that technique but have been hesitant because of the exposed blade and a clamped on fence. Still, the results look pretty darn good!

I also like the planer sled technique and will store that in my memory band for later on.

Can't wait to see the finished project pics.

Chuck

Actually during the cove operation I used a specially made pushblock so I could push the good stock clear, cut off the saw, and the remove the pushblock. It is a little scary the first time you do it because the blade is exposed and it is not natural to go diagonally across the blade. It requires a lot of scraping after you do it, but it gets the job done.

The alternative was to get a molding head made for my W&H molder and use a similar sled setup to the planer. That is what I would have done already, but they didn't stock a profile that matched what I was looking for and I didn't have the timeline, by the time I got around to getting the tooling to wait for a custom set of knives. I also wasn't sure of the stabililty of the wedge bed. It was extremely stable through the planer. I have to admit next time I will get the knives made up. I completed the molding tonight and it looks good, but shaping the remaining profiles is not easy if your stock has any twist in it like mine did. I had a miscut and was able to work around it, but if it happened on the primary molding I would have had to buy more stock and start over.

With still some sanding and fine tuning remaining to the molding I have over 10 hrs in the crown. Definitely will do the custom knives thing next time.

Thanks,

John

 

[mshel]

John,

The chest is really coming along nicely. The molding on the base is right on the money and really sets off the feet. What kind of finish are you going to put on it. Natural, stained, dyed???? Can't wait to see the finished product.

MIke

 

[woodguy1975]

Re: Chest of Drawers Update (More Pics)

John,

The chest is really coming along nicely. The molding on the base is right on the money and really sets off the feet. What kind of finish are you going to put on it. Natural, stained, dyed???? Can't wait to see the finished product.

MIke

The chest is going to be finished natural. The process will be blonde shellac, gloss lacquer, and then flat lacquer. I don't want to build up with flat lacquer because the flatteners can obscure the grain slightly. Hopefully the shellac will pop the grain a little and make the figure and grain matching shine. I won't have time to oil this one. The customer was ready for it a month ago. :lol::lol::lol:

Here are a couple more pics of the crown as it was last night.

Thanks,

John

 

[dancam]

John,

Absolutely beautiful, your customer should be extremely happy with such a fine piece of furniture.

Thanks for sharing with us.

Dan C.:saw:

 

[DavidF]

Really lovely work John. I love the un-cluttered modern look of the drawers.

 

[JohnsonMBrandon]

Good work John. Looks like a lot of fun.

 

[woodguy1975]

Really lovely work John. I love the un-cluttered modern look of the drawers.

Hopefully it looks a little more period when they are done. The drawers now have edge treatment which is basically a roundover with a shoulder. Pretty common to Chippendale furniture. I hope this turns out to be a modern piece with historical stylings.

Thanks,

John

 

[D L Ames]

Looking good John. After you cut the cove on the TS for crown molding what other bits did you use to add the final profiles?

D L

 

[woodguy1975]

I used an Ogee 5/8" sash cutter inverted for the top profile and a 1/4" roundover inverted for the bottom profile. Inverting the profile lets me run the flat side of the molding against the table. You can buy special router bits from CMT designed by Lonnie Bird or you can buy shaper cutters and reverse the spindle as I did.

Thanks,

John