I have finally finished my first casegood; a wide, 6-drawer walnut dresser. As has been the case for the last year, I have asked this community many questions over the course of the project and been given excellent guidance, so to all who have helped answer my questions over the last 7-months – thank you. (yes, 7-months…I am no Fred P).
The dresser is 61” wide, 19” deep with 3-rows of drawers; 8” wide, 9” wide and 10” wide. The drawer sides as well as the drawer rails were made of “scrap” lumber (off-cuts, wormy lumber, etc” and as such are inconsistent but full of character.
The primary lumber was 4/4 rough sawn walnut with the secondary case wood being 4/4 rough poplar and the drawer bottoms were resawn 5/4 white cedar.
The drawers were made with half-blind dovetails on the Leigh D4 jig using custom spacing so that there were always 3 tails on each drawer of varying length.
I tried to simplify construction for the rails that the drawers slide on so rather than making complex sliding M&T joints I opted for half-laps with an extra deep shoulder to allow for seasonal movement of the case.
The finish is shellac with the first coat brushed on, then sanded level followed by HVLP applied platina schellc, one coat of orange shellac, then two final coats of platina shellac. These were all 1.25lb / gal cuts and were applied using the HF spray gun with good results. I then rubbed this finish out using 0000 steal wool with paste wax and mineral spirits for friction management. You can’t quite see the full detail in the photos but the result is a satin / semi-gloss finish that is full of figure, character and luminescence.
As I have only really been woodworking for around a year this project was filled with many firsts: first dovetails, first time with a shellac only finish, first time using HVLP, first tip to the ER :gar-Crand the first time I came up with an excuse to buy a Festool router:eusa_danc!
Below are some photos of the case construction as well as the drawers and the final piece…enjoy!
The dresser is 61” wide, 19” deep with 3-rows of drawers; 8” wide, 9” wide and 10” wide. The drawer sides as well as the drawer rails were made of “scrap” lumber (off-cuts, wormy lumber, etc” and as such are inconsistent but full of character.
The primary lumber was 4/4 rough sawn walnut with the secondary case wood being 4/4 rough poplar and the drawer bottoms were resawn 5/4 white cedar.
The drawers were made with half-blind dovetails on the Leigh D4 jig using custom spacing so that there were always 3 tails on each drawer of varying length.
I tried to simplify construction for the rails that the drawers slide on so rather than making complex sliding M&T joints I opted for half-laps with an extra deep shoulder to allow for seasonal movement of the case.
The finish is shellac with the first coat brushed on, then sanded level followed by HVLP applied platina schellc, one coat of orange shellac, then two final coats of platina shellac. These were all 1.25lb / gal cuts and were applied using the HF spray gun with good results. I then rubbed this finish out using 0000 steal wool with paste wax and mineral spirits for friction management. You can’t quite see the full detail in the photos but the result is a satin / semi-gloss finish that is full of figure, character and luminescence.
As I have only really been woodworking for around a year this project was filled with many firsts: first dovetails, first time with a shellac only finish, first time using HVLP, first tip to the ER :gar-Crand the first time I came up with an excuse to buy a Festool router:eusa_danc!
Below are some photos of the case construction as well as the drawers and the final piece…enjoy!
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