Chest on Chest Project

[Ernie Hobbs]

Hi. I thought I'd post a few pictures of the project I'm working on right now. I wanted to learn to do hand dovetails and I promised my wife several years ago that I'd make her a new chest of drawers. For the lower chest, I have copied a typical 18th century Chippendale chest of drawers. The upper chest is my own design (since there weren't too many TV's in the 18th cenury). It is basically a combination of an upper portion of a highboy and a clothes press. This is my first attempt at a case piece so I am learning new skills with every step.

As you can see, in the pictures, I have a lot of work left to do. Along with lots of sanding on the drawer fronts, I need to put the moldings on the top and between chests, and put on the hardware. Also, there will be doors on the upper chest that swing 270 degrees for the TV. All dovetails are hand done and other joints are Mortise and tenon. I'll post more picture as I get closer to completion. I have about what adds up about two weeks of into it so far. Wood is african mahogany and yellow pine for secondary wood. The lower chest is darker than the upper because I did that in January and it has darkened in the shop.

Let me know what you think.

[Jim Becker]

If those are hand-cut dovetails, they are totally amazing! Wonderful work, Ernie.

Your comment about TVs and 18th century furniture is interesting. Technology is finally catching up to a point where accomodating modern AV gear has less impact on the design and scale of a piece--you no longer need deep cabinetry to accomodate the screen given the availablity of flat LCD and plasma devices at continually falling prices.

[Todd Burch]

Ernie, from here, the dovetails look pretty good! It's coming along nicely. Are you going to cap the upper piece off with some crown or other moulding?

[lou sansone]

excellent work.... SYP for the drawer sides? just wondering


lou

[Ernie Hobbs]

Thanks for the kind words.

Todd: Yes, there will be a crown molding at the top and another molding between the two cabinets (for the upper chest to rest in). The next thing to do is the moldings so I'll take a picture when I get it done.
Lou: The drawer sides, bottoms, and cabinet backs are southern yellow pine.
Jim: I made the cabinet deep enough to accomodate the TV that we now have on top of my wife's dresser. I assume that one day we will upgrade to a newer version, hence the additional width allowed and not any more depth than necessary. As it is, I am barely going to have enough room to get the TV in there.

[John Miliunas]

HAND cut dovetails?! Ernie, you oughta' be teaching class somewhere on that! Great job and the rest of it is certainly coming along nicely, as well! Keep us posted on progress.

[Doug Cowan]

Very nice work Ernie, your dovetails look great. The fact that you went with SYP panels for the drawer bottoms really shows the attention to detail and care you are putting into it. I have a 7 drawer chest on chest on my to do list, so I will be looking forward to seeing your updates.

[Doug Shepard]

Great job on the DTs. The whole project looks real good so far. It'll be nice to see the finished pics.

[Byron Trantham]

Dove tails done by hand!? If the case turns out to be totally unacceptable the dovetails will save it! You have done a great job here. Nice job!

[Mark Singer]

First this is a very nice design! Second the workmanship and dovetails are excellent!

[Ernie Hobbs]

Thanks. I appreciate the vote of confidence.

For all these years, I have always been a little afraid of dovetails. For some reason, I didn't think my skills were up to that level of craftsmanship, so I avoided projects that called for them. However, once I learned how (my Dad showed me how in January), I found dovetails to be fairly easy and fun to do. I don't think I'm interested in getting a dovetail jig, since it really didn't take long to do them. It would take about as long to set up a jig as it did to do them by hand. All you need is a good hand saw, sliding t-bevel, a few marking gauges, a square, a few good chisels, and a mortiser.

[George Matthews]

I don't think I'm interested in getting a dovetail jig, since it really didn't take long to do them. It would take about as long to set up a jig as it did to do them by hand. All you need is a good hand saw, sliding t-bevel, a few marking gauges, a square, a few good chisels, and a mortiser.

Plus skill, and you have demonstrated that!

[Corey Hallagan]

Very nice work Ernie! That is going to be a beautiful piece! Can't wait to see the finished product.

Corey