9-drawer tall dresser

[Jim Dunn]

Art I just ran some panels that also hung off the ends of my panel raising jig. I solved that problem by taping a piece of MDF to the panel jig and then clamping it in place so it wouldn't move. That way I had a much longer area to start and slide the panels along. Worked real well. I ran the panels by hand and didn't have to clamp them at all.

[Art Mulder]

3000 words... (or 3 pictures)

dresser-fin1.jpg dresser-fin2.jpg dresser-fin3.jpg

For a finish I tried something new and used Watco brushing lacquer -- I don't (yet) have any spray option. It went reasonably well, but the smell was very strong, good ventillation (and a respirator/mask -- which I used) is mandatory. Not sure if I'd use it again, but it went well.

There is a bit of colour variation on the drawers. I'm fine with that, as I think it adds a bit of character, shows that real wood is NOT 100% uniform. The top four drawers are a bit funny. Three of the drawer fronts were from one board, and the fourth was from another (considerably paler) board.

For anyone contemplating making one of these, I do have one bit of advice: make it about 1-1/2" narrower. I designed the overall dimensions, but didn't really work through all the secondary dimensions carefully. The result was that the drawer bottoms -- for the large drawers -- needed to be 30-1/2" wide. However, baltic birch comes in 60x60" sheets, and there is NO efficient way to get a 30-1/2" piece out of that! I "solved" that by running a strip of cherry down the middle of each drawer bottom. This gave some reinforcement for such a wide drawer (not sure if it was necessary or not, we'll see) and by dividing the drawer bases into two pieces each a bit less than 15" wide, it was much easier to use the baltic birch efficiently.

[Matt Meiser]

It turned out great Art. I really like the design as it is similar to what I envision building my dauther to match her bed and night stand.