Dresser

[Carl Beckett]

A dresser I made for my #3 child. I inherited the wood and just put the walnut and spalted maple together. Doesnt suck too bad, even though I cheated a fair bit - in that the dividers between the drawers are pocket screwed into the sides (normally I would have dovetailed these in)

The drawers are the NK style with cherry runners, and they slide on a popular rail that extends from the dividers. They slide nice, but I am not sure how the popular will hold up over the years. (not all that concerned, given the surface area of this style of runner they see a pretty light bearing load)

The finish is laquer. Im not sure how well it will hold up, but I had never finished anything with laquer before so wanted to try it.

I did a matching toy chest at the same time but no pics yet - will post some when I get them taken.

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[David Christopher]

Carl, I dont think I could give that away.....very nice

[Ken Peluso]

Very nice indeed. Great detail shots too

[Andrew Gibson]

Absolutely beautiful!
One question, what is the puropose of the notch at the back?

[C Scott McDonald]

Awesome, love the top edge detail and color contrasts.

Well done Carl!

[Richard Link]

That is beautiful. A work of art. And very nice photography using the depth of field, etc.

Did you have any trouble dovetailing with the spalted wood? Any problems with punky wood during that portion or did you stabilize it with something?

Still laughing at your comment about "cheating" because you used pocket screws inside the carcass. Setting a pretty demanding standard there... Cheating would be (1) cutting out all the parts on a CNC router and then (2) hiring your neighbor to glue everything together. I hope your #3 child is an adult furniture museum curator to appreciate a piece like that one.

[Joe Shinall]

Carl that is absolutely amazing. The design itself is great, but the wood is absolutely stunning.

[John Keeton]

Absolutely a beautiful piece of work! Great wood selection with the spalted maple and walnut, and very good attention to details. The inlay on the top is just right - sometimes they can be too much, but you nailed that one.

Well done!!

[Carl Beckett]

I suppose you are right Richard. We are our own worst critics eh? But for the record, I am quite pleased with it. If anything I might suggest too much spalted look - usually like to use the spalted in smaller quantity for contrast. And, I originally wanted to come up with a wooden handle design, but decided instead to just finish the project and I put some handles on it from the big box store. I can always come back later and retro fit (unlikely I admit, more likely that I just build a new project to try a handle design for)

I used a Leigh Jig for the dovetails. The spalted wood is pretty soft, but clamping it down this way, with some relatively light cuts kept it from chipping out. Actually, the softness of it wasnt prone to chipout, as much as tearing when hand planing or more significantly just plain dents/impressions, so had to be careful when clamping or planing that there wasnt any debri under it or it would leave dents. The side panels were resawn and thickness to about 1/4 inch (to fit the slot made by the rail/stile cutter set), which is pretty thin but just a panel, and the fronts were rough 4/4 stock just cleaned up. You would want to keep something like the drawer fronts fairly thick for durability, as you suggest the spalted wood isnt as strong structurally.

Andrew, the notch at the lower back is to fit over hot water baseboard heat. This type of heat is common in New England and I wanted to be able to slide the dresser against the wall and have decent clearance . This is a subtle thing that takes some getting used to since moving here - that none of the furniture can fit up against a wall because most outside walls in particular have baseboard radiators around the bottom. It means everything sets away from the wall 3-4 inches.


:)

[gary Zimmel]

Very nice work on a beautiful dresser Carl.
Are you going to do any matching pieces for the room?

[Andrew Gibson]

Aah Makes perfect sense. I thought maybe you made it to go in a specific room/spot that had something like that... you know down here in FL we dont have a lot of heaters so I was having a hard time picturing what it would fit over :)

[glenn bradley]

Carl, I've looked at this several times and always seem to get distracted before I can post a comment. What a fun and striking piece. The photo-shoot location really shows it off. Great piece, thanks for posting the pics.

[Mark Valsi]

One of the nicest pieces shown here in quite a while.

Everything is great about it !!

[Paul Murphy]

Carl, I really like your dresser, and admire the care you took in arranging the grain of drawer fronts and panels. It's a joy to view such interesting work, thanks for sharing!

[Carl Beckett]

I did make a matching chest for this dresser. It comes with a story - which ties back into the dresser - the semi long version:

I got my step father started into woodworking several years ago - about 15 or so, which he took to well, and spent a lot of time after retirement building things. From a cross for the church, to cabinets, you name it. He would gather wood here and there (in top of a neighbors attic, etc as well as cut two or three trees that he had milled).

Every time I would visit (I live in MA, my mother and him lived in OH), we would make something together. A rocking chair one christmas, frames, boxes, etc etc. One early year they visited me when I was in WA state and drove a pickup truck full of rough cut lumber (red oak) from a tree he had taken down off the back of his property. We made a chest out of it - the first project we ever did together.

About three years ago he developed terminal cancer, and before he died I took a couple weeks off work and went to visit and we went on a 'toy chest' making spree. We made about a dozen in all - I dont even remember - it was one for each grandchild plus other children that were in his life and it seemed we just kept thinking of people to make one for, and each one was a different wood or wood combination. I have three children (his grandchildren) and we did one while there (oak), and I put the finish on one when I got home (tiger maple), and the final one never did get assembled and finished (we had the panels and top together, but just never finished it) - it was Walnut and spalted Maple.

Less than a year later he passed away, and left me whatever I wanted/could use out of his shop. I picked up a few items, including pretty much all the remaining wood from his barn. You will see one of my other posts showing the workbench I made from some Elm he had gotten from a friends tree, and there was a fair bit of spalted Maple, and some Walnut (what we had originally made one of the toy chests from).

So last fall I made a dresser out of it which is the one you see here. (the fall pictures are just outside my shop door). Well, about two/three weeks ago I actually finished the original 'toy chest' - and here it is. It matches the dresser and is a set for child #3.

Thanks for all the nice comments here. I enjoyed making them both and it and it comes with a story - as I find my more satisfying projects do.

:)

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[lowell holmes]

I've never appreciated spalted maple, but I do now. That is a great story, telling why we make things for our family.

[Jeff Monson]

Carl, great work, the dressor is really unique. Very touching story, and I'm sure you miss working with him. I'm sure he's smiling now looking at that chest and dressor. Very nice projects.