First Ever Piece of Furniture (All Neander, too)

[Matt Sauber]

I finally finished my first piece of bedroom furniture and my first ever real furniture project. Not a single electron was harmed while making this piece. There are definately mistakes but I learned a lot throughout the project. Pictures are attached.

I tried to simulate a Stickley finish and am happy with the results. I have a Stickley dresser on order and I'll compare the two finishes once it comes in a few weeks.

[Jim Neeley]

Very nicely done, Matt... and very inspirational to those of us just starting to learn the ways of the Force... :)

[george wilson]

That looks great!!!!:) You have handled all the surfaces very well,with no dubbing over of corners or other mistakes I can see. The dovetails look great.

[Joerg Bullmann]

Very very nice indeed! What's the wood? Is it oak?

Cheers,
Joerg

[john brenton]

That's a cool looking drawer pull. How did you manage the curve on the upper leg? That's pretty steep for an edge tool. Rasp?

[jamie shard]

Looks great! Nice finish, too.

[Pat Barry]

Very nice project! Where did you get the drawer pull? By the way, you can't really hurt those electrons anyway, and since there is a virtually infinite number of them you shouldn't be ashamed to use them to your own advantage where-ever possible.

[Deane Allinson]

Nice looking piece. It looks well crafted. I love white oak. It should last a couple of hundred years.
Deane

[Russell Johnson]

Very nice work. The dovetails look great. The finish really brought out the medullary grain fleck pattern of the wood.

[Mike Allen1010]

Beautiful work Matt! I really like the way your finish brings out the grain pattern in the Oak, particularly on the piece you selected for the drawer front. Congrats!

[Jim Koepke]

Very nice and a piece to be proud of for generations to come.

jtk

[Tony Shea]

Very nice peice indeed, especially for your first peice of real furniture. Other's, including my own, first attempts were not even close to the quality here. Just great. And love that QSWO you used on the peice, especially the drawer front.

[Zahid Naqvi]

you did good, the finish definitely came out nice

[Mike Davis NC]

Beautiful piece of furniture!

George,

What do you mean by "dubbing over" the corners?

[Maurice Metzger]

Nice, nice, and very nice! A fine looking piece.

[Federico Mena Quintero]

Beautiful! And do tell us about the finish; I'd love to have a piece with that look.

How did you join the middle shelf to the legs? Is it on 45 degree slots on each leg?

[Jon Toebbe]

Outstanding work! Is it a replica of an original Arts & Crafts design, or is it your own? If the latter, it really looks true to the aesthetic. The care you took in choosing the right piece of wood for each component is really evident. I'd be interested in hearing more about your finish recipe -- the figure really pops.

[Matt Sauber]

Thank you all for your positive feedback! Here are answers to the questions:

The wood is all quarter-sawn white oak - I didn't use any secondary wood. No particular reason why, I just didn't.

The drawer pull is from Rockler. I bought it on Amazon to get free shipping. It's the exact pull used on the Stickley dresser I ordered.
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=16744

I attached the middle shelf with a tenon joint I guess you would call it. I cut out the notches for the legs but left 1/3 of the thickness to slide into a mortise I cut in the leg. I didn't take the tenon all the way to the edge of the shelf so it would be hidden.

The design is based off a current Stickley piece. I modified it to be a little bit narrower. The Stickley is a little too wide for my taste.
http://www.stickley.com/OurProducts_Details.cfm?id=7491&Collection=Mission&cat1=89&view=all&finish=

The finish was similar to the Arts and Crafts Finish blog entry on Popular Woodworking here (http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/finishing/authentic-arts-crafts-finish). The finish didn't have enough red tint for my eye so I added a first coat of cherry. Here are the steps I used:
1.) Sand to 150 grit
2.) Rag on Minwax Cherry, wait 15-20 minutes and wipe off excess. Wait 24 hrs.
3.) Rag on Minwax Special Walnut, wait 15-20 minutes and wipe off excess. Wait 24 hrs.
4.) Rag on Watco Danish Oil Dark Walnut, wait 15-20 minutes and wipe off excess. Wait 72 hrs.
5.) Rag on a coat of Zinsser's Bulls Eye Amber Schellac. Wait 2 hrs.
6.) Rub schellac coat with nylon abrasive pad
7.) Apply Minwax Paste Finishing Wax with cheesecloth and buff to a shine

Thanks again for the positive feedback

[gary Zimmel]

Nicely done Matt. Very nicely done.

[Adam Cormier]

Well done, especially considering it was all neander.

[Matt Sauber]

How did you manage the curve on the upper leg? That's pretty steep for an edge tool. Rasp?

I used my rip saw for the long taper. Once I reached the transition to the curve I roughed it out with a fret saw and cleaned it up with a half-round wood file. I wish I had a rasp, that part would have been quicker.

[bob blakeborough]

Very nice... I like the style a lot!

[David Peterson]

Matt,
If there are mistakes in there, as you say, they sure don't show. It's a really handsome piece - the woodwork is fantastic. I hope the dresser that you have on order measures up!
I like the finish a lot. So many of the Stickley pieces I've seen are too dark and the grain is lost. You've found just the right balance. Big huzzah!

[Steve Branam]

Looks great! Very nice job on the drawer dovetails, I like the variable tails.