Pics of Neander chest on chest build – drawer beading and finishing

[Mike Allen1010]

I'm almost done with a cherry chest-on-chest I have been building since Thanksgiving that is taken from plans in Glenn Huey's excellent book "building early American furniture". I scaled the original down by 25% and added a solid top and some carvings. I described by progress in previous posts and wanted to share the latest progress.

This is my first casework with cock beading added to the drawers. I neglected to take any pictures, but the biggest lesson I learned is the initial build/fitting of the pocket drawers doesn't need to be as tight as I typically shoot for because when you add the cock beading as a final step you can taper it slightly so it completely fills any gaps and provides a nice piston fit. Secondly, with this strategy you can completely finish the cock beading prior to assembly (which is especially beneficial if you want to dye/stain the beading a contrasting color like I did).

Since I didn't learn this lesson until after the fact (opps!), I had to plane the beading after adding it to the drawers to get a nice fit. This turned out to be a PITA because the planning of course remove the finish and I had to mask the drawer fronts to re-dye the beading. I used transtint black in a 50% lacquer thinner /50% denatured alcohol mixture and I got some bleed through around the masking tape (which I'm just pretending doesn't exist). They're not kidding about "dye", as it permanently colors whatever it touches – leads to several days of black fingers if you have any holes in your gloves! you'll get to explain to everyone that "no, I didn't just vote in a third world election":).

Final sizing/fitting of the Poplar drawer bottoms is one of my favorite hand tool exercises – lots of sawing/planning to the line. Here's the drawer building set up in my shop:

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Here are the shop built layout tools I use – the long square makes laying out crosscuts in wide materials much easier.
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I try to avoid measuring whenever possible as 50% chance all screw up the math. To size the thickness of drawer bottoms to fit the grooves In the drawers I use these – the sliding ruler saying it from Lee Valley and is one of the most used tools in my shop, I have to and I can really use another one. They make laying out multiple parallel lines for moldings, rabbits and M&T simple.
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I have a quick release tail vise two rows of dog holes which works very well for me for planning panels. I can plane the bevels on both sides of the drawer bottoms with one set up.
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For planning end grain on wide panels I prefer orienting the stock vertically in my face vice with dead man. The Lee Valley BU is my favorite "block plane" for this job. Cutting a quick notch with a knife usually eliminates any spelching without having to use a backing board.

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I leave the drawer bottoms deeper than necessary and plane to final fit after assembly. This is a job where having both pull and push planes set up to take nice fat shavings really speeds things up.
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I typically use screws in slots to attach drawer bottoms to the drawer back to allow for wood movement, however in this case I was too lazy and went with some very small brads. The group will keep the drawer bottom in place over time and there's enough room for expansion in the drawer front group and bend in the brads that I hope I don't have a problem with this. Based on some of. Furniture I've seen, think this is pretty typical.
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More pictures below

[Mike Allen1010]

Here's some pictures of the assembled drawers after finishing. I experimented with a couple different dies but finally ended up going with Watco "cherry" oil /varnish mixture, which turned out to be too red, so I added several other coats of walnut till I got the shade I was looking for. I like the oil varnish mixture because I think it highlights the figure.

The surface finish is blonde shellac (Note to self: 1) New shellac flakes mashed up in a mortar and pestle dissolve a lot easier than old flakes just dumped in. 2) Always make more shellac than you think you need because it sucks to run out in the middle of the project and have to wait for a new batch to dissolve. Finally added some paste wax which in these pictures hadn't dried hard enough to buff out cleanly.
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Finally here's some pictures of the assembled chest. All that remains is to add the hardware, re-saw some cedar for drawer bottom linings and add the back. Once it's done I'll have to wait for one of my boys to get home from school to help me carry it upstairs, then I'll finally be able to replace the plastic bins the LOML gave me when we moved in and I asked her if I could have a drawer in her embarrassingly large number of wardrobes/dressers:)!

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Thanks for looking, Mike

[David Weaver]

Looking good, Mike! That's a serious piece of furniture!

(by the way, I appreciate the serious lack of end grain, and I'm not saying that just to be a twit - mouldings and such are just so much more pleasing to the eye)

[Brett Robson]

Beautiful job! I love the dyed beading - it really sets off the drawers!

[Pat Barry]

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Mike
Gorgeous piece Mike. I love this picture.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Nicely done Mike!!!! Where are you getting the hardware from, and what style?

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Absolutely love it. Well done.

[Steve Voigt]

Sure looks good, Mike.
When you post the final pictures, I hope you will include links back to all the previous entries in this series. When I have some time, I'd love to read through it, start to finish.

[Chris Griggs]

Incredible!

[Patrick McCarthy]

Not nearly as industrial and impervious to water as the plastic bins, but other than that minor shortcoming . . ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. Mike, very nicely done. VERY, very nice.

So, just curious, whatcha gonna do when she says "Honey, when are you going to make a matching one for me?". I suppose you could offer to return the plastic bin, but would not recommend it . . unless you want to be sleeping on the couch . . . . I am thinking you'd better order some more wood for her double dresser . . . . . and then, of course, the bedside tables, and she will need a dressing/make-up table as well.

Excellent work my friend; you put my humble efforts to shame. Congrats and hope to see you soon. patrick

[Daniel Rode]

I've been watching with interest since you started posting your progress. It's a gorgeous piece. It's a pleasure to see your results as they emerge.

[Mike Allen1010]

Thanks guys I very much appreciate your generous comments.


David, as I mentioned in the post I saw this chest with plans in Glenn Huey's book "building early American furniture". I am absolutely horrible at design and prefer copying existing pieces of furniture designed by someone far more competent than me, so the credit for the lack of end grain goes to Glenn.

The original I think is about 7' tall. I scaled the height and width down proportionately (it's about eye level for me and I'm 6'1") and added the solid wood top because, well… I have to have someplace to put my keys:).


Brett, the original has the cockbeading around the drawers, but no separate finish/coloration. I took a risk dyeing it black, which is certainly outside my comfort zone, but I have to say I think it turned out nice.


Dave, I'm using the hardware Glenn Huey's specified in his book; from Horton Brass, I believe is described as "pierced Chippendale" style hanging bails, in an antique brass finish. The original has drawer locks with fairly elaborate, similar styled Chippendale escutcheon plates (I'm not sure if that's what their called). When I priced the hardware I decided to leave these out as just the actual pulls themselves were about $300. On a related note, a couple things I failed to take no account when I scaled down the dimensions were:

1) I would inevitably screw up the math for drawer heights, as you can see in the pictures the height of the drawers in the top chest don't gradually decrease – that was a big opps by me!:eek: I'm currently reading George Walker and Jim Tolpin's book about design "By Hand and Eye", one of the lesson I learned with this project is in the future I will copy the major proportions from the designs I like, but when scaling them to fit my needs, I really need to calculate the dimensions of subcomponents (Like drawers, door rails/stiles etc.) for myself.

I don't know how to use "Sketch-Up" (despite giving it my very best efforts for an extremely frustrating 30 minutes), but have to believe it would be a super helpful tool for catching mistakes like this.

2) When scaling down the dimensions of the drawer fronts, I didn't consider that I would ideally need to scale down the size of the hardware – which I didn't do, don't think that was an option with available hardware at least from HB. As a consequence, the pulls/plate for the smallest, top drawers are just barely going to fit. Certainly not an ideal solution – I'd love to have hardware in proportion to the case dimensions, but I'm really impatient and ready to be finished with this project so I'll likely just end up installing what I have and hope for the best.


Steve, it's gracious of you to want to read the other posts related to this project. Regrettably, I have no idea how to link them together so it's convenient for somebody to read in sequence. Maybe you can coach me? BTW, does anyone know if there's a way you can post/upload more than one picture at a time? To me one of the best things about SMC is being able to see pictures of other people's work, shops, tools etc., and I have to think if it were easier to post multiple pics it would only enhance the Creek.

I'm a big fan of your coffin smoother- even I can recognize your plane as classic design with superb execution!


Patrick my friend, always great to hear from you! I know for a fact you are being far too modest about your own work. The origin of this project is that with both our boys now away at school, we recently moved from a much larger house to where we are now. In the moving process I realized for the first time exactly how much furniture and clothes to fill them my better half has, as they were previously scattered throughout spare rooms etc. (that would be exactly 6 case sized dressers/wardrobes etc. – embarrassing but true!). There is exactly 0 chance she needs any more furniture. I know the LOML doesn't read SMC, but for the record if she happens to mention that she heard I wrote about her furniture, I will absolutely deny ever having said anything about it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

All the best, Mike

[Greg Wease]

As you may know, Mike lives in Carlsbad, CA close to one of the nine fires burning in San Diego county. I traded emails with Mike today and am happy to report that his family, home--and this beautiful chest--are safe. The fire burned right up to his house and took out fences and landscaping but the firefighters were able to save the structure. It was close--his neighbor lost his home. Mike was evacuated about 24 hours after his final post showing the completed chest. He returned home today. Thought you'd like to know.

[Christopher Charles]

Mike, very glad you, your family, and home made it through safely. My condolences to you and your neighbors.

And I'm looking forward to seeing final pictures of the chest, and will do so with a different perspective now.

Chris C.

[Andrae Covington]

Sure looks good, Mike.
When you post the final pictures, I hope you will include links back to all the previous entries in this series. When I have some time, I'd love to read through it, start to finish.


...Steve, it's gracious of you to want to read the other posts related to this project. Regrettably, I have no idea how to link them together so it's convenient for somebody to read in sequence...

I think I found them all. In the Advanced Search > Search Single Content Type you can select Find Threads Started by User and then type in the member name (also might want to select Show Results as: Threads at the bottom).

Neander Chest- On- Chest Build Pics (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?211475-Neander-Chest-On-Chest-Build-Pics)

Neander Chest- On- Chest Build Pics- Part 2 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?211982-Neander-Chest-On-Chest-Build-Pics-Part-2)

Neander Chest On Chest Build – Part 3 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?212971-Neander-Chest-On-Chest-Build-%E2%80%93-Part-3)

Neander Chest-On-Chest Build-Part 4 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?213287-Neander-Chest-On-Chest-Build-Part-4)

Neander chest build-Part 5 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?213908-Neander-chest-build-Part-5)

Neander Chest-On-Chest Build-Part 6 - Drawers (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?215547-Neander-Chest-On-Chest-Build-Part-6-Drawers)

Neander chest on chest build – carving (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?217030-Neander-chest-on-chest-build-%E2%80%93-carving)

[Gary Muto]

Mike,

That is a very nice piece of furniture. You should be very proud. Thanks for sharing the build.

I like your bench too! I've got twin screw waiting for a bench. A move 1/2 way across the country got in the way. :rolleyes:

[Mike Allen1010]

As you may know, Mike lives in Carlsbad, CA close to one of the nine fires burning in San Diego county. I traded emails with Mike today and am happy to report that his family, home--and this beautiful chest--are safe. The fire burned right up to his house and took out fences and landscaping but the firefighters were able to save the structure. It was close--his neighbor lost his home. Mike was evacuated about 24 hours after his final post showing the completed chest. He returned home today. Thought you'd like to know.

Thanks Greg and Chris for your concern and support! We're really quite lucky with the fires, (just have some cleanup to do), but nothing to complain about compared to those that lost everything.

I've had my share of adrenaline spikes in the workshop (usually involving a router :eek:), But nothing compared to getting the phone call from my son at home saying he he's looking out the window and can see tall flames at the end of the street! You can take my word that a call like that will definitely get your heart started and help you put your priorities in order!

As I was driving home from work, I got the call from my wife telling me that everyone got out safe, but when she left, flames were burning all around the house, my neighbors house was on fire and she was sure our home was lost. I'm embarrassed to admit I did think about all the tools I've accumulated/built over the last 35 years and those that were handed down to me from my Dad and Grandfather.

I was kind of surprised I was most disappointed that the furniture I've built for my kids over the years might be lost. I've always enjoyed thinking those pieces with my dopey handwritten notes to my family hidden inside would be around long after I was gone and hoped they would occasionally remind my boys of their old man and maybe bring a smile to their faces. For me, this was a needed reminder that is much as I enjoy the time I spend woodworking, one of the coolest things about our hobby is the opportunity to pass along something you build with your own hands to future generations.

..., that and I really need to take a video of the tools in my workshop! I can only imagine the difficulty of trying to convince the insurance company "all those old saws and planes" are really important to me, and really will cost $X to be replaced. Somehow I can't imagine they would believe me:)!

FWIW, I encourage my fellow neanders to take that video, and more importantly to really appreciate the joy our hobby brings us and hopefully those we leave our "furniture projects" to.

All the best, Mike

[Mike Allen1010]

I think I found them all. In the Advanced Search > Search Single Content Type you can select Find Threads Started by User and then type in the member name (also might want to select Show Results as: Threads at the bottom).

Neander Chest- On- Chest Build Pics (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?211475-Neander-Chest-On-Chest-Build-Pics)

Neander Chest- On- Chest Build Pics- Part 2 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?211982-Neander-Chest-On-Chest-Build-Pics-Part-2)

Neander Chest On Chest Build – Part 3 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?212971-Neander-Chest-On-Chest-Build-%E2%80%93-Part-3)

Neander Chest-On-Chest Build-Part 4 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?213287-Neander-Chest-On-Chest-Build-Part-4)

Neander chest build-Part 5 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?213908-Neander-chest-build-Part-5)

Neander Chest-On-Chest Build-Part 6 - Drawers (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?215547-Neander-Chest-On-Chest-Build-Part-6-Drawers)

Neander chest on chest build – carving (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?217030-Neander-chest-on-chest-build-%E2%80%93-carving)



Thanks a lot Andrae for taking the time to collect these posts. Putting these together is clearly beyond my extremely limited IT expertise, and I don't expect many folks would be interested in looking through these.

That said, I do very much appreciate the opportunity SMC provides to share experiences with our fellow woodworkers! Beyond the incredible amount I've learned here, I really do appreciate the SMC community and the friends I've been fortunate enough to make here.

OK, I know that sounds really sappy, but cut me some slack - I guess having a little "drama" in your life to help you realize what's really important.

Many thanks, Mike

[Shawn Pixley]

Very nice Mike! It is a big step up from the plastic bins. Happy to hear that you and the family are safe.