John Huber
04-29-2006, 12:56 PM
Function: A bedside table for my wife. But instead of one drawer, make it a small chest of drawers. This sets the overall dimensions.
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Materials: I saw a demi-lune table at the woodworkers show and really liked the quilted maple top. I bought quilted maple veneer from JoeWoodworker.com for the top. There I ran across curly walnut and thought it would make attractive contrasting drawer fronts. To frame the drawers and edge the quilted maple top, I chose curly maple from Fine Lumber, who resawed and thickness sanded it to my specifications.
<O:p</O:p
Design: I wanted to feature the figure in the woods. So the design is simple and a combination of Arts & Crafts, Shaker, and American Empire. There are no drawer separators and the gaps around the drawers are small (1/16 +/- 1/32). To avoid trouble from seasonal wood movement, the carcass and drawers are plywood.
<O:p</O:p
Engineering: My wife wanted the drawers to open and close with one hand and have access all the way to the rear. So I used Accuride drawer slides. Since I am both lazy and impatient, the drawer joinery is lock joints (rabbet and dado) rather than dovetails.
<O:p</O:p
Selecting workpieces: Both the curly maple and the curly walnut looked different depending on the viewing angle (the technical term is chatoyancy). So I put a coat of General Finishes Seal-A-Cell and Arm-R-Seal on the stock and viewed it in different orientations in the lighting where the finished nightstand will sit. It was news to me how much difference it made. Overall, I only used about half of the original stock.
<O:p</O:p
Finish: I used David J. Marks process. http://www.djmarks.com/stories/faq/What_is_the_mix_ratio_for_the_Linseed_Oil_Tung_Oil _and_Urethane_46687.asp
<O:p</O:p
Drawer Pulls: The one-handed pulls are mounted near the tops of the drawers to minimize obscuring the curly walnut figure. For strength they are laminates to two 3/16 layers of walnut of non-matching grain pattern so if a crack appears on one layer, it will not propagate through the other and break the pull. For more strength, the legs have a 1/8 poplar dowel almost all the way through. In addition, the ends of the dowels have a 1/32 thick wedge set into an undersized slot. When the dowels are glued into the pull, the wedge bottoms out and spreads the slot for a tight fit. The protruding end of the dowel fits into the drawer front and another wedge-and-slot reinforces the glue joint.
Do you think it is a little top-heavy? Any comments or suggestions are welcome.
<O:p</O:p
Materials: I saw a demi-lune table at the woodworkers show and really liked the quilted maple top. I bought quilted maple veneer from JoeWoodworker.com for the top. There I ran across curly walnut and thought it would make attractive contrasting drawer fronts. To frame the drawers and edge the quilted maple top, I chose curly maple from Fine Lumber, who resawed and thickness sanded it to my specifications.
<O:p</O:p
Design: I wanted to feature the figure in the woods. So the design is simple and a combination of Arts & Crafts, Shaker, and American Empire. There are no drawer separators and the gaps around the drawers are small (1/16 +/- 1/32). To avoid trouble from seasonal wood movement, the carcass and drawers are plywood.
<O:p</O:p
Engineering: My wife wanted the drawers to open and close with one hand and have access all the way to the rear. So I used Accuride drawer slides. Since I am both lazy and impatient, the drawer joinery is lock joints (rabbet and dado) rather than dovetails.
<O:p</O:p
Selecting workpieces: Both the curly maple and the curly walnut looked different depending on the viewing angle (the technical term is chatoyancy). So I put a coat of General Finishes Seal-A-Cell and Arm-R-Seal on the stock and viewed it in different orientations in the lighting where the finished nightstand will sit. It was news to me how much difference it made. Overall, I only used about half of the original stock.
<O:p</O:p
Finish: I used David J. Marks process. http://www.djmarks.com/stories/faq/What_is_the_mix_ratio_for_the_Linseed_Oil_Tung_Oil _and_Urethane_46687.asp
<O:p</O:p
Drawer Pulls: The one-handed pulls are mounted near the tops of the drawers to minimize obscuring the curly walnut figure. For strength they are laminates to two 3/16 layers of walnut of non-matching grain pattern so if a crack appears on one layer, it will not propagate through the other and break the pull. For more strength, the legs have a 1/8 poplar dowel almost all the way through. In addition, the ends of the dowels have a 1/32 thick wedge set into an undersized slot. When the dowels are glued into the pull, the wedge bottoms out and spreads the slot for a tight fit. The protruding end of the dowel fits into the drawer front and another wedge-and-slot reinforces the glue joint.
Do you think it is a little top-heavy? Any comments or suggestions are welcome.