Jewelry Chest on Stand - Progress Pics and Input Requested

[Cory Newman]

I haven't posted here often, I'm afraid my penchant for jocularity would be frowned upon, so I tend to just lurk. However, I'm looking for some input.

I finally got a little shop time in over the weekend, and I'm looking forward to an upcoming long weekend in the shop. I am making a jewelry chest on stand for LOML, from walnut her father harvested 20 some odd years ago from the farm she grew up on. The carcass and stand are essentially complete, the drawers remain.

http://www.woodworkersweb.com/modules/gallery/albums/albun14/127_2718.sized.jpg

http://www.woodworkersweb.com/modules/gallery/albums/albun14/127_2717.sized.jpg

The raised panels are curly walnut I got from Mike at Curlywoods.

Here are my design questions:

1. Presently I am planning on nine graduated drawers, hung from the sides with a cleat on the carcass set into a dado on the sides of the drawers. No face frame. The drawers will range from 3 inches deep on the bottom 3, 2 1/2 inches deep on the middle 3 and 2 inches on the top three. Design and use wise I think that makes more sense than nine drawers of the same size. Agree? or Disagree?

2. I plan to make the drawers of 1/2 inch maple, with maple dividers for jewelry organization. I plan to make the drawer faces from this slab of walnut root. Should I make the fronts the entire thickness of this material, with half blind dovetails, or should I make the entire drawer of maple, and put a thin 1/8 or 1/4 inch of this material on the face like a veneer? I could make the maple drawers through dovetails, and by adding this walnut to the face simulate a half blind dovetail.


http://www.woodworkersweb.com/modules/gallery/albums/albun14/127_2719.sized.jpg

http://www.woodworkersweb.com/modules/gallery/albums/albun14/127_2721.sized.jpg

http://www.woodworkersweb.com/modules/gallery/albums/albun14/127_2720.sized.jpg

3. Lastly, regardless of the approach in question two, how would you approach selecting the layout from this walnut slab? As the drawers will be all adjacent and not separated by any face frames, how would you divide this slab up into drawer fronts? Should I try to match each set of 3? I am stumped at this point on how to accomplish this last task. Obviously, if I go with a veneer approach I have more selection opportunites with the slab.

Thanks in advance for your input.

[Erik Rudd]

That's some nice work there Cory. I wish I could offer you some suggestions but I'm sure that someone here who knows more will be around to help out soon.

[Bob Atchison]

Cory~

You have passed my skill level so I can't answer any of your questions but it looks great to me!

Bob

[scott spencer]

Cory~

You have passed my skill level so I can't answer any of your questions but it looks great to me!

Bob

Same here....I have a hunch you'll make the right decision.

[Hugh Jaskok]

Holy xxxx! Nice job. No way I could give any advice either.

[Dan Oliphant]

Question #1- Agree
Question #2- Veneer, drawer will look very nice in maple.
Question #3- if the slab is thick enough (3 inches), match each drawer consecutively.

[Bob Childress]

Cory,

That's a really nice looking carcasse.

#1. IMHO, make the drawers various depths as you have planned. Not only will it look nicer (not top heavy) but it will be more functional. A woman doesn't need very deep storage for most jewelry (DAMHIKT:D ) just for a few items.


#2. My personal preference would be to make the fronts solid walnut w/half blind tails. But either approach would work.

#3. Can't help you much there. Slab has some nice figure though.

Good luck. I'm sure more seasoned pros than me will chime in.:)

[Bob Atchison]

Hey Hugh!

I didn't know you where a member here!

Good to see you!

Bob

[Bud Zysk]

Man, that is amazing. It's a shame I can't show that to LOML. http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif

I don't see anything wrong with maple drawers with walnut faces, but that's me. You could half blind the maple drawer sides into a walnut drawer front. That would look cool too! :D

[Geoffrey McPharson]

Nice craftsmanship - I'd consider using veneer drawer fronts, but use walnut for the remainder of the drawer front. Having a thin veneer on maple might look kinda funky.

[Neil Lamens]

Hi Cory:

Regarding your good looking Jewelry cabinet.

Question #1: This depends on what you want to do with that root stock you are planning to use. Because you won't have rails, you'll want a nice flowing grain pattern, but with differing sizes on your faces, finding an ascending or decending matching pattern will be difficult. You'll resaw, but will change the width and therefore matching grain pattern as you make smaller width faces.

As for question #2, personally I wouldn't veneer a face onto the maple. I wouldn't like the look from the top, seeing a "stripe" of dark everytime I opened a drawer.

If you are determined to use that walnut you're showing, I'd veneer that to some nice striaght walnut you've go stashed.

Then go after your 1/2 blind dovetails contrasting the maple and walnut. What wood were you going to use as the drawer slide???

That also answers Question #3.....If you resaw cleanly you could assemble a nice ascending "bookmatch" having the hump you are showing as your #1 (bottom) drawer. Then flip the number 2 in order to grain match. The hump would appear as an oval? Not having that wood to look at closely, has me hedging a bit on its stability.

Hope that helps...........Neil

[Jesse Cloud]

Beautiful piece! I can't help on the technical questions, but I sure wish you would post more often. This forum could definitely use more jocularity:rolleyes:

[John Fry]

Cory,

First let me say that is a very nice piece! The wood is beautiful. Your craftmanship and skill is evident.

Having noticed your abilities, and having said that, I'm sure you don't need to be reminded that your side hung runners should only be attacthed to the stiles of the carcass and not the insides of the raised panels. But, I just thought I'd mention it anyway.

As to your questions, I agree with most everything Neil and Geoffrey say.

#1) I absolutely agree that you DON"T want nine equal drawer sizes.

#2) Veneer would be fine, but use straight grained solid walnut of close color as a substrate and I'd keep the veneers at an 1/8" maximum thickness, maybe less.

#3) You didn't really give us the dimensions of the root stock, but I think by slicing veneers, you could get a good bookmatch all the way up the nine drawers, (with some careful harvesting and some good luck). You will just need to lay out all your slices and then cut the widths of each "size group" at the same time to keep the tops and bottoms with a good grain match.

If the wood is not stable enough, or not large enough, I don't think another visit to Mike at Curlywoods for another batch of that awesome curly walnut would look bad for drawer fronts either.


I really like your piece.

[Cory Newman]

Thank you for your comments John, the root stock is roughly six inches wide by 10 inches deep and a little over 3 feet long. I hadn't thought about going with walnut substrates on the drawer fronts, not sure why it didn't cross my mind. I have some left over from the carcass that was too thin to be used elsewhere, it will make perfect drawerfront substrates as the color is almost a perfect match to the root stock.

[Corey Hallagan]

Very nice Cory. That is looking good. Can't wait to see it finished!

corey

[lou sansone]

I agree with john on the use of solid straight grained walnut and then veneer them with the figured stock. That is how I have built a 17th century low boys and it came out nice ( W & M style with burl inlay and herringbone banding around the edges ). I would use a veneer softener if you find the root moving around when you resaw it.

best wishes
lou

[Jim Becker]

Cory, that's a beautiful piece. Isn't it nice to work with material that has some personal connection, too?

And I'm envious that you happen to live right around the corner from Curly Woods...Mr. Mastin has "really nice stuff". Be sure to attend the picnic at Steve Jenkins' place in McKinney in October, too.

[Cory Newman]

Thanks Jim - I plan on visiting Steve's BBQ this year, much closer than the last time I went.:)

[Gene DiNardo]

Beautiful piece Cory !! Nice lines ,good proportion,Excellent wood.
Nothing wrong with contrasting drawer sides.
If you have to resaw the root burl into veneer,definetly do it over walnut.
Looks like the drawers are to be about 13 or so inches, you just might be able to get all nine 3/4" thick out of it. I would certaintly try. If not you could always further resaw to veneer. Looks like it will yield some outstanding figure. I recently did a jewelry box of similar style and proportion also in walnut, faced the same dilema of trying to strech the figured stuff for the drawers without having to go to a different board. Came down to a couple of inches !
Good luck I'm sure it will turn out well what ever you decide, it's already a winner.
Gene D

[Scott Rongey]

Very Nice Cory.

I agree that you don't want all of the drawers the same height, but have you considered having them all graduated instead of 3 sets of 3? For example, using the same combined height (22.50 inches) you could create a series where each drawer is 5% taller that the previous drawer.

The nine heights would be:
2.04
2.14
2.25
2.36
2.48
2.60
2.73
2.87
3.01

It's hard to tell how large the block is but I have a couple ideas on how you could layout the drawer fronts.

(1) It looks like the block is long and wide enough to make one-piece drawer fronts fro each drawer (thin slices like veneer). If so, you could use 9 slices sequentially to basically slip-match them to create a nice repeating pattern. I like the second close-up better for the drawer faces (it looks like you would get a better span of interesting grain across the entire front).

(2) It looks like the block is actually pretty big, so if the length is at least 22.5 in (i.e. the 22.5 in combined drawer heights plus some for 8 kerf cuts) and the width is at least 1/2 the drawer width you might consider the following. Resaw and book-match in order to create one piece, rotate the piece 90 degrees and then cut into 9 drawer fronts. If the block is not large enough to do this you could still do something similar by slicing and matching multiple slices into a piece large enough to cut the drawer from the build up sheet.

Best Regards,
Scott

[Alan DuBoff]

Excellent looking piece Cory. Hope all is well for you, really like the chest.

[larry merlau]

cory, that is some very nice work. what did you use for the stock on the legs. i know its walnut but i am after the size of the dimensional lumber you used. would be intersted in you method of fabricating them as well. thanks afor posting it and hope to see more of your work.

[Randy Long]

Looking very nice! Like others has said you are way beond my skill level.

As to you first connent about your comunication skills, I think you have expressed yourself very nicely.

Love to see more on your projects.

Randy

[Rich Stevens]

Cory - very nice work - the cabriolet legs have a nice flow to them and the ratio of top cabinet section to the stand looks pleasing. You have a good eye for balance. Well done.

As to your questions - here's my 5 cents

1 - 3 x 3 is taking the easy way out. Given the effort you've put into this piece, I strongly suggest you have each drawer graduated in height. Use the Fibonacci series as a guide. Google it if you don't know what this means

2 - half inch for drawer sides is TOO HEAVY. Half inch is what I use for full scale chests of drawers. For this piece you'd want something less than 3/8" - maybe 5/16". This is a fine piece of furniture and the components need to reflect it

3 - I have a preference for full piece drawer fronts rather than laminated. Laminations look cheap to me. Failing this, why don't you consider heavily figured walnut veneer glued onto a walnut substrate and maple cockbeading. Alternatively you can bandsaw the piece you have into veneers less than 1/8" thick. Note however that if you're going to veneer, you need to do both faces to counteract any tendency for the substrate to cup.

This would be moving into serious territory.

Keep us posted

HTH

Rich

[Mike Wilkins]

Fine looking work there sir. As for the drawers, here is my .02 worth: you could resaw the walnut slab into 1/2" or so thickness, then open it up lengthwise; sort of an end-for-end bookmatch, and cut your drawer fronts from this layout. This way there is grain continuity, no shade or color variations, and you get maximum yield out of a nice looking sample of wood.
Suggestion #2: veneer on both sides of a substrate, with a highly-figured face veneer. With the grain running from top to bottom (or bottom to top since you are thinking graduated drawers) you will have grain continuity with this scenario as well.
Good luck and watch those fingers.

[George Summers]

Here is mine done in Mahogany (bottom of the page). I did all the drawers the same height. I think that your idea of ascending heights will look nice, wish I had thought of that. There is another picture on page three of the gallery.

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?cat=197&page=2

George

[Scott Henderson]

Large wooden A.K.

For what it's worth, the graduated size drawers appeals to me:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/bonely/IMG_1858.jpg

Doesn't have to be significant difference, but in a tall unit like that, it seems to lend a certain visual element that is pleasing.

As to the root stock--send it to me; I will replant it and send you half of the walnut tree in 35 years:D

[Cory Newman]

George,

That looks great. That is the plan that inspired mine. I had this root stock in mind for the drawer fronts so I didn't want to hide them behind doors, so I just used those plans for the legs.

Cory

[Mark Marzluf]

Hey Cory...

Your chest is taking shape nicely..

Looking at the piece (and this is ONLY my humble oppinion) - I think it would look nice with a set of Bookmatched doors on it that conceal the drawers themselves. You could slice up the root stock into several sections and find the best grain flow.

Also.... not sure if you're set up for it or not, but if you did doors, then the drawers would look nice in Maple with Walnut double, double dovetails. I would help to carry the walnut into the carcas rather than having a visual overload of maple.

Again..... all personal oppinion. Obviously you know what you're doing in the shop. I just thoguht I'd throw out another idea. I've had people sugguest things to me before, and although I wasn't 100% in tune with their thoughts, it sometimes got my creative juices flowing enough again to solve the issue.

Best of luck and make sure you let us see the completed project. It's already a beautiful piece.

Mark

[Mike Jory]

Cory, That is Saaweet! Nice job on the Cabriole legs. Havng done that, also in Walnut, I know that took some time/work.
I love the fact that you can place the source of the wood from within the family. Imagine the emotional value added in hand made furniture.

Since you asked, I'm assuming you have the length and depth to accomodate the numbers of drawer faces you plan. I would resaw each piece to about 1/4" to 3/8". Keep the sequence and flip each over to match tops and bottoms. Make the dovetail sides from the Maple, and the bottom in Poplar, cover with red felt or Velour.

I made my dividers with 1/8" Rosewood using all dado joints. After four jewelry boxes, boy was I tired

I can just see that chest with a Natual Danish Oil, and Satin finish. That Walnut curl will be spectacular. After looking at this, and George's post for another long while, I'd like to tackle something like this. I like working from plans. Is there a plan for this chest or did you both plan and draw them yourselves?

Bring back pictures!
Mike

[George Summers]

, I'd like to tackle something like this. I like working from plans. Is there a plan for this chest or did you both plan and draw them yourselves?

Bring back pictures!
Mike

Mike -

Woodsmith Issue 106. The hardware per the plan is all available from Rockler (no longer available as a package deal from Woodsmith). The total bill for hardware alone when I built mine was right at $100.

George

[Scott Henderson]

You can't fool me--you are Gator.

Hello, Alan's brother.

Bonewood.

[Gary Whitt]

I can't believe Cory made that! :D

Outstanding!

[Scott Henderson]

Have you seen those red t-shirts he had made:confused:

[Henry Cavanaugh]

Have you considered having less drawers and hanging necklaces or braclets.
Handcutting through DT and applying veneer is the easiest and better grain matching. The downside as stated above is the mismatch of colors on the top of the drawer front. If the thin veneers are special and better way to get the best grain pattern you could do through dovetails 1/2" scrap walnut on the fronts and then glue on the special veneer front.
Have you considered a hidden compartment? Are you planning carved drawer pulls?, drawer liners?

[Cory Newman]

Have you considered a hidden compartment?

Of course.;) Can't see it from these pictures, but there is a false bottom that extends down into the apron about 3 inches deep. I plan some type of removable panel under the bottom drawer to access it.

I haven't determined drawer pulls yet, I am leaning towards something in sterling as that is my wife's primary choice in jewelry, but I'll have to play with it a little to see if that color combination works. I plan to line the drawers with suede.

[Mark Thompson-MphsTN]

Wow! That's nice work. No way could I give any advice.

[George Summers]

Have you seen those red t-shirts he had made:confused:

No. Tell me about it so I can give him a hard time next time I see him.

George (aka gator)

[Scott Henderson]

I'd post a pic, but the word a** appears in it, and my sense is that that would be anathema to the powers that be:eek:

[Cory Newman]

words of perversion...
so profound and disgusting...
that decorum prohibits listing them here.
:eek: