Cherry Nighstands Finally Done

[Joe Mindell]

Hey all,
I'm mostly a lurker but have been working on these nightstands for a while. They're finally done and I'd love to hear feedback/criticism from everyone here (definitely open to constructive crit to improve the next project).

The stands are built essentially from a single curly cherry log I was able to score last year. Because of that, all the case sides and one of the tops are bookmatched sequential pieces. I tried to keep the design simple to keep attention on the incredible wood. Nice to let nature do all the work!

The carcasses are held together with hand cut dovetails and all the drawer dovetails are also hand cut (~200 total, but who's counting). The design was strongly influenced by articles in FWW by Chris Becksvoort and Michael Peckovitch as well as Thomas Moser's stuff. I coudn't find knobs I liked, so I got a jet mini lathe and learned to turn my own.

The finish is BLO, followed by shellac, rubbed out and then waxed.

Sorry about the pictures, I don't seem to have the color adjusted quite right on my camera.

Thanks in advance for any input.
Joe M.

[Bruce Page]

Joe,
Incredible wood is an understatement! Stunning work, I bet you could cut dovetails with your eyes closed!

[Eddie Watkins]

Nice work!! The wood is beautiful.

Eddie

[Jim Becker]

'Good thing those drawer fronts are not visible when you are in "sleeping position" on the bed...all that action would keep you awake! :D Wow...quite the figure! Great job on these nightstands, Joe.

Are your top moldings on sliding dovetails as Moser and Becksvoort generally do?

[Zahid Naqvi]

the wood looks great, and the workmanship is equally good. You are correct this much figure in the wood requires a simple design.

[Dan Oliphant]

Joe, those are wonderful looking pieces, well done. Your dovetails look like you have been hand cutting dovetails for a long time, great job!!!

And welcome to the creek, your now officially a non lurker....

[Mike Cutler]

Very nice work, and equally nice figure to the wood. That's some impressive bookmatching in the pieces. The dovetails appear to be very well done

I don't really like to criticize other people's work. A lot of "personal personality" goes into a piece. I try to learn from someone elses techniques and design elements, and incorporate them someday.

So... how did you arrive at a single drawer pull, and not two pulls on each drawer? and....
Is the exposed joinery period specific or a personal preference?

[Jason Tuinstra]

Joe, that's stunning wood. And all the names you mention are all inspirations to me as well so how could I not like these pieces. The figure on this wood is fantastic. Could you give us some pics of the drawers and how you built them. Also, how did you finish off the back? Now stop lurking and keep posting pics of this great looking furniture.

[Don Bullock]

All I can say is beautiful.

[Todd Solomon]

Gorgeous, Joe!!!

I like the through dovetails showing on the bracket base- really nice effect.

Nice design, nice proportions.

And that wood figure - WOW!!!

My wife and I talk all the time about what to replace our old, crappy bedroom set with. I'm going to make sure she doesn't see your post- She'll fire me and hire you!

Todd

[Dave Malen]

...looking at that figure. Wow that wood is beautiful. How much did it cost ?
BTW great work!
Dave

[Rick de Roque]

Well done, Joe, well done.

Rick

[lou sansone]

fantastic cherry. could you elaborate on the "log score"? do you have your own mill and acquire saw logs, or did you come across a log that was already sawed up and purchased it. If you did buy the log, I would be interested in how you sawed it up.

lou

[Mike Henderson]

Fastastic wood - and a great job on building the two. You're a real craftsman. The dovetails of the blades into the sides is really difficult and very well done (each blade must be cut EXACTLY to the right length - very hard to do).

My preference would have been to use half blind dovetails on the front of the legs so that the joinery didn't show there. Another option would have been to use a miter on the two parts of the legs with a spline between them so no joinery was visible. I would have also used half blind dovetails on the top so that I could hide them with the molding on the side. This would have shown off the really exceptional figure in the wood on the top without the distraction of the joinery. What was done in period furniture was to dovetail in two boards (of secondary wood) as a lower top (which held the case together), then attach the real top to those two boards. This will allow you to have a full sized top that overhangs the front and sides that you can cut your molding profile into, and it will be one continuous (glued-up) board - it will show off the figure without the distraction of the cross molding and joinery on the sides.

Different craftsmen have different ethics - mine is to show off the design of the chest and the figure in the wood and not the joinery. I feel that the joinery should be magic - other craftsmen should look at it and say "How is that put together?"

But that's just my ethic - Yours might be different and, if so, your opinion is more valid than mine because they're your chests.

Mike

[Rob Blaustein]

I remember when you got that wood and talked about making these--they came out great! Really impressive. So when did you sneak that Jet mini lathe into your shop--I don't remember your mentioning that one? Hey, a little birdie told me you're coming up to Boston, maybe you can give me a dovetail tutorial. At the very least, you just inspired me to sign up for a dovetail class next month that they're offering at Woodcraft.
--Rob

[Joe Mindell]

Guys,
Thanks for all the generous feedback. To answer some of your questions:
Jim--Yup, I did make the side moldings on top with sliding dovetails. Used a 3/8” dovetail router bit to make the slot and the key, then trimmed the keys by hand to fit. Attached the keys with screws, then split ‘em up while on the carcasses to allow movement. Straight out the Becksvoort article.

Mike—I never even thought about double pulls. Not sure why, but since these drawers are pretty narrow a single pull seemed right to me. I’ll probably do doubles when I make my wife the dresser she wants! The joinery is pure personal preference; I’ve seen similar on the work of the people I’ve modeled after and liked the look.

Jason—The back is shiplapped cherry. Pretty simple ‘cause They’ll be up against a wall for most of their lives. The nice thing about the backs is that they seal up the case and give a satisfying resistance when you push the drawers in.

Todd—Don’t worry about your wife firing you—my wife has enough commissions to keep me busy for a very long while (in combination with the kids and the day job!).

Dave and Lou—I got the log from Hearne Hardwoods in Southeastern PA. They have an incredible operation there and the guys spent about an hour moving huge piles of cherry around to help me find what I wanted. In the end they found a whole log of the stuff I used in these cabinets. I think it was about 7.50 a bf and I had to buy the whole log (~50 bf). So sorry Lou, they did all the initial sawing and I don’t know the details. It was all 4/4 roughsawn when I got it.

Mike—I have to agree with you. For a long time I wasn’t particularly fond of the exposed joinery thing. However, as I’ve started to learn a bit of woodworking it’s got to appeal to me much more. One of the really beautiful things about making it yourself it that you get exactly what you want, not what someone else thinks you want!

And Rob—Ossie and the kids got me the lathe for father’s day. I’d be glad to give you a dovetail tutorial next week-you’ll have to bring a saw over to dinner!

Everyone. I’ll try to get some more pictures up in a day or two.

[Nancy Laird]

All I can say is beautiful.

Ditto, ditto, ditto. They are gorgeous!!! Nice job.

[Jack Dickey]

Man , those babies are gorgeous , love the figure .. Proportioned beautifully , remind me not to put up any of my pix ..
Hands and arms sore ??

[David Tiell]

WOW!!!:eek: Just.... WOW!!!!!

[Joe Mindell]

Seems like people were interested, so I added a few more pictures.
Thanks again for all the positive feedback!
Joe

[Martin Shupe]

Joe,

That is a stunning log of cherry. I am glad to say your careful bookmatching did not let it go to waste. Excellent wood selection, grain matching, joinery, everything!

Your post has earned you membership in the Sawmill Creek Shaker Furniture Society, an organization so secret, even its own members don't know its purpose. Jason T. is our honorary president.

Your workmanship is superb, and I look forward to more of your posts.

Well done!!!