Finished Small Cabinet Project

[Gary Benson]

In response to Sean Hughto's recent call for more projects in the Neanderthal forum, here are a few pics of a small cabinet I recently finished. It was started in Rob Cosman's piston fit drawer class in Calgary last July. Rob provided the assembled carcass, and we had to finish prepping it to begin drawer construction. To answer David Weaver's question, I do my rough lumber prep with my jointer, planer, and table saw. But, all the final lumber prep, joinery, and final fitting was done with hand tools. The goal of the class was to learn accurate drawer fit and function, but a nice finished project was a bonus.

The carcass and drawer fronts are walnut, drawer sides and bottom are western soft maple, drawer dividers are poplar, and back is walnut veneer plywood. The cabinet is about 24 inches tall, 15 inches wide, and 15 inches deep. It survived the trip home carefully boxed and checked as luggage on a United flight from Calgary to Denver. I decided to give it as a birthday gift to my 11 year old niece who plans to use it to store her art supplies.

I learned a lot during this project, and it was a lot of work. My dovetails improved, and the quality of my drawers was taken to a much higher level.

Thanks for checking it out,

Gary

[Steve Branam]

Those are indeed some fine looking dovetails!

[Thomas Kila]

...but unless you have a video recording of you making those beautiful dovetail drawers yourself, I'm thinking those were cut by Rob himself...

All kidding aside, great job!

[John A. Callaway]

interesting design ... and one helluva good job on it !

[Martin Shupe]

Gary,

Did you have to take the "training the hand" course before the drawer fitting course?

Thanks,

[David Weaver]

To answer David Weaver's question, I do my rough lumber prep with my jointer, planer, and table saw.

Nothing wrong with that, in fact, I don't think you even need to mention it. It's clear you could've dimensioned the wood by hand if you'd have needed to.

Well done.

[glenn bradley]

What a great result from your class. That carcass definitely provides some practice for fitting drawers and I love walnut.

[Don C Peterson]

Nicely done. I love working with Walnut.

[Sean Hughto]

Very handsome and useful little cabinet. Great drawers.

My daughter appropriated an old armoire for all her art supplies, and they still barely fit! At least their sorta organized and outta sight.

[george wilson]

Very accurate work!

[Gary Benson]

Martin,
I did take the "Training the Hand" class prior to the drawer class. While my dovetails improved during the drawer class, they were not a major focus. Rob expected us to be ready to dive right into cutting the joints. Accurate lumber prep is one of the critical steps in accurate drawers, so some experience with sharpening, shooting, and planing was also necessary. I had watched Rob's drawer videos, but still nothing like 7 drawers in person with the teacher demonstrating and supervising every move. His videos are very complete, but the opportunity to ask questions and get feedback on your technique is very helpful.

This cabinet was small, but the lower section was sized to qualify as baggage on the airlines, saving the $125 oversized charge. The upper section went in my large carry-on bag on the return trip, then final assembly and finishing was done at home. I actually only finished 5 drawers in the class, 2 in my shop.

I am now working on the next project which is a jewelry cabinet for the wife. 22 inches tall, about 17 wide, and 14 deep, walnut carcass, ambrosia maple drawer fronts. This was my first attempt at carcass dovetails, they were time consuming but went together nicely. Right now I'm woking on the mortise and tenon drawer divider frames.

Thanks for looking,

Gary

[Jim Rimmer]

Great looking cabinet.

As a non-neanderthal, I have a question about the dovetails. It seems that most of the projects I see have very narrow ends on the pins. (May have the term wrong). I wondered why? To me it seems counter-intuitive in that the narrow portion would be a weak point but as there are many doing it that way, I am probably wrong. Was just wondering if there was a reason other than esthetics.